THE FIRST WORD WAS NOT A NOUN

CORY CUTHBERTSON Flat 5, 12-14 Queen Victoria Street Reading, RG1 1TG, United Kingdom

Different parts-of-speech have been proposed as first to emerge d ring the evo! tion of !ang age" most common!# no ns $Smith" %&'&( )itchison" %**'( +i" ,--,( + ." ,--*/" b t a!so verbs $Diamond" %*0*/1 Ho2ever" the first 2ord to arise in h man !ang age co !d not be attrib ted a part-of-speech nti! the advent of a s#ntactic s#stem 2ith minima!!# t2o categories1 )s Ta!!erman and H rford $Heine and 3 teva ,--%" p1 0*/ have noted" 4one cannot ta!. of an# distinct categor# nti! there is another categor# to contrast it 2ith15 6hi!e definitions var# on 2hat constit tes a part-of-speech" it is genera!!# agreed that a!! !ang ages contain them" tho gh 2hich categories and ho2 the# behave varies $Schachter" %*70/1 Sometimes the# are defined b# their semantic meaning $e81 no ns denote ob9ects and verbs denote actions/" b t these definitions are based on tendencies on!#" and are no 2a# to predict s#ntactic distrib tion1 :or instance the 2ord seem is a verb" b t not an action" and the 2ord nightmare is a no n" b t not an ob9ect1 ;n some !ang ages" s ch as N chahn !th $Noot.a/" a!most an# stem can f nction as a no n" verb or ad9ective $+ander < Teste!ets" ,--'/" so the semantics of a 2ord is no certain 2a# to attrib te its part-of-speech1 =an# s#ntacticians therefore !oo. to a 2ord>s f nction in a sentence $Evans and ?reen" ,--'/1 ;f there 2as once a one-2ord stage of !ang age" its semantics too 2o !d sa# nothing abo t a h#pothetica! s#ntactic distrib tion" and it 2o !d be categor#!ess1 )dam Smith $%&'&/ s ggested no ns 2ere the first to emerge" as !ang age began 2ith proper names1 Diamond $%*0*/ conc! ded verbs 2ere the origina! part-of-speech" beca se 2hi!e vocab !aries have been increasing" the amo nt of verbs has sta#ed the same" s ggesting their primac#1 )itchison $%**'/ s ggests there ma# have been an initia! no ns-on!# stage" as chi!dren !earn no ns first" and it is more common to change no ns into verbs than vice versa1 +i $,--,/ s ggests no ns 2ere the first to arise" as the most basic s#mbo!ic concept refers to a concrete ob9ect1 + . $,--*/ offers %% reasons in s pport of no ns being first to arise" 2hich he conc! des provides 4over2he!ming evidence5 that the#

are more f ndamenta!" and therefore predate verbs1 Ho2ever" + .>s points on!# 9 stif# that verbs 2ere n!i.e!# to have e8isted at a stage before no ns" and don>t necessitate a stage 2here no ns e8isted so!e!# b# themse!ves1 ;n these st dies offering a 4first5 part-of-speech" the researcher is either sing a semantic definition of that categor#" or is defending the n!i.!iness of other parts-of-speech as e8isting first1 Ho2ever" if an iso!ated 2ord is not f nctioning in a sentence" it is categor#-!ess1 ;n a p re!# !e8ica! s#stem 2here s#nta8 did not e8ist" no ns" verbs and ad9ectives did not either1 The first partof-speech 2o !d on!# have arisen in con9 nction 2ith another" 2hen !ing istic e!ements 2ere first sed in reference to each other and the first grammatica! distinction 2as made1 References )itchison" @1 $%**'/1 The seeds of speech: Language origin and evolution . Cam brid g e : Cam bri d g e University Press. Evans" A1" < ?reen" =1 $,--'/1 ogniti!e linguistics" #n introduction 1 Edinb rghB Edinb rgh Universit# Cress1 Heine" B1" < 3 teva" T1 $,--&/1 The genesis o$ grammar" # reconstruction% O8fordB O8ford Universit# Cress1 +ander" Y1" < Teste!ets" Y1 $,--'/1 No niness and specificit#B Circassian and 6a.ashan1 Caper presented at the conference Uni!ersals and &articulars in &arts-o$-S'eech S(stems, )msterdam1 +i" C1 N1 $,--,/1 =issing !in.s" iss es and h#potheses in the evo! tionar# origin of !ang age1 ;n T1 ?ivon and B1 :1 =a!!e $Eds1/" The )!olution o$ *anguage out o$ &relangauge $pp1 7D-%-'/1 )msterdamB @ohn Ben9amins1 + ." E1 $,--*/1 The no nEverb and predicateEarg ment str ct res1 *ingua" %%*" %&-&-%&,&1 Schachter" C1 $%*70/1 Carts-of-speech s#stems1 ;n T1 Shopen $Ed1/ *anguage t('olog( and s(ntactic descri'tion $pp1 D-'%/1 CambridgeB Cambridge Universit# Cress1 Smith" )1 $%&'&/1 The theor( o$ moral sentiments" To +hich is added a dissertation on the origin o$ languages $Drd ed1/1 +ondon1