Ergativity in German

Ergativity in German PDF Author: Günther Grewendorf
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110859254
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.

Ergativity in German

Ergativity in German PDF Author: Günther Grewendorf
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110859254
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.

Ergativity

Ergativity PDF Author: Robert M. W. Dixon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521448987
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Although there is only one ergative language in Europe (Basque), perhaps one-quarter of the world's languages show ergative properties, and pose considerable difficulties for many current linguistic theories. R. M. W. Dixon here provides a full survey of the various types of ergativity, looking at the ways they interrelate, their semantic bases and their role in the organisation of discourse. Ergativity stems from R. M. W. Dixon's long-standing interest in the topic, and in particular from his seminal 1979 paper in Language. It includes a rich collection of data from a large number of the world's languages. Comprehensive, clear and insightful, it will be the standard point of reference for all those interested in the topic.

Ergativity and Other Alignment Types in Neo-Aramaic

Ergativity and Other Alignment Types in Neo-Aramaic PDF Author: Paul M. Noorlander
Publisher: Studies in Semitic Languages a
ISBN: 9789004448179
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
This book contains a comprehensive study of constructional splits and alignment typology, especially ergativity, as found in the Neo-Aramaic languages spoken in the Mesopotamian region of West Asia.

Alignment and Ergativity in New Indo-Aryan Languages

Alignment and Ergativity in New Indo-Aryan Languages PDF Author: Saartje Verbeke
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 311029267X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
The volume investigates the different alignment patterns in Indo-Aryan and shows that the variation of alignment patterns in Indo-Aryan goes beyond the opposition between accusativity and ergativity. The book includes a thorough discussion of the concepts and terminology relating to alignment patterns. The study draws extensively on new language data from Indo-Aryan. It includes discussions of examples taken from Hindi, Sanskrit, Apabhramsa, Asamiya, Bangla, Oriya, the Bihari languages, Nepali, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Siraiki, Poguli, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marwari, Harauti, the Hindi varieties, and Shina. The volume offers a comprehensive overview of various alignment patterns in Indo-Aryan based on a wide range of data. By focusing on lesser known Indo-Aryan languages, the study questions the central position of Hindi-Urdu in the research on ergativity. Each language is treated in its own right, with a focus on language-specific data and analyses, rather than relying on a notional format that starts with pre-established linguistic concepts. In accordance with this methodology, much attention is paid to "indirect" connections between ergative constructions and other syntactic and semantic patterns in the various languages.

Deconstructing Ergativity

Deconstructing Ergativity PDF Author: Maria Polinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190256583
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Nominative-accusative and ergative are two common alignment types found across languages. In the former type, the subject of an intransitive verb and the subject of a transitive verb are expressed the same way, and differently from the object of a transitive. In ergative languages, the subject of an intransitive and the object of a transitive appear in the same form, the absolutive, and the transitive subject has a special, ergative, form. Ergative languages often follow very different patterns, thus evading a uniform description and analysis. A simple explanation for that has to do with the idea that ergative languages, much as their nominative-accusative counterparts, do not form a uniform class. In this book, Maria Polinsky argues that ergative languages instantiate two main types, the one where the ergative subject is a prepositional phrase (PP-ergatives) and the one with a noun-phrase ergative. Each type is internally consistent and is characterized by a set of well-defined properties. The book begins with an analysis of syntactic ergativity, which as Polinsky argues, is a manifestation of the PP-ergative type. Polinsky discusses diagnostic properties that define PPs in general and then goes to show that a subset of ergative expressions fit the profile of PPs. Several alternative analyses have been proposed to account for syntactic ergativity; the book presents and outlines these analyses and offers further considerations in support of the PP-ergativity approach. The book then discusses the second type, DP-ergative languages, and traces the diachronic connection between the two types. The book includes two chapters illustrating paradigm PP-ergative and DP-ergative languages: Tongan and Tsez. The data used in these descriptions come from Polinsky's original fieldwork hence presenting new empirical facts from both languages.

The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity PDF Author: Jessica Coon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198739370
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1297

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Book Description
This volume examines the phenomenon of ergativity, a grammatical patterning whereby direct objects are in some way treated like intransitive subjects, to the exclusion of transitive subjects. It includes theoretical approaches from generative, typological, and functional paradigms, as well as 16 language-specific case studies.

Indo-Aryan Ergativity in Typological and Diachronic Perspective

Indo-Aryan Ergativity in Typological and Diachronic Perspective PDF Author: Eystein Dahl
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027267162
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This volume presents a state-of-the-art survey of synchronic and diachronic dimensions of Ergativity in the Indo-Aryan language family. It contains an introduction drawing on the most important recent typological and theoretical contributions to this field, plus seven papers about the origin, development and distribution of ergative alignment in ancient and modern Indo-Aryan languages written by well-established expert authors. The articles provide detailed explorations of language-specific synchronic systems or patterns of change, and large-scale studies of the distribution of ergative morphosyntax across the Indo-Aryan languages. The papers have a typological-functional approach and are based on thorough fieldwork experience and/or philological investigation. As the Indo-Aryan language family has played a paramount role in recent theories of Ergativity and of alignment typology and change, this volume is highly relevant to experts working on these languages and to scholars interested in grammatical relations and it will figure in all future debates in these fields

Bilingual First Language Acquisition

Bilingual First Language Acquisition PDF Author: Jürgen M. Meisel
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027224706
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The contributions in this volume are based on an analysis of data from bilingual children acquiring French and German simultaneously. The longitudinal studies started at approximately age one year and six months and continued till age six. The papers focus on the development of specific grammatical phenomena; explanations are given within the framework of the Principle and Parameter approach. The study is primarily concerned with the acquisition of so-called 'functional categories' and the consequences of their acquisition for the development of grammar. Specific points dealt with in these papers include: gender, number and case and their internal structure (DP vs NP); inflection and its consequences for agreement marking; and word order phenomena (subject-raising constructions (incl. passives), word order in subordinate clauses). The basic hypothesis underlying this study is that early child grammars consist only of lexical categories and that functional categories are implemented later in the child's grammar. How this happens exactly is the central issue explored in this book.

Arguments and Case

Arguments and Case PDF Author: Eric J. Reuland
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027299218
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The ideas presented by the contributions in this volume originated in a workshop on Burzio’s generalization. Burzio’s Generalization (BG) states that a verb which does not assign an external theta-role to its subject does not assign structural accusative Case to an object and conversely. It connects cross-linguistic similarities between e.g. passives, raising verbs, and unaccusatives. However, it does so by linking very different properties of a predicate. This raises fundamental questions about its theoretical status. The contributions in this volume explore BG’s theoretical basis. A consensus emerges that BG is, in fact, an epiphenomenon, due to the interaction of different principles of grammar. Moreover, the contributions show a striking convergence as to how BG is ultimately derived. The results obtained make a significant contribution to the further development of theories of Case and thematic relations.

Ergativity

Ergativity PDF Author: Alana Johns
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402041877
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The overarching theme of this volume is the formal expression of the range and limits of ergativity. The book contains cutting-edge theoretical papers by top authors in the field, who also conduct original field work and bring new data to light. It contains articles that apply the most recent theoretical tools to the area of ergativity, and then explore the issues that emerge. Languages investigated in the text include Basque, Georgian, and Hindi.