Download or read book Non canonical Marking of Subjects and Objects written by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In some languages every subject is marked in the same way, and also every object. But there are languages in which a small set of verbs mark their subjects or their objects in an unusual way. For example, most verbs may mark their subject with nominative case, but one small set of verbs may have dative subjects, and another small set may have locative subjects. Verbs with noncanonically marked subjects and objects typically refer to physiological states or events, inner feelings, perception and cognition. The Introduction sets out the theoretical parameters and defines the properties in terms of which subjects and objects can be analysed. Following chapters discuss Icelandic, Bengali, Quechua, Finnish, Japanese, Amele (a Papuan language), and Tariana (an Amazonian language); there is also a general discussion of European languages. This is a pioneering study providing new and fascinating data, and dealing with a topic of prime theoretical importance to linguists of many persuasions.

Download or read book Grammatical Relations and their Non Canonical Encoding in Baltic written by Axel Holvoet and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first of three volumes dealing with clausal architecture, grammatical relations, case-marking and the syntax–semantics interface in Baltic. It focuses on the grammatical relations of subject and object and the viability of these notions in languages like Lithuanian and Latvian, which have a rich case morphology and show many deviations from the canonical nominative-accusative pattern of case-marking. The issues examined include differential object marking, subjecthood in specificational copular constructions, ‘swarm’-type alternations and what they tell us about grammatical relations, special types of subject and object marking in non-finite clauses, and non-canonical grammatical relations induced by modal predicates. One study provides a comparative outlook towards Icelandic, another language noted for its complex marking of grammatical relations. The articles in the volume represent various theoretical frameworks.

Download or read book The Diachronic Typology of Non Canonical Subjects written by Ilja A. Serzant and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is an important contribution to the diachrony of non-canonical subjects in a typological perspective. The questions addressed concern the internal mechanisms and triggers for various changes that non-canonical subjects undergo, ranging from semantic motivations to purely structural explanations. The discussion encompasses the whole life-cycle of non-canonical subjects: from their emergence out of non-subject arguments to their expansion, demise or canonicization, focusing primarily on syntactic changes and changes in case-marking. The volume offers a number of different case studies comprising such languages as Italian, Spanish, Old Norse and Russian as well as languages less studied in this context, such as Latin, Classical Armenian, Baltic languages and some East Caucasian languages. Typological generalizations in the form of recurrent developmental paths are offered on the basis of data presented in this volume and in the literature.

Download or read book Case Valency and Transitivity written by Leonid Kulikov and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2006-11-15 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The three concepts of case, valency and transitivity belong to the most discussed topics of modern linguistics. On the one hand, they are crucially connected with morphological aspects of the clause, including case marking, person agreement and voice. On the other hand, they are related to several semantic issues such as the meaning of case, semantico-syntactic verbal classes, and the semantic correlates of transitivity. The volume unifies papers written within different theoretical frameworks and representing variegated approaches (Optimality Theory, Government and Binding, various versions of the Functional approach, Cross-linguistic and Typological analyses), containing both numerous new findings in individual languages and valuable observations and generalizations related to case, valency and transitivity.

Download or read book Non Canonically Case Marked Subjects written by Jóhanna Barðdal and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in non-canonically case-marked subjects has been unceasing since the groundbreaking work of Andrews and Masica in the late 70’s who were the first to document the existence of syntactic subjects in another morphological case than the nominative. Their research was focused on Icelandic and South-Asian languages, respectively, and since then, oblique subjects have been reported for language after language throughout the world. This newfangled recognition of the concept of oblique subjects at the time was followed by discussions of the role and validity of subject tests, discussions of the verbal semantics involved, as well as discussions of the theoretical implications of this case marking strategy of syntactic subjects. This volume contributes to all these debates, making available research articles on different languages and language families, additionally highlighting issues like language contact, differential subject marking and the origin of oblique subjects.

Download or read book Non nominative Subjects written by Peri Bhaskararao and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2004-09-30 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume 2 of Non-nominative Subjects (NNSs) presents the most recent research on this topic from a wide range of languages from diverse language families of the world, with ample data and in-depth analysis. A significant feature of these volumes is that authors with different theoretical perspectives study the intricate questions raised by these constructions. Some of the central issues include the subject properties of noun phrases with ergative, dative, accusative and genitive case, case assignment and checking, anaphor–antecedent coreference, the nature of predicates with NNSs, whether they are volitional or non-volitional, possibilities of control coreference and agreement phenomena. These analyses have significant implications for theories of syntax and verbal semantics, first language acquisition of NNSs, convergence of case marking patterns in language contact situations, and the nature of syntactic change.

