Language Typology and Syntactic Description

by Edited by Timothy Shopen

• ISBN13: 9780521588560
• ISBN10: 0521588561
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-10-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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. Most of the chapters in the second edition are substantially revised or completely new - some on topics not covered by the first edition. 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.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. xi
List of tables	p. xii
List of contributors	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
List of abbreviations and symbols	p. xvi
Parts-of-speech systems	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Open classes	p. 3
Nouns	p. 5
Verbs	p. 9
Adjectives	p. 13
Adverbs	p. 19
Closed classes	p. 22
Pronouns and other pro-forms	p. 24
Noun adjuncts	p. 34
Verb adjuncts	p. 40
Conjunctions	p. 45
Other closed classes	p. 52
Suggestions for further reading	p. 60
Word order	p. 61
Introduction	p. 61
Some basic word order correlations	p. 61
Verb-final languages	p. 61
Verb-initial languages	p. 64
svo languages	p. 68
Object-initial languages	p. 71
Interim summary	p. 72
Conclusion	p. 73
Identifying basic word order	p. 73
Identifying constructions cross-linguistically	p. 78
Identifying the order of subject, object, and verb	p. 78
Identifying subjects	p. 78
The order of subject, object, and verb	p. 79
Lexical noun phrases versus pronouns	p. 80
Identification of manner adverbs	p. 80
Identification of prepositions and postpositions	p. 81
Adpositions versus case affixes	p. 82
Case affixes versus adpositional clitics	p. 82
Adpositions and relational nouns	p. 85
Languages without adpositions	p. 86
Identification of genitives	p. 86
Alienable versus inalienable possession	p. 86
Lexical genitives versus possessive pronouns	p. 87
Exceptions to word order generalizations	p. 87
Other word order characteristics that correlate with the order of object and verb directionally	p. 89
Verb and adpositional phrases	p. 89
Verb and non-argument noun phrases	p. 90
Main verb and auxiliary verb	p. 90
Copula verb and predicate	p. 91
Question particles	p. 91
Complementizer and clause	p. 93
Article and noun	p. 94
Subordinate and main clause	p. 96
Word order characteristics that correlate with the order of object and verb unidirectionally	p. 96
Noun and relative clause	p. 96
Plural word and noun	p. 98
Intermediate unidirectional and bidirectional cases	p. 99
Subordinator and clause	p. 99
Complementizer and clause	p. 100
Word order characteristics that do not correlate with the order of object and verb	p. 101
Adjective and noun	p. 101
The absence of a correlation with the order of object and verb	p. 101
Identifying adjectives	p. 102
Demonstrative and noun	p. 104
Numeral and noun	p. 105
Negative particle and verb	p. 105
Tense-aspect particle and verb	p. 107
Degree word and adjective	p. 107
Other typological characteristics correlating with the order of object and verb	p. 108
Position of interrogative expressions in content questions	p. 108
Affix position	p. 110
The use of case in distinguishing transitive arguments	p. 110
Other sorts of implicational generalizations	p. 110
Order among elements at the same level	p. 111
Languages with flexible word order	p. 113
Typological versus language-particular description of word order	p. 114
Examples of summaries of word order properties	p. 115
Siyin Chin	p. 116
Batad Ifugao	p. 120
Summary	p. 129
Suggestions for further reading	p. 130
The major functions of the noun phrase	p. 132
Introduction	p. 132
Preliminaries	p. 135
Semantic roles	p. 135
Agent and patient	p. 137
Other semantic roles	p. 140
Coding strategies	p. 141
Order and arrangement	p. 141
NP-marking	p. 142
Cross-referencing	p. 145
Pragmatic functions	p. 148
Topics and topic-comment articulation	p. 149
Focus-presupposition articulation	p. 150
Thetic articulation	p. 150
Overview of grammatical functions	p. 152
Types of grammatical function	p. 152
External functions	p. 154
Oblique functions	p. 157
Obliques (PPS) in English	p. 157
Obliques in Warlpiri	p. 161
Core grammatical functions	p. 164
Subjects	p. 165
A concept of subject	p. 166
Subjects and coding features in ordinary main clauses	p. 166
Subject ellipsis	p. 168
Coding features in non-main clauses	p. 174
Switch reference	p. 176
Reflexivization	p. 177
