Prototypical Transitivity

Author : Åshild Næss
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9027229848

Get Book

Prototypical Transitivity by Åshild Næss Pdf

This book presents a functional analysis of a notion which has gained considerable importance in cognitive and functional linguistics over the last couple of decades, namely 'prototypical transitivity'. It discusses what prototypical transitivity is, why it should exist, and how it should be defined, as well as how this definition can be employed in the analysis of a number of phenomena of language, such as case-marking, experiencer constructions, and so-called ambitransitives. Also discussed is how a prototype analysis relates to other approaches to transitivity, such as that based on markedness. The basic claim is that transitivity is iconic: a construction with two distinct, independent arguments is prototypically used to refer to an event with two distinct, independent participants. From this principle, a unified account of the properties typically associated with transitivity can be derived, and an explanation for why these properties tend to correlate across languages can be given.

Author : Nicole Delbecque,Bert Cornillie
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 381 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2008-08-27
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110207842

Get Book

On Interpreting Construction Schemas by Nicole Delbecque,Bert Cornillie Pdf

This volume addresses the constructional variability with transitive and causative verbs from the point of view of their respective action and motion patterns. Drawing on the theoretical advances registered in cognitive approaches to language (Cognitive Grammar, Construction Grammar and space semantics), the papers substantiate new interpretations and adduce empirical evidence from various languages to refine or adjust existing analyses of transitivity and causation. The different contributions all address the crucial question of how concrete and abstract notions of human behavior drive linguistic expressions. Cognitive linguists consider that linguistic competence functions in terms of complex conceptual units: the native speaker knows and manipulates conceptual blocks without paying further attention to their constitutive parts or their internal organization. However, as this volume illustrates, the role of the constitutive parts and their internal organization cannot simply be reduced to zero. A multidimensional approach to construction schemas is at stake. That is, the speaker applies proper embodied subroutines to build a coherent meaning, but the construction schemas are also rooted in the linguistic patterns the speaker and hearer are familiar with. The volume is primarily intended for scholars working within cognitive-semantic research at large. Given its theoretical and applied character (in the sense of giving empirical evidence for specific problems in the grammar), the volume will also be of great interest to anyone concerned with syntactic processes, construction grammar or with the cognitive structure of discourse. The descriptive and theoretical insights indeed dwell on areas that are currently dealt with in modern linguistics.

Author : Nikolaos Lavidas
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 325 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2009-12-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781443818100

Get Book

Transitivity Alternations in Diachrony by Nikolaos Lavidas Pdf

Τhis book offers a new approach to the theory of change in argument structure and voice morphology. It investigates the diachrony of transitivity, and especially the changes in causative verbs and transitivity alternations, based on data mainly from the Greek and English diachrony (all historical data are transcribed and accompanied by glosses and translations into Modern English). Data from earlier periods provide new information on burning questions in both Historical and Theoretical Linguistics. The study shows that (a) causativisations are the result of reanalysis of intransitive verbs as transitive on the basis of the linguistic cue of Case; (b) the changes in voice morphology do not depend on the derivation and direction of new transitivity alternations. Finally, the study demonstrates that the generalisation that guides the changes in voice demands morphological differentiation of the anticausative from the passive types.

Author : Paul J. Hopper,Sandra A. Thompson
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 479 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2020-01-13
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004368903

Get Book

Studies in Transitivity by Paul J. Hopper,Sandra A. Thompson Pdf

Author : Esaúl Ruiz Narbona
Publisher : utzverlag GmbH
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783831648726

Get Book

Transitivising Mechanisms in Old English by Esaúl Ruiz Narbona Pdf

Based on the surviving Old English textual material, as well as on Old English dictionaries and the relevant literature, this work studies the role of preverbs (eg. Byrnan, ābyrnan, forbyrnan, gebyrnan, onbyrnan) as a transitivising mechanism under the scope of the Cardinal Transitivity approach. Focus is laid on Old English morphological causative pairs that show signs of lability, i.e. verbs that can function transitively or intransitively with no morphological marking. This work has two main objectives. On the one hand, to examine to what extent preverbs may influence the valence of verbs that are ambivalent from the point of view of their valence as well as to shed light on the effects preverbs may have on other parameters of transitivity such as telicity or affectedness. On the other hand, this book also explores a rather neglected topic so far: the interaction of preverbs and the Germanic morphological causative marker -jan as transitivising mechanisms in Old English.