Download or read book Transitivity written by Patrick Brandt and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11-17 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when a canonically transitive form meets a canonically transitive meaning, and what happens when this doesn’t happen? How do dyadic forms relate to monadic ones, and what are the entailments of the operations that the grammar uses to relate one to the other? Collecting original expert work from acquisition, processing, typological and theoretical syntax-semantics research, this volume provides a state of the art as well as cutting edge discussion of central issues in the realm of Transitivity. These include the definition and role of "Natural Transitivity", the interpretation and repercussions of valency changing operations and differential case marking, and the interactions between (in)transitive Gestalts in different categories and at different levels of representation.

Download or read book Handbook of Japanese Contrastive Linguistics written by Prashant Pardeshi and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Japanese Contrastive Linguistics is a unique publication that brings together insights from three traditions—Japanese linguistics, linguistic typology and contrastive linguistics—and makes important contributions to deepening our understanding of various phenomena in Japanese as well other languages of the globe. Its primary goal is to uncover principled similarities and differences between Japanese and other languages of the globe and thereby shed new light on the universal as well as language-particular properties of Japanese. The issues addressed by the papers in this volume cover a wide spectrum of phenomena ranging from lexical to syntactic and discourse levels. The authors of the chapters, leading scholars in their respective field of research, present the state-of-the-art research from their respected field.

Download or read book The Diachrony of Ditransitives written by Chiara Fedriani and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While ample studies exist on ditransitives in various languages, notably from a typological perspective, more work needs to be done on identifying the main processes and factors that trigger and constrain the changes they undergo over time. The goal of this volume is to help fill this gap by bringing together data and information on individual languages that have thus far been left out of the discussion and by expanding our knowledge of already studied linguistic traditions so as to achieve a broader diachronic description. Since one of the distinctive features of ditransitives is their synchronic variability in terms of structural alternation and alignment split, diachronic research can throw up new insights into developmental dynamics that are eminently complementary; namely, on the one hand, the emergence, development and loss of construction alternation and, on the other, the acquisition of new functions over time. The analyses offered in the book yield different and interconnected answers to the general question of how ditransitives change by drawing on different functional principles that play a role in the diachronic reorganization of this dynamic domain and by providing a number of original theoretical suggestions.

Download or read book The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages written by Marianne Bakró-Nagy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-24 with total page 1172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers the most comprehensive and wide-ranging treatment available today of the Uralic language family, a group of languages spoken in northern Eurasia. While there is a long history of research into these languages, much of it has been conducted within several disparate national traditions; studies of certain languages and topics are somewhat limited and in many cases outdated. The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages brings together leading scholars and junior researchers to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the internal relations and diversity of the Uralic language family, including the outlines of its historical development, and the contacts between Uralic and other languages of Eurasia. The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents the origins and development of the Uralic languages: the initial chapters examine reconstructed Proto-Uralic and its divergence, while later chapters provide surveys of the history and codification of the three Uralic nation-state languages (Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian) and the Uralic minority languages from Baltic Europe to Siberia. This part also explores questions of endangerment, revitalization, and language policy. The chapters in Part II offer individual structural overviews of the Uralic languages, including a number of understudied minority languages for which no detailed description in English has previously been available. The final part of the book provides cross-Uralic comparative and typological case studies of a range of issues in phonology, morphology, syntax, and the lexicon. The chapters explore a number of topics, such as information structure and clause combining, that have traditionally received very little attention in Uralic studies. The volume will be an essential reference for students and researchers specializing in the Uralic languages and for typologists and comparative linguists more broadly.

Download or read book Contemporary Approaches to Baltic Linguistics written by Peter Arkadiev and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-08-17 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of articles dealing with various aspects of the Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian and Latgalian), which have only marginally featured in the discourse of theoretical linguistics and linguistic typology. The aim of the book is to bridge the gap between the study of the Baltic languages, on the one hand, and the current agenda of the theoretical and typological approaches to language, on the other. The book comprises 13 articles dealing with various aspects of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicon, and their interactions, plus a lengthy introduction, whose aim is to outline the state of the art in the research on the Baltic languages. The contributions are data-driven, being based on field-work, corpus research, and data published in the sources not accessible to the general linguistic audience. On the other hand, all contributions are informed in the relevant contemporary linguistic theories and in the advances of linguistic typology. Some of the contributions aim at a more detailed, accurate and theoretically informed description of the data, others look at the Baltic material from a more theoretical point of view, still others assume an areal-typological or contact perspective.

