The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems

The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems PDF Author: David Beck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136069143
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book presents rigorous and criterial definitions of the major parts of speech - noun, verb, and adjective - that account both for their syntactic behaviour and for their observed typological variation. Based on an examination of languages from five different groups - Salishan, Cora, Quechua, Totonac, and Hausa - this book argues that parts of speech must be defined by combining the criteria of syntactic markedness, which characterizes lexical classes in terms of unmarked syntactic roles, and semantic prototypicality, which delimits their prototypical meanings. Adjectives are shown to be the marked (and, hence, most variable) class because of their inherent non-iconicity at the semantics/syntax interface. The four-member typology of parts of speech systems (languages with three open classes, those that group adjectives with verbs, those that group adjectives with nouns, and those that conflate all three) current in the literature is easily generated by free recombination of these two criterial features. Closer examination of the data, however, casts doubt on the existence of one of the four possible language-types, the noun-adjective conflating inventory, which is accounted here for by replacing free recombination of semantic and syntactic features with an algorithm for the subdivision of the lexicon that gives primacy to semantics over syntax.

The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems

The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems PDF Author: David Beck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136069143
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents rigorous and criterial definitions of the major parts of speech - noun, verb, and adjective - that account both for their syntactic behaviour and for their observed typological variation. Based on an examination of languages from five different groups - Salishan, Cora, Quechua, Totonac, and Hausa - this book argues that parts of speech must be defined by combining the criteria of syntactic markedness, which characterizes lexical classes in terms of unmarked syntactic roles, and semantic prototypicality, which delimits their prototypical meanings. Adjectives are shown to be the marked (and, hence, most variable) class because of their inherent non-iconicity at the semantics/syntax interface. The four-member typology of parts of speech systems (languages with three open classes, those that group adjectives with verbs, those that group adjectives with nouns, and those that conflate all three) current in the literature is easily generated by free recombination of these two criterial features. Closer examination of the data, however, casts doubt on the existence of one of the four possible language-types, the noun-adjective conflating inventory, which is accounted here for by replacing free recombination of semantic and syntactic features with an algorithm for the subdivision of the lexicon that gives primacy to semantics over syntax.

Approaches to the Typology of Word Classes

Approaches to the Typology of Word Classes PDF Author: Petra Maria Vogel
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110167832
Category : Grammar, Comparative and general
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book approaches word classes and their categorial manifestations from the perspective of typology and language universals research. The authors in this volume discuss word class categorization in general (Part I) as well as word classes and word class systems of individual languages (Part II) from a typological-universal viewpoint and from diachronic and cross-linguistic perspectives.

Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech PDF Author: Umberto Ansaldo
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027287716
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Parts of Speech are a central aspect of linguistic theory and analysis. Though a long-established tradition in Western linguistics and philosophy has assumed the validity of Parts of Speech in the study of language, there are still many questions left unanswered. For example, should Parts of Speech be treated as descriptive tools or are they to be considered universal constructs? Is it possible to come up with cross-linguistically valid formal categories, or are categories of language structure ultimately language-specific? Should they be defined semantically, syntactically, or otherwise? Do non-Indo-European languages reveal novel aspects of categorical assignment? This volume attempts to answer these and other fundamental questions for linguistic theory and its methodology by offering a range of contributions that spans diverse theoretical persuasions and contributes to our understanding of Parts of Speech with analyses of new data sets. These articles were originally published in Studies in Language 32:3 (2008).

The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems

The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems PDF Author: David Beck
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description


Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 3

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 3 PDF Author: Timothy Shopen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521318990
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
The three volumes of Language typology and syntactic description offer a unique survey of syntactic and morphological structure in the languages of the world. Topics covered include parts of speech; passives; complementation; relative clauses; adverbial clauses; inflectional morphology; tense; aspect and mood; and deixis. The major ways these notions are realized u=in the languages of the world are explored, and the contributors provide brief sketches of relevant aspects of representative languages. Each volume is written in an accessible style with new concepts explained and exemplified as they are introduced. Although each volume can be read independently, together they provide a major work of reference that will serve as a manual for field workers and anyone interested in cross-linguistic generalizations.