Author : Zhuo Jing-Schmidt
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2005-08-31
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027294289

Get Book

Dramatized Discourse by Zhuo Jing-Schmidt Pdf

Language is a symbolic system of meanings evoked by linguistic forms. The choice of forms in communication is non-arbitrary. Rather, speakers pick those forms whose meanings best convey their discourse intention. The meaning of the Mandarin ba-construction, argues Jing-Schmidt, is discourse dramaticity, a concept that includes high conceptual salience and subjectivity. The ba-construction and its "syntactic variations" are never interchangeable because contrast in their meanings determines difference in their functions. Quantitative analyses based on authentic data validate the postulation of discourse dramaticity. By taking discourse pragmatics seriously, the dramaticity hypothesis enables a unitary explanation that transcends sentence grammar. The diachronic treatment reveals the syntactic change of the ba-construction as an adaptive process of pragmatization, which raises the issue of linguistic evolution as a result of socio-cultural development. This book will be of particular value to readers interested in the interaction between grammar and pragmatics and to teachers confronting the controversy of the ba-construction in foreign language pedagogy.

Author : Talmy Givón
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 526 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1588110664

Get Book

Syntax by Talmy Givón Pdf

This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised. In the previous edition (1984) the author deliberately chose to de-emphasize the more formal aspects of syntactic structure, in favor of a more comprehensive treatment of the semantic and pragmatic correlates of syntactic structure. With hindsight the author now finds the de-emphasis of the formal properties a somewhat regrettable choice, since it creates the false impression that one could somehow be a functionalist without being at the same time a structuralist. To redress the balance, explicit treatment is given to the core formal properties of syntactic constructions, such as constituency and hierarchy (phrase structure), grammatical relations and relational control, clause union, finiteness and governed constructions. At the same time, the cognitive and communicative underpinning of grammatical universals are further elucidated and underscored, and the interplay between grammar, cognition and neurology is outlined. Also the relevant typological database is expanded, now exploring in greater precision the bounds of syntactic diversity. Lastly, Syntax treats synchronic-typological diversity more explicitly as the dynamic by-product of diachronic development or grammaticalization. In so doing a parallel is drawn between linguistic diversity and diachrony on the one hand and biological diversity and evolution on the other. It is then suggested that — as in biology — synchronic universals of grammar are exercised and instantiated primarily as constraints on development, and are thus merely the apparent by-products of universal constraints on grammaticalization.

Author : Peter Bekins
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-08-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004370166

Get Book

Transitivity and Object Marking in Biblical Hebrew by Peter Bekins Pdf

Based on author's dissertation (doctoral--Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 2012).

Author : Kristel Van Goethem,Muriel Norde,Evie Coussé,Gudrun Vanderbauwhede
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2018-03-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027264350

Get Book

Category Change from a Constructional Perspective by Kristel Van Goethem,Muriel Norde,Evie Coussé,Gudrun Vanderbauwhede Pdf

Category change, broadly defined as the shift from one word class to another, is often studied as part of other changes, such as grammaticalization or lexicalization, but not in its own right. This volume offers a survey of different types of category change and their properties, e.g. abrupt versus gradual changes, morphological versus syntactic changes, or context-independent versus context-sensitive changes. The purpose of this collection of papers is to explore the concepts of linguistic category and category change from the perspective of Construction Grammar. Using data from a variety of languages, the authors address a number of themes that are central to current theorizing about category change, such as the question of whether or not categories should be considered discrete entities, how new categories arise, or whether category change can be considered as the emergence of a new construction, i.e. a new form-meaning pairing. The novel approach advanced in this volume will be of interest to historical linguists as well as to general linguists working on the nature of linguistic categories.

