A Typological Perspective On Latvian Grammar

Author : Andra Kalnaca
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2014-12-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110411317

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A Typological Perspective on Latvian Grammar by Andra Kalnaca Pdf

Theoretical studies of Latvian grammar have a great deal to offer to contemporary linguistics. Although traditionally Lithuanian has been the most widely studied Baltic language in diachronic and synchronic linguistics alike, Latvian has a number of distinctive features that can prove valuable both for historical, and perhaps even more so, for synchronic language research. Therefore, at the very least, contemporary typological, areal, and language contact studies involving Baltic languages should account for data from Latvian. Typologically, Latvian grammar is a classic Indo-European (Baltic) system with well-developed inflection and derivation. However, it also bears certain similarities to the Finno-Ugric languages, which can be reasonably explained by its areal and historical background. This applies, for example, to the mood system and its connections with modality and evidentiality in Latvian, also to the correlation between aspect and quantity as manifested in verbal and nominal (case) forms. The relations between debitive mood, certain constructions with reflexive verbs, and voice in Latvian are intriguing examples of unusual morphosyntactic features. Accordingly, the book focuses on the following topics: case system and declension (with emphasis on the polyfunctionality of case forms), gender, conjugation, tense and personal forms, aspect, mood, modality and evidentiality, reflexive verbs, and voice. The examples included in this book have been taken from the Balanced Corpus of Modern Latvian (Lidzsvarots musdienu latviešu valodas tekstu korpuss, available at www.korpuss.lv), www.google.lv, mass media, and fiction texts (see the List of language sources) without regard to relative frequency ratios.

Author : Andra Kalnaca
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2014-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110426984

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A Typological Perspective on Latvian Grammar by Andra Kalnaca Pdf

Theoretical studies of Latvian grammar have a great deal to offer to contemporary linguistics. Although traditionally Lithuanian has been the most widely studied Baltic language in diachronic and synchronic linguistics alike, Latvian has a number of distinctive features that can prove valuable both for historical, and perhaps even more so, for synchronic language research. Therefore, at the very least, contemporary typological, areal, and language contact studies involving Baltic languages should account for data from Latvian. Typologically, Latvian grammar is a classic Indo-European (Baltic) system with well-developed inflection and derivation. However, it also bears certain similarities to the Finno-Ugric languages, which can be reasonably explained by its areal and historical background. This applies, for example, to the mood system and its connections with modality and evidentiality in Latvian, also to the correlation between aspect and quantity as manifested in verbal and nominal (case) forms. The relations between debitive mood, certain constructions with reflexive verbs, and voice in Latvian are intriguing examples of unusual morphosyntactic features. Accordingly, the book focuses on the following topics: case system and declension (with emphasis on the polyfunctionality of case forms), gender, conjugation, tense and personal forms, aspect, mood, modality and evidentiality, reflexive verbs, and voice. The examples included in this book have been taken from the Balanced Corpus of Modern Latvian (Lidzsvarots musdienu latviešu valodas tekstu korpuss, available at www.korpuss.lv), www.google.lv, mass media, and fiction texts (see the List of language sources) without regard to relative frequency ratios.

Author : Simone Mattiola
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2019-04-24
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027262585

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Typology of Pluractional Constructions in the Languages of the World by Simone Mattiola Pdf

The aim of this book is to give the first large-scale typological investigation of pluractionality in the languages of the world. Pluractionality is defined as the morphological modification of the verb to express a plurality of situations that can additionally involve a plurality of participants and/or spaces. Based on a 246-language sample, the main characteristics of pluractionality are described and discussed throughout the book. Firstly, a description of the functions that pluractional markers cross-linguistically express is presented and the relationships occurring among them are explained through the semantic map model. Then, the marking strategies that languages display to express such functions are illustrated and some issues concerning the formal identification are briefly discussed as well. The typological generalizations are corroborated showing how pluractional markers work in three specific languages (Akawaio, Beja, Maa). In conclusion, the theoretical conceptualization of pluractionality is discussed referring to the Radical Construction Grammar approach.

Author : Raquel Vea Escaza,Pilar Guerrero Medina
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 463 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2018-11-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781527522152

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Verbs, Clauses and Constructions by Raquel Vea Escaza,Pilar Guerrero Medina Pdf

This volume brings together a collection of twenty contributions which offer a diversity of methodological tools and analytical issues concerning the study of different aspects of the role of verbs, clauses and constructions in a rich variety of languages such as Present-Day English, Old English, Old Saxon, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Upper Sorbian, Latvian, Sino-Tibetan, and the Australian dialects Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra. The use of empirical data and the wide range of languages are the two main challenges addressed here. The book will serve to contribute to current literature on functional-oriented linguistics, incorporating linguistic typology, and corpus-based and contrastive perspectives. The volume is divided into three main parts. The first brings together eight contributions centrally related to the category of the verb both from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The second part consists of five chapters which revolve around the syntax and semantics of clauses. Finally, the seven essays in the third section explore different formal and functional aspects of the study of constructions in an assortment of languages.

