Abstract
This study provides evidence in favor of a Special Toponymic Grammar by discussing instances of zero-marking of spatial relations in selected languages, with special focus on Maltese. It is shown that zero-marking is often a privilege of toponyms, which sets them apart from common nouns. Special attention is paid to the differential behavior of sub-classes of toponyms and their (dis)similarity to common nouns. The most appropriate way of capturing the observed structural variation within and across languages is that of the continuum.
Acknowledgments
This study has been made possible by the grant Sprachwissenschaften 2015–2019 within the APF-program of the federal state of Bremen. It forms part of the project Typological Aspects of the Morphosyntax of Toponyms (TypTop). We express our gratitude to Tanja Ackermann, Corinna Handschuh, Johannes Helmbrecht, Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Jaap van Marle, Damaris Nübling, Barbara Schlücker, and Horst Simon. We are also indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for expertly commenting on the first version of this paper. Hubert Cuyckens also deserves a word of thanks for his expert proof-reading of the revised version of this paper. His comments gave us the opportunity to make some last-minute changes of otherwise problematic formulations. The responsibility for the contents and the form of this study remains exclusively ours, nevertheless.
Abbreviations
- acc
accusative;
- anth
anthroponym;
- ap
active participle;
- cn
common noun;
- comp
comparative;
- def
definite article;
- dem
demonstrative;
- dist
distal;
- do
direct object;
- dp
determiner phrase;
- du
dual;
- f
feminine;
- fut
future;
- gen
genitive;
- imperf
imperfective;
- impv
imperative;
- indef
indefinite article;
- io
indirect object;
- m
masculine,
- n
noun;
- neg
negation;
- np
noun phrase;
- num
numeral;
- obj
object marker;
- perf
perfective;
- pl
plural;
- por
possessor;
- pp
prepositional phrase;
- prep
preposition;
- prox
proximal;
- refl
reflexive;
- rn
relational noun;
- rnp
relational-noun phrase;
- sg
singular;
- stg
special toponymic grammar;
- subord
subordinator;
- top
toponym;
- vp
verb phrase
Appendix
A Inventory of bare toponymic Grounds in [Ġenn]
[The types are presented in the order of decreasing token frequency. Grey shading of cells indicates that a given type also occurs in Appendix B.]
| # | Type | Geo-class | Tokens | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Goal | Sum | |||
| 1 | Malta | country/island | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| 2 | iż-Żejtun | settlement | 11 | 1 | 12 |
| 3 | l-Eġittu ‘Egypt’ | country | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| 4 | il-Kulleġġ ‘the College’ | institution | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | Ruma ‘Rome’ | settlement | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| 6 | ir-Ramla (ta’ San Tumas’) | beach | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | Għawdex ‘Gozo’ | island | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Raħal Ġdid | settlement | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | it-Tarzna ‘the Docks’ | institution | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | il-Liċeo ‘the Lyceum’ | institution | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | it-Technical School | institution | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | l-Awstralja ‘Australia’ | country | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | Ġibiltà ‘Gibraltar’ | settlement | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 14 | Port Said | settlement | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | l-Amerika ‘America’ | country | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | il-Belt ‘Valletta’ | settlement | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | il-Ħamrun | settlement | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | l-Ingilterra | country | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Londra ‘London’ | settlement | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 20 | Lourdes | settlement | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 | Marsaxlokk | settlement | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | il-Mellieħa | settlement | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | Siena | settlement | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 24 | il-Barrakka t’isfel | public garden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | il-Blata l-Bajda | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | il-Buskett | public garden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 | iċ-Ċina ‘China’ | country | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | id-Dolomiti ‘the Dolomites’ | mountains | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 29 | Frankfurt | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Graz | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | Ħal Tarxien | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | Ħaż-Żabbar | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 | l-Imdina | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | l-Imġarr | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | l-Iskozja ‘Scotland’ | country | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 36 | Ismalija | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Kalifornja ‘California’ | country | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 38 | Kordin | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | il-Għadira | bay | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | l-Istitut Katoliku | institution | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | il-Kmamar tal-Gżira | private property | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 42 | il-Pandora | cinema | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 43 | Pariġi ‘Paris’ | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 44 | Praga ‘Prague’ | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 45 | Rabat Għawdex | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 | ir-Raħal t’isfel | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 47 | San Pawl il-Baħar | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 48 | San Pietru | church | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 49 | Sqallija ‘Sicily’ | island | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 50 | Sydney | settlement | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 51 | l-Università ‘the University’ | institution | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 | Villa Borghese | public garden | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 | Wied il-Għajn | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 54 | ix-Xgħajra | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 82 | 61 | 143 | ||
B Inventory of toponymic Grounds as complements of fi-PPs in [Ġenn]
| # | Type | Geo-class | Tokens | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Goal | Sum | |||
| 1 | Triq X | street | 15 | 2 | 17 |
| 2 | iż-Żejtun | settlement | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Malta | country/island | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | Piazza di Spagna | square | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | iċ-Ċentru ‘the Center’ | institution | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Ħaż-Żebbuġ | settlement | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | il-Kavallier ta’ San Ġakbu | institution | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | il-Kulleġġ ‘the College’ | institution | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | it-Teatru Manoel | institution | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | l-Afrika ta’ Fuq ‘North Africa’ | macro-region | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Baħar iċ-Ċagħak | coastal strip | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | il-Belt Eterna ‘Rome’ | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Fillandja ‘Finland’ | country | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Għawdex ‘Gozo’ | island | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Ġibiltà ‘Gibraltar’ | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | il-Green Lounge | hotel lounge | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Ħaż-Żabbar | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Ismalija | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | il-Pincio | square | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | il-Pandora | cinema | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | il-Port il-Kbir ‘Grand Habor’ | bay | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 | Port Said | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | ir-Rabat | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 24 | ir-Ramla (ta’ San Tumas) | beach | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Wied il-Għajn | settlement | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Wied Peprina | settlement(?) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 27 | ix-Xagħra tal-Furjana | heath | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 62 | 4 | 66 | ||
C Inventory of zero-marking with common-nouns as Grounds in [Ġenn]
| # | Type | Geo-class | Tokens | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Goal | Sum | |||
| 1 | id-dar ‘the house’ | *=‘home’ | 11 | 36 | 47 |
| 2 | l-iskola ‘the school’ | institution/building | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| 3 | l-isptar ‘the hospital’ | institution/building | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| 4 | il-knisja ‘the church’ | institution/building | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | il-baħar ‘the Sea’ | *=idiom | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | l-istamperija ‘printing office’ | institution/building | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | l-ajruport ‘the airport’ | institution/building | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | arbitraġġ ‘arbitration’ | event | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | iċ-ċinema ‘the cinema’ | institution/building | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Form 3 | period | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | il-funeral ‘the funeral’ | event | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | l-għassa ‘the police-station’ | institution/building | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | il-palazz ‘the palace’ | institution/building | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | privatijiet ‘private lessons’ | abstract | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | is-Sixth Form | period | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | l-istudju ‘the study’ | institution/building | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | it-talkies ‘the movies’ | event | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | l-uffiċċju ‘the office’ | institution/building | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 23 | 76 | 99 | ||
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