Author : John J. Lowe
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2017-06-16
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780192512130

Get Book

Transitive Nouns and Adjectives by John J. Lowe Pdf

This book explores the wealth of evidence from early Indo-Aryan for the existence of transitive nouns and adjectives, a rare linguistic phenomenon which, according to some categorizations of word classes, should not occur. John Lowe shows that most transitive nouns and adjectives attested in early Indo-Aryan cannot be analysed as a type of non-finite verb category, but must be acknowledged as a distinct constructional type. The volume provides a detailed introduction to transitivity (verbal and adpositional), the categories of agent and action noun, and to early Indo-Aryan. Four periods of early Indo-Aryan are selected for study: Rigvedic Sanskrit, the earliest Indo-Aryan; Vedic Prose, a slightly later form of Sanskrit; Epic Sanskrit, a form of Sanskrit close to the standardized 'Classical' Sanskrit; and Pali, the early Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Buddhist scriptures. John Lowe shows that while each linguistic stage is different, there are shared features of transitive nouns and adjectives which apply throughout the history of early Indo-Aryan. The data is set in the wider historical context, from Proto-Indo-European to Modern Indo-Aryan, and a formal linguistic analysis of transitive nouns and adjectives is provided in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar.

Author : Anna Wierzbicka
Publisher : Oxford University Press, UK
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1996-03-28
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780191588594

Get Book

Semantics : Primes and Universals by Anna Wierzbicka Pdf

This book provides a synthesis of Wierzbicka's theory of meaning, which is based on conceptual primitives and semantic universals, using empirical findings from a wide range of languages. While addressed primarily to linguists, the book deals with highly topical and controversial issues of central importance to several disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. - ;Conceptual primitives and semantic universals are the cornerstones of a semantic theory which Anna Wierzbicka has been developing for many years. Semantics: Primes and Universals is a major synthesis of her work, presenting a full and systematic exposition of that theory in a non-technical and readable way. It delineates a full set of universal concepts, as they have emerged from large-scale investigations across a wide range of languages undertaken by the author and her colleagues. On the basis of empirical cross-linguistic studies it vindicates the old notion of the 'psychic unity of mankind', while at the same time offering a framework for the rigorous description of different languages and cultures. - ;A major synthesis of Anna Wierzbicka's work -

Author : Gaëtanelle Gilquin
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2010-03-24
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9789027288493

Get Book

Corpus, Cognition and Causative Constructions by Gaëtanelle Gilquin Pdf

English causative constructions with cause, get, have and make are often mistakenly presented as (quasi-)synonymous and more or less interchangeable. This book demonstrates the value of corpus linguistics in identifying the syntactic, semantic, lexical and stylistic features that are distinctive for each of these constructions. It also underlines the usefulness of providing corpus studies with a solid theoretical foundation by showing how corpus linguistics can be fruitfully combined with cognitive linguistics, which is used both as a starting point for the analysis (top-down approach) and as a framework within which to interpret the corpus results (bottom-up approach). From a methodological point of view, the study illustrates the complementarity of corpus and elicitation data, and offers tools and methods that could be used to investigate other syntactic structures. Finally, the book also has a pedagogical dimension in that it examines how the research findings can be applied to foreign language teaching.

Author : Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2024-06-30
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781312728677

Get Book

International Journal of Language Studies (IJLS) – volume 9(1) by Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan Pdf

Author : Hansjakob Seiler,Gunter Brettschneider
Publisher : Gunter Narr Verlag
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 1985
Category : Grammar, Comparative and general
ISBN : 3878087845

Get Book

Language Invariants and Mental Operations by Hansjakob Seiler,Gunter Brettschneider Pdf

Author : Kouwenberg
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 507 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789004358638

Get Book

Gemination in the Akkadian Verb by Kouwenberg Pdf

This book offers an account of the role of gemination as a grammatical and lexical feature of Akkadian and a comprehensive treatment of the nominal and verbal categories that are characterized by it. It argues that gemination is basically an iconic phenomenon: its presence correlates with an extension in the meaning of the word vis-à-vis that of the corresponding word without gemination. This semantic extension is often realized as plurality; in other cases gemination has been subject to a process of grammaticalization, through which it has acquired a more abstract function, mostly that of underlining a high degree of salience or transitivity. Particular attention is paid to the D-stem, which is discussed exhaustively for the first time here. It is the most important and the most controversial of the verbal stems not only in Akkadian, but also in Semitic as a whole. It is shown that the use of the D-stems of transitive verbs is mainly determined by various kinds of verbal plurality. With regard to the "factitive" D-sems of intransitive verbs a new and more nuanced definition is given of the concepts of factitivity as opposed to causativity; this allows a more satisfactory account of the relationship between the D-stem and the causative S-stem. The book includes detailed discussions of many individual verbs and passages from Akkadian texts. Lists of words with gemination and extensive indexes provide valuable reference material.