Case Study: OBJECT-TO-SPACE
Having presented an overview of the framework developed by Heine et al., we now consider some evidence that these researchers discuss which illustrates the nature of the grammaticalisation process. Recall that the first historical stage in the grammaticalisation cycle is the stage when a lexical item takes on a new grammatical sense, and recall also the source domain hierarchy in (7). Heine et al. argue that the OBJECT-TO-SPACE metaphor represents this early stage in the grammaticalisation process, and this is evident in languages where body-part terms have evolved into locative adpositions. While there is a strong tendency for these body-part terms to relate to the human body (the anthropomorphic model), body-part terms in some languages are also related to the animal body (the zoomorphic model).
Heine et al. conducted a study based on 125 African languages, representing the four major language families of Africa (Afroasiatic, Congo-Kordofanian, Khoisan and Nilo-Saharan). Their findings were striking. Among other prominent patterns, it emerged that in eighty of these languages, the adposition BEHIND had evolved from the body-part term for BACK. In fifty-eight of these languages, the adposition INSIDE had evolved from the body-part term for STOMACH. In forty-seven of these languages, the adposition IN FRONT OF had evolved from the body-part term for FACE. Finally, in forty of these languages, the adposition ON had evolved from the body-part term for HEAD. Consider the following examples from Swahili (Guthrie 1967–71, cited in Heine et al. 1991: 139). The left column represents source morphemes reconstructed for Proto Bantu; the asterisk here represents proto-forms rather than ungrammaticality. The right column shows current Swahili adpositions.
In some languages, the same modern form is polysemous between a body-part term and a spatial adposition. Consider the following examples from Hausa (Afroasiatic – Chadic; Jaggar 2001: 675–6). The bound morpheme -n is a genitive linker.