Author : Pavol Štekauer,Salvador Valera,Lívia Körtvélyessy
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 435 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2017-01-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781443869294

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Word-Formation across Languages by Pavol Štekauer,Salvador Valera,Lívia Körtvélyessy Pdf

Research into cross-linguistic aspects and typology of word-formation has not been paid relevant and systematic attention by morphologists, and only a few articles dealing with various word-formation issues of this kind appear in journals. The chapters in this volume address this issue by discussing, on contrastive principles, important questions of word-formation in a sample of 26 languages. The focus of the book, as a whole, is on typological features of word-formation in the languages sampled. It is aimed at researchers that have an interest in word-formation in a variety of languages.

Author : Francesca Di Garbo ,Bruno Olsson ,Bernhard Wälchli
Publisher : Language Science Press
Page : 399 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2024-06-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783961101801

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Grammatical gender and linguistic complexity II by Francesca Di Garbo ,Bruno Olsson ,Bernhard Wälchli Pdf

The many facets of grammatical gender remain one of the most fruitful areas of linguistic research, and pose fascinating questions about the origins and development of complexity in language. The present work is a two-volume collection of 13 chapters on the topic of grammatical gender seen through the prism of linguistic complexity. The contributions discuss what counts as complex and/or simple in grammatical gender systems, whether the distribution of gender systems across the world’s languages relates to the language ecology and social history of speech communities. Contributors demonstrate how the complexity of gender systems can be studied synchronically, both in individual languages and over large cross-linguistic samples, and diachronically, by exploring how gender systems change over time. Volume two consists of three chapters providing diachronic and typological case studies, followed by a final chapter discussing old and new theoretical and empirical challenges in the study of the dynamics of gender complexity. This volume is preceded by volume one, which, in addition to three chapters on the theoretical foundations of gender complexity, contains six chapters on grammatical gender and complexity in individual languages and language families of Africa, New Guinea, and South Asia.

Author : Emma Geniusiené
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2011-11-21
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110859119

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The Typology of Reflexives by Emma Geniusiené Pdf

Research on language universals and research on linguistic typology are not antagonistic, but rather complementary approaches to the same fundamental problem: the relationship between the amazing diversity of languages and the profound unity of language. Only if the true extent of typological divergence is recognized can universal laws be formulated. In recent years it has become more and more evident that a broad range of languages of radically different types must be carefully analyzed before general theories are possible. Typological comparison of this kind is now at the centre of linguistic research. The series empirical approaches to language typology presents a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. The distinctive feature of the series is its markedly empirical orientation. All conclusions to be reached are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. General problems are focused on from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of phenomena from little known languages, which shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics. The series is open to contributions from different theoretical persuasions. It thus reflects the methodological pluralism that characterizes the present situation. Care is taken that all volumes be accessible to every linguist and, moreover, to every reader specializing in some domain related to human language. A deeper understanding of human language in general, based on a detailed analysis of typological diversity among individual languages, is fundamental for many sciences, not only for linguists. Therefore, this series has proven to be indispensable in every research library, be it public or private, which has a specialization in language and the language sciences. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

Author : Thomas Stolz,Cornelia Stroh,Aina Urdze
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 569 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2008-08-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110197648

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On Comitatives and Related Categories by Thomas Stolz,Cornelia Stroh,Aina Urdze Pdf

This is the first book-length functional-typologically inspired crosslinguistic study of comitatives and related categories such as the instrumental. On the basis of data drawn from 400 languages world-wide (covering all major phyla and areas), the authors test and revise a variety of general linguistic hypotheses about the grammar and cognitive foundations of comitatives. Three types of languages are identified according to the morphological treatment of the comitative and its syncretistic association with other concepts. It is shown that the structural behaviour of comitatives is areally biassed and that the languages of Europe tend to diverge from the majority of the world's languages. This has important repercussions for a language-independent definition of the comitative. The supposed conceptual closeness of comitative and instrumental is discussed in some detail and a semantic map of the comitative is put forward. Markedness is the crucial concept for the evaluation of the relation that ties comitatives and instrumentals to each other. In a separate chapter, the diachrony of comitatives is looked into from the perspective of grammaticalisation research. Throughout the book, the argumentation is richly documented by empirical data. The book contains three case-studies of the comitative in Icelandic, Latvian and Maltese - each of which represents one of the three language types identified earlier in the text. For the purpose of comparing the languages of Europe, a chapter is devoted to the analysis of a large parallel literary corpus (covering 64 languages) which reveals that the parameters of genetic affiliation, areal location and typological classification interact in intricate ways when it comes to predicting whether or not two languages of the sample behave similarly as to the use to which they put their comitative morphemes. With a view to determining the degree of similarity between the languages of the European sub-sample, methods of quantitative typology are employed. General linguists with an interest in case, functional typologists, grammaticalisation researchers and experts of markedness issues will value this book as an important contribution to their respective fields of interest. We regret that, due to a PDF problem, the figure on page 111 is partly shown in black. Please find the correct table here.