Download or read book Europe and the Mediterranean as Linguistic Areas written by Paolo Ramat and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007-07-13 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of 12 papers which originated from a research project on ‘Europe and the Mediterranean from a linguistic point of view: history and prospects’. The papers deal with specific morphosyntactic aspects of language structure and evolution. The comparative perspective is adopted both from a synchronic (typological) and a diachronic (historical) angle, focusing in particular on possible contact phenomena. Therefore, methodological key words of this book are areal typology and linguistic area. The issues addressed cover such diverse aspects of language structure and change as verb morphology, relative clause formation, Noun Phrase determination, demonstrative systems, possessive markers in Noun Phrases, conjunctive, disjunctive and adversative constructions, non-canonical object marking, impersonal constructions, reduplication and early translations of the Gospels. These topics are discussed particularly in relation to Romance, Germanic, Celtic and Semitic languages, both modern and ancient. This book will interest researchers in typological, historical, functional and general linguistics.

Download or read book Voice and Argument Structure in Baltic written by Axel Holvoet and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second volume in the VARGReB series deals with voice in the wider sense, encompassing both alternations that preserve semantic valency, with passives as the most typical instance, and valency-changing devices such as the causative. Regarding the former, special attention is given to event-structural conditions on passivization, non-canonical passives, and the relation between passives and (active) impersonals. Papers dealing with causatives focus on valency patterns and argument marking in canonical as well as extended uses of causative morphology. Other articles consider converse constructions and the argument structure of middles, which seem to hold a position between voice in the narrow sense and valency-changing operations. An introductory article provides background information on the repertoire of voice alternations in Baltic from a cross-linguistic perspective. Representing different approaches and methods, the contributions to this volume offer fine-grained analyses of data from contemporary Latvian and Lithuanian.

Download or read book Number Constructions and Semantics written by Anne Storch and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the outcome of several decades of research experience, with contributions by leading scholars based on long-term field research. It combines approaches from descriptive linguistics, anthropological linguistics, socio-historical studies, areal linguistics, and social anthropology. The key concern of this ground-breaking volume is to investigate the linguistic means of expressing number and countable amounts, which differ greatly in the world’s languages. It provides insights into common number-marking devices and their not-so-common usages, but also into phenomena such as the absence of plurals, or transnumeral forms. The different contributions to the volume show that number is of considerable semantic complexity in many languages worldwide, expressing all kinds of extendedness, multiplicity, salience, size, and so on. This raises a number of challenging questions regarding what exactly is described under the slightly monolithic label of ‘number’ in most descriptive approaches to the languages of the world.

Download or read book Introducing the Framework and Case Studies from Africa and Eurasia written by Andrej Malchukov and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-09-14 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earlier empirical studies on valency have looked at the phenomenon either in individual languages or a small range of languages, or have concerned themselves with only small subparts of valency (e.g. transitivity, ditransitive constructions), leaving a lacuna that the present volume aims to fill by considering a wide range of valency phenomena across 30 languages from different parts of the world. The individual-language studies, each written by a specialist or group of specialists on that language and covering both valency patterns and valency alternations, are based on a questionnaire (reproduced in the volume) and an on-line freely accessible database, thus guaranteeing comparability of cross-linguistic results. In addition, introductory chapters provide the background to the project and discuss its main characteristics and selected results, while a series of featured articles by leading scholars who helped shape the field provide an outside perspective on the volume’s approach. The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in valency and argument structure, irrespective of theoretical persuasion, and will serve as a model for future descriptive studies of valency in individual languages.

Download or read book New Trends in Grammaticalization and Language Change written by Sylvie Hancil and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters in this volume present a state of the art of grammaticalization research in the 2010s. They are concerned with the application of new models, such as constructionalization, the ongoing debate about the status and modelling of the development of discourse markers, and reveal a renewed interest in the typological application of grammaticalization and in the cognitive motivations for unidirectionality. The contributors consider data from a wide range of languages, including several that have not or marginally been looked at in terms of grammaticalization: Chinese, Dutch, (varieties of) English, French, German, Japanese, Maltese, Old Saxon, Spanish, and languages of the South Caucasian and Zhuang Tai-Kadai families. The chapters range from theoretical discussions to fine-grained analyses of new historical and comparative language data. This volume will be of interest to linguists studying morphosyntactic changes in a range of languages, and in particular to those interested in models for grammatical change.

Download or read book Phi features and the Modular Architecture of Language written by Milan Rezac and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-12 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph investigates the modular architecture of language through the nature of "uninterpretable" phi-features: person, number, gender, and Case. It provides new tools and evidence for the modular architecture of the human language faculty, a foundational topic of linguistic research. At the same time it develops a new theory for one of the core issues posed by the Minimalist Program: the relationship of syntax to its interfaces and the nature of uninterpretable features. The work sets out to establish a new cross-linguistic phenomenon to study the foregoing, person-governed last-resort repairs, which provides new insights into the nature of ergative/accusative Case and of Case licensing itself. This is the first monograph that explicitly addresses the syntactic vs. morphological status of uninterpretable phi-features and their relationship to interface systems in a similar way, drawing on person-based interactions among arguments as key data-base.