Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe

Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe PDF Author: Thomas Stolz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3050064994
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
This in-depth areal-typological study analyzes the grammatical means which are employed in the languages of Europe to express the comparative of inequality/superiority. The extant theories and hypotheses about the morphosyntactic structure and the cross-linguistic distribution of construction types are reviewed. The behavior of comparatives under the conditions of language contact is discussed. Data from more than 170 standard and nonstandard varieties of European languages are scrutinized systematically. The synchronic picture is complemented by a chapter on the diachrony of comparative constructions. The European facts are compared to those of the geographically adjacent Asian and African regions. It is argued that cross-linguistic investigations must take account also of so-called secondary options. These secondary options suggest strongly that the supposedly dominant role of the particle comparative cannot be upheld for Europe. Moreover, only the secondary options allow us to draw isoglosses which cross the borders between Europe and Asia (and Africa).

Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe

Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe PDF Author: Thomas Stolz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3050064994
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
This in-depth areal-typological study analyzes the grammatical means which are employed in the languages of Europe to express the comparative of inequality/superiority. The extant theories and hypotheses about the morphosyntactic structure and the cross-linguistic distribution of construction types are reviewed. The behavior of comparatives under the conditions of language contact is discussed. Data from more than 170 standard and nonstandard varieties of European languages are scrutinized systematically. The synchronic picture is complemented by a chapter on the diachrony of comparative constructions. The European facts are compared to those of the geographically adjacent Asian and African regions. It is argued that cross-linguistic investigations must take account also of so-called secondary options. These secondary options suggest strongly that the supposedly dominant role of the particle comparative cannot be upheld for Europe. Moreover, only the secondary options allow us to draw isoglosses which cross the borders between Europe and Asia (and Africa).

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European PDF Author: Götz Keydana
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110641321
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 605

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Book Description
The ability to compare is fundamental to human cognition. Expressing various types of comparison is thus essential to any language. The present volume presents detailed grammatical descriptions of how comparison and gradation are expressed in ancient Indo-European languages. The detailed chapters devoted to the individual languages go far beyond standard handbook knowledge. Each chapter is structured the same way to facilitate cross-reference and (typological) comparison. The data are presented in a top-down fashion and in a format easily accessible to the linguistic community. The topics covered are similatives, equatives, comparatives, superlatives, elatives, and excessives. Each type of comparison is illustrated with glossed examples of all its attested grammatical realizations. The book is an indispensable tool for typologists, historical linguists, and students of the syntax and morphosyntax of comparison.

Existential Constructions across Languages

Existential Constructions across Languages PDF Author: Laure Sarda
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027252882
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
This volume reflects the centrality of the existential construction in current linguistic research and offers studies that both consolidate and challenge established research agendas. It addresses (i) a variety of constructions related to ‘prototypical’ existentials (including the have-possessive construction), and investigates (ii) the relationships between locative, existential, and information structure, (iii) the quantification of the pivot and (iv) the issue of negative existentials. It brings together different and complementary approaches (functional, cognitive, pragmatic, typological, comparative, diachronic, philosophical) based on a wide variety of data sources. The contributions illustrate how the so-called existential construction can take a variety of forms – more or less grammaticalized – and functions – ranging from the expression of literal existence to that of localization and discursive focus – in a wide range of languages. The book will be valuable for linguists, researchers or students, interested in the cross-linguistic manifestations of existential constructions at the interface between syntax, semantics and information structure.

Slavic on the Language Map of Europe

Slavic on the Language Map of Europe PDF Author: Andrii Danylenko
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110635178
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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Book Description
Conceptually, the volume focuses on the relationship of the three key notions that essentially triggered the inception and subsequent realization of this project, to wit, language contact, grammaticalization, and areal grouping. Fully concentrated on the areal-typological and historical dimensions of Slavic, the volume offers new insights into a number of theoretical issues, including language contact, grammaticalization, mechanisms of borrowing, the relationship between areal, genetic, and typological sampling, conservative features versus innovation, and socio-linguistic aspects of linguistic alliances conceived of both synchronically and diachronically. The volume integrates new approaches towards the areal-typological profiling of Slavic as a member of several linguistic areas within Europe, including SAE, the Balkan Sprachbund and Central European groupings(s) like the Danubian or Carpathian areas, as well as the Carpathian-Balkan linguistic macroarea. Some of the chapters focus on structural affinities between Slavic and other European languages that arose as a result of either grammatical replication or borrowing. A special emphasis is placed on contact-induced grammaticalization in Slavic micro-languages

The Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics

The Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics PDF Author: Raymond Hickey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316839451
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1687

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Book Description
Providing a contemporary and comprehensive look at the topical area of areal linguistics, this book looks systematically at different regions of the world whilst presenting a focussed and informed overview of the theory behind research into areal linguistics and language contact. The topicality of areal linguistics is thoroughly documented by a wealth of case studies from all major regions of the world and, with chapters from scholars with a broad spectrum of language expertise, it offers insights into the mechanisms of external language change. With no book currently like this on the market, The Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics will be welcomed by students and scholars working on the history of language families, documentation and classification, and will help readers to understand the key area of areal linguistics within a broader linguistic context.

Syntactic Features and the Limits of Syntactic Change

Syntactic Features and the Limits of Syntactic Change PDF Author: Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192568744
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
This volume brings together the latest diachronic research on syntactic features and their role in restricting syntactic change. The chapters address a central theoretical issue in diachronic syntax: whether syntactic variation can always be attributed to differences in the features of items in the lexicon, as the Borer-Chomsky conjecture proposes. In answering this question, all the chapters develop analyses of syntactic change couched within a formalist framework in which rich hierarchical structures and abstract features of various kinds play an important role. The first three parts of the volume explore the different domains of the clause, namely the C-domain, the T-domain and the ?P/VP-domain respectively, while chapters in the final part are concerned with establishing methodology in diachronic syntax and modelling linguistic correspondences. The contributors draw on extensive data from a large number of languages and dialects, including several that have received little attention in the literature on diachronic syntax, such as Romeyka, a Greek variety spoken in Turkey, and Middle Low German, previously spoken in northern Germany. Other languages are explored from a fresh theoretical perspective, including Hungarian, Icelandic, and Austronesian languages. The volume sheds light not only on specific syntactic changes from a cross-linguistic perspective but also on broader issues in language change and linguistic theory.

The New Trend of Global Industrial Division of Labor and China’s Responses

The New Trend of Global Industrial Division of Labor and China’s Responses PDF Author: Bei Jin
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981195674X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This book explores the dynamic process of International Division of Labor with constant development and changes. The process reflects not only the development level of productivity, but also relations between countries. What would be the evolution path for the International Division of Labor? How to improve China's and emerging economies' competitiveness to meet the new industrial revolution? The book aims to answer the questions under the global context. China would explore the innovation in new economic forms to strengthen international cooperation and avoid the intensified trade frictions brought about by its industrial upgrading.

The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe

The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe PDF Author: Linda Clarke
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461544459
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
he debate on 'The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe' is an T offspring of a research project on 'Disparities in Wage Relations and the Reproduction of Skills in Europe'. At a meeting of the advisory committee for this research held at the University of Westminster in London on 14th November 1994, it was decided (by Linda Clarke,]orn]anssen, Henryk Lewandowski, Philippe Mehaut, Patrick Rozenblatt and Frank Wilkinson) to set up a larger international committee to develop a programme and seek funding from the European Commission for a symposium of experts on wage relations. This committee of ten scientific experts was formed and invited to a number of meetings throughout 1995 and 1996 by DG V of the European Commission in order to develop a programme and proposal for a symposium to take place in 1997. Eventually the proposal, formally submitted by University of Westminster/London, University ofMaastrichti Netherlands, Fachhochschule Dortmund/Germany and University of Osnabriick/ Germany was accepted by the European Commission in May 1996. Additional funding was then obtained from the Hans-Bockler-Stiftung and the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research allowing, in particular, participants from Central and East European countries to be invited. The subject of wage relations, as a central issue of European social policy, was intended to be tackled in an open debate between scientists and policy makers, the latter as individual experts rather than representatives.

The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages

The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages PDF Author: Marianne Bakró-Nagy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198767668
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 1172

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Book Description
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.

The Social Construction of Europe

The Social Construction of Europe PDF Author: Thomas Christiansen
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761972655
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This book is the first to systematically introduce and apply a social constructivist perspective to the study of European integration. Social constructivism is carefully located in terms of its philosophical and methodological origins. The wider debates and contribution of constructivist approaches to international relations are reviewed, and the insights that might then be afforded to European studies fully explored. Highlights include: new theoretical contributions to the debate by Ernst B. Haas, Andrew Moravcsik and Steve Smith; research on key aspects of European integration and EU governance applying a variety of constructivist approaches. The Social Construction of Europe provides new and important in