Supporting evidence for this claim from several different languages is considered, the main analysis focusing on detailed studies of Hungarian and Finnish and the way in which they compare with English. Nothing in the Principles and Parameters approach to Case predicts the overlap between case and adpositions or the range and variability of cases. The existing possible solutions for such overlap have not been integrated into the standard approach to case. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap, proposing an integrated approach. The overlap of cases and adpositions is explained by their spelling out the same range of categories (P, D and Phi) in syntax, forming part of the extended projection of the noun, the difference being derived at the morphological level. The analyses presented focus largely on Hungarian and Finnish for detailed argumentation and exemplification of the mapping from syntax to morphology that would result in paradigms of syntactically non-equivalent objects.

In the historical development of many languages of the IE phylum the loss of inflectional morphology led to the development of a configurational syntax, where syntactic position marked syntactic role. The first of these configurations was the adposition (preposition or postposition), which developed out of the uninflected particle/preverbs in the older forms of IE, by forming fixed phrases with nominal elements, a pattern later followed in the development of a configurational NP (article + nominal) and VP (auxiliary + verbal). The authors follow this evolution through almost four thousand years of documentation in all twelve language families of the Indo-European phylum, noting the resemblances between the structure of the original IE case system and the systemic oppositions to be found in the sets of adpositions that replaced it. Quite apart from its theoretical analyses and proposals which in themselves amount to a new look at many traditional problems, this study has a value in the collected store of information on cases, and on adpositions and their usage. There is also a considerable store of etymological information that is relevant to the description of the systemic development.

A pioneering study of heritage languages, from a leading scholar in this area of study world-wide.

In the historical development of many languages of the IE phylum the loss of inflectional morphology led to the development of a configurational syntax, where syntactic position marked syntactic role. The first of these configurations was the adposition (preposition or postposition), which developed out of the uninflected particle/preverbs in the older forms of IE, by forming fixed phrases with nominal elements, a pattern later followed in the development of a configurational NP (article + nominal) and VP (auxiliary + verbal). The authors follow this evolution through almost four thousand years of documentation in all twelve language families of the Indo-European phylum, noting the resemblances between the structure of the original IE case system and the systemic oppositions to be found in the sets of adpositions that replaced it. Quite apart from its theoretical analyses and proposals which in themselves amount to a new look at many traditional problems, this study has a value in the collected store of information on cases, and on adpositions and their usage. There is also a considerable store of etymological information that is relevant to the description of the systemic development.

Of the 6000 languages now spoken throughout the world around 3000 may become extinct during the next century. This guide gives linguists the tools to describe them, syntactically and grammatically, for future reference.

This book deals with Albanian, including the dialects spoken in Southern Italy, and with the Aromanian spoken in Southern Albania. These languages are set in the context of current generative research on syntax, morphology, language variation and contact – yielding insights into key morphosyntactic notions of case, agreement, complementation, and into phenomena such as Differential Object Marking, the Person Case Constraint, linkers and control.

This book addresses the common problems, questions, and solutions of exponence, which concern the mapping of morphosyntactic structure to phonological representations. Leading specialists formulate a coherent research programme for exponence, integrating the central insights of the last decades and providing challenges for the future.