Unpacking Paradigmatic Gaps

Introduction

Universal paradigmatic gaps are gaps in linguistic paradigms that appear across languages and across users of a given language. As of yet, only very few gaps of this kind have been discussed in the literature. The one gap that has received substantial discussion concerns the universal absence of a lexicalized negated form for the quantifiers all, every, or always: There appears to be no language in the world that exhibits a single word (or lexical item) that means ‘not all’, ‘not every’, or ‘not always’, an observation dating back to Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). UNPAG will show that the landscape of universal paradigmatic gaps is, in fact, much richer and more varied than generally thought.

The Enigma of Missing Lexicalizations

It is deeply enigmatic that such words do not exist across languages and cultures. Clearly, any theory seeking to explain such missing lexicalizations, i.e., any theory of universal paradigmatic gaps, should be able to make clear predictions about what may or may not be lexicalized, and why that is the case.

The Need for a Comprehensive Theory

Such a theory has thus far not been developed. It is also without question that such a theory should have a broad empirical foundation. To date, the pool of data has been heavily slanted toward well-studied, Western, Indo-European, adult spoken language, and negative quantifiers therein.

1. No existing study has thus far come even close to targeting a richer empirical base.
2. Many more universal gaps can be observed!

UNPAG will be the long-overdue filler of this gap.

Implications for Understanding Human Cognition

Understanding the nature, distribution, and behavior of universal paradigmatic gaps will have several profound implications for our understanding of human cognition, language, and communication.

UNPAG's Contribution

UNPAG is the first panoramic study of universal paradigmatic gaps.

• Why is it that we cannot always say what is thinkable?
• UNPAG will provide an answer to this question and show when, how, and why universal paradigmatic gaps may emerge in the languages that we speak or sign.