Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical

Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical
Author: Marja-Liisa Helasvuo
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2015-01-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027269181

This volume analyzes constructions with non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, drawing on insights from cognitive and discourse-functional linguistics. Prototypical subjects have often been characterized in terms of their semantic, syntactic and discourse features, such as animacy, agentivity, topicality, referentiality, definiteness and autonomy of existence of the subject referent. A non-canonical subject is one that lacks some of these features. This may be reflected in its meaning, grammatical coding, and/or discourse function. In discussing non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, the chapters in the volume address the following more general topics: What kinds of grammatical, semantic and discourse criteria can be used to distinguish subjects from non-subjects? To what extent are subject criteria construction-specific? What kinds of constructions have non-canonical subjects? What are the semantic and discourse functions of constructions with non-canonical subjects? Are subjects which are grammatically non-canonical also atypical in terms of their discourse features?

Non-canonical Marking of Subjects and Objects

Non-canonical Marking of Subjects and Objects
Author: Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9789027229502

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.

The Diachronic Typology of Non-Canonical Subjects

The Diachronic Typology of Non-Canonical Subjects
Author: Ilja A. Serzant
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2013-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027271305

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.

Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects

Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects
Author: Jóhanna Barðdal
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2018-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027263515

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.

Non-Canonical Passives

Non-Canonical Passives
Author: Artemis Alexiadou
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027272271

This volume contains a selection of papers dealing with constructions that have a passive-like interpretation but do not seem to share all the properties with canonical passives. The fifteen chapters of this volume raise important questions concerning the proper characterization of the universal properties of passivization and reflect the current discussion in this area, covering syntactic, semantic, psycho-linguistic and typological aspects of the phenomenon, from different theoretical perspectives and in different language families and backed up in most cases by extensive corpora and experimental studies.

The MIHI EST construction

The MIHI EST construction
Author: Mihaela Ilioaia
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2023-12-18
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 3111055620

This book examines the Romanian mihi est construction (Mi-e foame/frică, me.dat = is hunger/fear ‘I am hungry/ afraid’). While it disappeared from all other Romance languages to be replaced with a habeo structure, the mihi est pattern is in Romanian the most common way of expressing psychological or physiological states. By means of synchronic and diachronic corpus studies, the book investigates the status of the core arguments of the mihi est structure, i.e. the dative experiencer and the nominative state noun, as well as its evolution throughout the centuries. The data analysis reveals that the dative experiencer syntactically behaves like nominative subjects, whereas the state noun shows predicate behavior. As for the evolution of the mihi est structure, the analysis shows a certain tendency toward innovation, since in present-day Romanian it can coerce nouns coming from other semantic fields into the construction’s psychological or physiological interpretation. Could this be another unique trait of Romanian, which causes it to seemingly go against the tendency of most Romance languages toward canonical marking of core arguments?

Non-canonical Control in a Cross-linguistic Perspective

Non-canonical Control in a Cross-linguistic Perspective
Author: Anne Mucha
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2021-09-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027259585

Control, typically defined as a specific referential dependency between the null-subject of a non-finite embedded clause and a co-dependent of the matrix predicate, has been subject to extensive research in the last 50 years. While there is a broad consensus that a distinction between Obligatory Control (OC), Non-Obligatory Control (NOC) and No Control (NC) is useful and necessary to cover the range of relevant empirical phenomena, there is still less agreement regarding their proper analyses. In light of this ongoing discussion, the articles collected in this volume provide a cross-linguistic perspective on central questions in the study of control, with a focus on non-canonical control phenomena. This includes cases which show NOC or NC in complement clauses or OC in adjunct clauses, cases in which the controlled subject is not in an infinitival clause, or in which there is no unique controller in OC (i.e. partial control, split control, or other types of controllers). Based on empirical generalizations from a wide range of languages, this volume provides insights into cross-linguistic variation in the interplay of different components of control such as the properties of the constituent hosting the controlled subject, the syntactic and lexical properties of the matrix predicate as well as restrictions on the controller, thereby furthering our empirical and theoretical understanding of control in grammar.

Alignment Change in Iranian Languages

Alignment Change in Iranian Languages
Author: Geoffrey Haig
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2008
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9783110195866

The series is a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. General problems are studied from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Conclusions are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. Special emphasis is given to little-known languages, whose analysis may shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics.

Partitive Cases and Related Categories

Partitive Cases and Related Categories
Author: Silvia Luraghi
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 519
Release: 2014-08-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 311039457X

Argument-marking, morphological partitives have been the topic of language specific studies, while no cross-linguistic or typological analyses have been conducted. Since individual partitives of different languages have been studied, there exists a basis for a more cross-linguistic approach. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap and to bring together research on partitives in different languages.

The Case System of Eastern Indo-Aryan Languages

The Case System of Eastern Indo-Aryan Languages
Author: Bornini Lahiri
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2021-04-30
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1000373185

This book presents a typological overview of the case system of Eastern Indo-Aryan (EIA) languages. It utilizes a cognitive framework to analyse and compare the case markers of seven EIA languages: Angika, Asamiya, Bhojpuri, Bangla, Magahi, Maithili and Odia. The book introduces semantic maps, which have hitherto not been used for Indian languages, to plot the scope of different case markers and facilitate cross-linguistic comparison of these languages. It also offers a detailed questionnaire specially designed for fieldwork and data collection which will be extremely useful to researchers involved in the study of case. A unique look into the linguistic traditions of South Asia, the book will be indispensable to academicians, researchers, and students of language studies, linguistics, literature, cognitive science, psychology, language technologies and South Asian studies. It will also be useful for linguists, typologists, grammarians and those interested in the study of Indian languages.