Other properties of subjects	p. 179
Other core grammatical relations	p. 180
Direct objects and second objects	p. 180
Indirect objects	p. 188
Other core relations	p. 191
Syntactic ergativity	p. 193
Reconsidering grammatical relations	p. 197
Mixed syntactic ergativity	p. 198
The Philippine type	p. 202
The universal status of a- and p-subjects	p. 211
Manipuri	p. 212
Split intransitivity	p. 216
Conclusion	p. 222
Suggestions for further reading	p. 222
Clause types	p. 224
Introduction	p. 224
Nonverbal predicates	p. 224
Types of copulas	p. 225
Adjectival predicates	p. 227
Nominal predicates	p. 229
Equational clauses versus clauses with true nominal predicates	p. 233
Optional copulas	p. 236
Locative predicates / existential clauses	p. 238
Locative copulas	p. 238
Existential clauses	p. 240
Existential clauses for expressing predicate possession	p. 244
Other types of existential clauses	p. 246
Minor types of clauses with nonverbal predicates	p. 247
Verbal predicates	p. 250
Transitive versus intransitive clauses	p. 250
Ergative versus accusative patterns	p. 251
Ditransitive clauses	p. 253
Subtypes of intransitive clauses	p. 259
Stative versus nonstative clauses	p. 259
Split intransitivity	p. 261
Zero-intransitive (or ambient) clauses	p. 267
Semi-transitive clauses	p. 270
Clauses with derived verbs	p. 274
Suggestions for further reading	p. 275
Speech act distinctions in grammar	p. 276
Speech acts and sentence types	p. 276
Declarative sentences	p. 284
Declaratives in relation to the other basic types	p. 285
Interaction with evidentiality	p. 288
Interrogative sentences	p. 290
Polar interrogatives	p. 292
Intonational marking	p. 292
Interrogative particles	p. 294
Interrogative tags	p. 296
Disjunctive-negative structures	p. 297
Change in the order of constituents	p. 298
Verbal inflection	p. 299
Constituent interrogatives	p. 299
Imperative sentences	p. 303
Positive imperatives	p. 304
Negative imperatives (prohibitives)	p. 308
Indirect strategies	p. 311
Related constructions	p. 313
Some minor sentence types	p. 316
Exclamatives	p. 316
Echo questions	p. 319
Nonfinite presentatives	p. 319
Answers to questions	p. 320
Summary and conclusion	p. 322
Suggestions for further reading	p. 323
Passive in the world's languages	p. 325
Introduction	p. 325
Passive as a foregrounding and backgrounding operation	p. 325
Basic passives	p. 328
General properties of basic passives	p. 328
The syntactic form of basic passives	p. 332
Strict morphological passives	p. 333
Periphrastic passives	p. 336
The semantics of basic passives	p. 339
Aspectual differences	p. 340
Degree of subject affectedness	p. 341
Non-basic passives	p. 342
Passives with agent phrases	p. 342
Agent phrases in non-passive constructions	p. 342
The form of agent phrases	p. 343
Passives on non-transitive verbs	p. 345
Passives on ditransitive verb phrases	p. 348
Other passives with non-patient subjects	p. 350
Constructions that resemble passives	p. 352
Middles	p. 352
Unspecified subject constructions	p. 354
Inverses	p. 356
Antipassives	p. 359
The functional load of passive in grammars	p. 359
Suggestions for further reading	p. 361
A typology of information packaging in the clause	p. 362
Introduction	p. 362
On verbal semantics and packaging options	p. 364
Conceptual events, participants, and perspective	p. 364
Parameters governing actor choices	p. 370
Parameters governing undergoer choices	p. 374
Intransitive verbs and the unaccusative/unergative split	p. 380
On argument structure and pivots	p. 383
The nature of argument structure	p. 383
The notion of pivot	p. 389
A typology of pivots	p. 394
On information structure	p. 402
The discourse status of noun phrases	p. 402
The information status of noun phrases	p. 409
The animacy hierarchy	p. 413
Topics, pivots, and prominence	p. 416
On voice: clause-internal packaging options	p. 418
Passive constructions	p. 418
Foregrounding passives	p. 422
Backgrounding passives	p. 423
Summary	p. 427
Antipassive constructions	p. 429
Foregrounding antipassives	p. 430
Backgrounding antipassives	p. 433
Applicative constructions	p. 437
Summary of clause-internal packaging constructions	p. 441
On clause-external packaging options: topicalizations, left dislocations, and right dislocations	p. 442
Suggestions for further reading	p. 446
Bibliography	p. 447
Subject index	p. 470
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