This book deals with atypical predicate-argument relations. Although the relations between predicates, especially verbal, and their arguments have been long studied, most studies are concerned with typical telic verbs in the past tense, indicative mood, active voice, with all arguments expressed. Recently, linguists have become interested in other types of predicate-argument relations displaying atypical properties, be they morphological or syntactic, in one language or cross-linguistically. The articles in this book investigate some of these: argument marking with some special groups of verbs, arguments not foreseen in the verb valency and contributed by the construction, verbs in idiomatic constructions, valency-changing operations, arguments in thetic sentences or in participle constructions etc. The authors work within different theoretical frameworks and on various languages, from more current languages like English, Spanish, French or German, to Hebrew or lamaholot, an Austronesian language.

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?

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Cognition provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of how translation and cognition relate to each other, discussing the most important issues in the fledgling sub-discipline of Cognitive Translation Studies (CTS), from foundational to applied aspects. With a strong focus on interdisciplinarity, the handbook surveys concepts and methods in neighbouring disciplines that are concerned with cognition and how they relate to translational activity from a cognitive perspective. Looking at different types of cognitive processes, this volume also ventures into emergent areas such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence, cognitive ergonomics and human–computer interaction. With an editors’ introduction and 30 chapters authored by leading scholars in the field of Cognitive Translation Studies, this handbook is the essential reference and resource for students and researchers of translation and cognition and will also be of interest to those working in bilingualism, second-language acquisition and related areas.

Word classes are linguistic categories serving as basis in the description of the vocabulary and grammar of natural languages. While important publications are regularly devoted to their definition, identification, and classification, in the field of Romance linguistics we lack a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the current research. This Manual offers an updated and detailed discussion of all relevant aspects related to word classes in the Romance languages. In the first part, word classes are discussed from both a theoretical and historical point of view. The second part of the volume takes as its point of departure single word classes, described transversally in all the main Romance languages, while the third observes the relevant word classes from the point of view of specific Romance(-based) varieties. The fourth part explores Romance word classes at the interface of grammar and other fields of research. The Manual is intended as a reference work for all scholars and students interested in the description of both the standard, major Romance languages and the smaller, lesser described Romance(-based) varieties.

The goal of the volume is to shed fresh light on Modern Hebrew from perspectives aimed at readers interested in the domains of general linguistics, typology, and Semitic studies. Starting with chapters that provide background information on the evolution and sociolinguistic setting of the language, the bulk of the book is devoted to usage-based studies of the morphology, lexicon, and syntax of current Hebrew. Based primarily on original analyses of authentic spoken and online materials, these studies reflect varied theoretical frames-of-reference that are largely model-neutral in approach. To this end, the book presents a functionally motivated, dynamic approach to actual usage, rather than providing strictly structuralist or formal characterizations of particular linguistic systems. Such a perspective is particularly important in the case of a language undergoing accelerated processes of change, in which the gap between prescriptive dictates of the Hebrew Language Establishment and the actual usage of educated, literate but non-expert speaker-writers of current Hebrew is constantly on the rise.

Comparison of the grammars of human languages reveals systematic patterns of variation. Typology and universals research uncovers those patterns to formulate universal constraints on language and seek their exploration. In this essential textbook, William Croft presents a comprehensive introduction to the method and theory used in studying typology and universals. The theoretical issues discussed range from the most fundamental to the most abstract. The book provides students and researchers with extensive examples of language universals in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. This second edition has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to reflect advances in typology and universals in the past decade, including: new methodologies such as the semantic map model and questions of syntactic argumentation; discussion of current debates over deeper explanations for specific classes of universals; and comparison of the typological and generative approaches to language.

Sentence Patterns in English and Hebrew offers an innovative perspective on sentential syntax, in which sentence patterns are introduced as constructions within the general framework of Construction Grammar. Drawing on naturally occurring data collected from the Internet, the study challenges the prevailing view of predication as the sole mechanism of sentence formation, and introduces the idea of patterning as a complementary, sometimes even alternative mechanism. Major sentence patterns of English and Hebrew are systematically presented, targeting both their form and their function. A contrastive analysis of the sentence patterns in these two languages results in postulating a typological group, in which cognitive motivations are shown to account for both similarities and differences within the typology. Sentence Patterns in English and Hebrew will appeal to scholars of constructional approaches, cognitive linguistics, typology, syntax, as well as anyone interested in English and Hebrew.