Grammar Efficiency of Parts-of-speech Systems

Grammar Efficiency of Parts-of-speech Systems PDF Author: Barbara L. Miller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Computational linguistics
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
In Linguistic Typology, Parts-of-Speech system classification is a classification of languages which is based on syntactic properties, specifically the word classes present in a language and how these word classes function in syntactic slots, also known as propositional slots. The two-number Parts-of-Speech system classification introduced by Vulanović in 2008, which is a modification of a classification by Hengeveld et al. in 2004, is a mathematical approach to this linguistic classification. In this study the validity of the two-number classification was tested with regard to how the complexity and efficiency of the Parts-of-Speech systems relate to the two-number labeling system, l.n, where l is the number of word classes and n is the number of propositional slots present in the Parts-of-Speech system type. The minimum efficiency and maximum efficiency of the theoretically possible Parts-of-Speech system types were determined using an efficiency formula based on machine efficiency. Intervals of efficiency were determined for each system type and a linear and a non-linear equation were fit to this data. It was shown that a correlation exists between the two-number labeling and the efficiency of 17 theoretically possible Parts-of-Speech system types, 10 of which are attested by natural languages.

Flexible Word Classes

Flexible Word Classes PDF Author: Jan Rijkhoff
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191645478
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
This book is the first major cross-linguistic study of 'flexible words', i.e. words that cannot be classified in terms of the traditional lexical categories Verb, Noun, Adjective or Adverb. Flexible words can - without special morphosyntactic marking - serve in functions for which other languages must employ members of two or more of the four traditional, 'specialised' word classes. Thus, flexible words are underspecified for communicative functions like 'predicating' (verbal function), 'referring' (nominal function) or 'modifying' (a function typically associated with adjectives and e.g. manner adverbs). Even though linguists have been aware of flexible world classes for more than a century, the phenomenon has not played a role in the development of linguistic typology or modern grammatical theory. The current volume aims to address this gap by offering detailed studies on flexible word classes, investigating their properties and what it means for the grammar of a language to have such a word class. It includes new cross-linguistic studies of word class systems as well as original descriptive and theoretical contributions from authors with an expert knowledge of languages that have played - or should play - a role in the debate about flexible word classes, including Kharia, Riau Indonesian, Santali, Sri Lanka Malay, Lushootseed, Gooniyandi, and Late Archaic Chinese.

Word Classes

Word Classes PDF Author: Raffaele Simone
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027269769
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
The universal and typological status of the notion of word class — closely related to part-of-speech systems, morphology, syntax and the lexicon-syntax interface — continues to be of major linguistic theoretical interest. The papers included in this volume offer a fresh look at the variety of current theoretical and descriptive approaches to word class issues, and present original analyses and new data from a number of languages. The primary focus is on methods (including computational ones) and criteria for identifying and representing major word classes and subclasses in specific languages, with considerable attention also directed towards the characterization of the nature and role of minor — or neglected — word classes, including trans-categorization processes. The range of topics and perspectives covered makes this volume of considerable interest to both theoretical linguists and typologists.

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 2, Complex Constructions

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 2, Complex Constructions PDF Author: Timothy Shopen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521318983
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Volume 2 of a survey of syntactic and morphological structure in the world's languages.

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 1, Clause Structure

Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Volume 1, Clause Structure PDF Author: Timothy Shopen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113946728X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This unique three-volume survey brings together a team of leading scholars to explore the syntactic and morphological structures of the world's languages. Clearly organized and broad-ranging, it covers topics such as parts-of-speech, passives, complementation, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, inflectional morphology, tense, aspect, mood, and diexis. The contributors look at the major ways that these notions are realized, and provide informative sketches of them at work in a range of languages. Each volume is accessibly written and clearly explains each new concept introduced. Although the volumes can be read independently, together they provide an indispensable reference work for all linguists and fieldworkers interested in cross-linguistic generalizations. Volume I covers parts-of-speech systems, word order, the noun phrase, clause types, speech act distinctions, the passive, and information packaging in the clause.