Author : Lívia Körtvélyessy,Alexandra Bagasheva,Pavol Štekauer
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 609 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2020-06-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110686807

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Derivational Networks Across Languages by Lívia Körtvélyessy,Alexandra Bagasheva,Pavol Štekauer Pdf

This pioneering research brings a new insight into derivational processes in terms of theory, method and typology. Theoretically, it conceives of derivation as a three-dimensional system. Methodologically, it introduces a range of parameters for the evaluation of derivational networks, including the derivational role, combinability and blocking effects of semantic categories, the maximum derivational potential and its actualization in relation to simple underived words, and the maximum and average number of orders of derivation. Each language-specific chapter has a unified structure, which made it possible to identify – in the final, typologically oriented chapter – the systematicity and regularity in developing derivational networks in a sample of forty European languages and in a few language genera and families. This is supported by considerations about the role of word-classes, morphological types, and the differences and similarities between word-formation processes of the languages belonging to the same genus/family.

Author : Östen Dahl,Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 446 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2001-12-31
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027297273

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Circum-Baltic Languages by Östen Dahl,Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm Pdf

The area around the Baltic Sea has for millennia been a meeting-place for people of different origins. Among the circum-Baltic languages, we find three major branches of Indo-European —Baltic, Germanic, and Slavic, the Baltic-Finnic languages from the Uralic phylum and several others. The circum-Baltic area is an ideal place to study areal and contact phenomena in languages. The present set of two volumes look at the circum-Baltic languages from a typological, areal and historical perspective, trying to relate the intricate patterns of similarities and dissimilarities to the societal background. In Volume II, selected phenomena in the grammars of the circum-Baltic languages are studied in a cross-linguistic perspective.

Author : Axel Holvoet,Nicole Nau
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 570 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2016-01-21
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027267535

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Argument Realization in Baltic by Axel Holvoet,Nicole Nau Pdf

The third volume in the VARGReB series explores different aspects of varying argument realization in Baltic. It presents original studies on differential marking of both core and non-core verbal arguments, on argument structures of nouns and the encoding of nominal arguments, as well as on constructions reflecting the expansion of argument structure through the addition of causative, resultative or applicative predications. The discussion of phenomena of argument realization and marking often touches on fundamental problems of syntax and the syntax-semantics interface, such as the putative locality of case assignment, event-structural factors determining case marking, the inheritance of argument structure across phrase types, or the status of arguments and adjuncts. The contributions to this volume use different approaches and frameworks to analyze a wealth of authentic data from contemporary Latvian and Lithuanian.

Author : Andra Kalnača,Ilze Lokmane
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 559 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9934186357

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Latvian Grammar by Andra Kalnača,Ilze Lokmane Pdf

Author : Terje Mathiassen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Latvian language
ISBN : UCSC:32106014306184

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A Short Grammar of Latvian by Terje Mathiassen Pdf

Author : Ilja A. Serzant,Leonid Kulikov
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027271303

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The Diachronic Typology of Non-Canonical Subjects by Ilja A. Serzant,Leonid Kulikov Pdf

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.

Author : Bernd Kortmann,Johan van der Auwera
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 934 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2011-07-27
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110220261

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The Languages and Linguistics of Europe by Bernd Kortmann,Johan van der Auwera Pdf

Open publicationThe Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide is part of the multi-volume reference work on the languages and linguistics of the continents of the world. The book supplies profiles of the language families of Europe, including the sign languages. It also discusses the areal typology, paying attention to the Standard Average European, Balkan, Baltic and Mediterranean convergence areas. Separate chapters deal with the old and new minority languages and with non-standard varieties. A major focus is language politics and policies, including discussions of the special status of English, the relation between language and the church, language and the school, and standardization. The history of European linguistics is another focus as is the history of multilingual European 'empires' and their dissolution. The volume is especially geared towards a graduate and advanced undergraduate readership. It has been designed such that it can be used, as a whole or in parts, as a textbook, the first of its kind, for graduate programmes with a focus on the linguistic (and linguistics) landscape of Europe.