Oblique Subjects in Germanic
Title | Oblique Subjects in Germanic PDF eBook |
Author | Jóhanna Barðdal |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Pages | 499 |
Release | 2023-09-18 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 3111078078 |
Pulling together the threads of forty years of research on oblique subjects in the Germanic languages, this book introduces a novel approach to grammatical relations, based on a definition of subject as the first argument of the argument structure. New data are presented from Gothic, Old Saxon, Old Norse-Icelandic, Old Swedish and Old Danish, as well as from Icelandic, Faroese and German. This includes alternating Dat-Nom/Nom-Dat predicates, where either argument, the dative or the nominative, takes on subject behavior. The subject concept is modeled with the formalism of Construction Grammar, both synchronically and for the purpose of reconstructing grammatical relations for Proto-Germanic.
Features, Categories and the Syntax of A-Positions
Title | Features, Categories and the Syntax of A-Positions PDF eBook |
Author | E. Haeberli |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Pages | 539 |
Release | 2012-12-06 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9401006040 |
This book investigates various aspects of the distribution of nominal arguments, and in particular the cross-linguistic variation that can be found among the Germanic languages in this domain of the syntax. The empirical topics discussed include variable vs. fixed argument order, the distribution of subjects with respect to adjuncts, expletive constructions, and oblique subjecthood. These are analyzed within a theoretical framework which is based on the Minimalist Program.
Topic Drop and Null Subjects in German
Title | Topic Drop and Null Subjects in German PDF eBook |
Author | Ewa Trutkowski |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
Pages | 224 |
Release | 2016-04-25 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 3110437244 |
This monograph deals with argument drop in the German prefield and it presents new insights into null subjects, topic drop and the interpretation of topic dropped elements. Major issues are (inter alia) the drop of structurally vs. obliquely cased arguments and the question on which basis nominative/accusative and dative/genitive can be kept apart. Furthermore, it is shown that the (im)possibility of phi-feature mismatches concerning the antecedent and gap in topic drop dialogues allows to differentiate between coreference and "real" (quantifier) binding. Aside from topic drop, (1st/2nd vs. 3rd person) null subjects are investigated across a couple of unrelated languages, also focusing on the presence of syncretisms within verbal inflectional paradigms. It is proven that 1st/2nd person null subjects in German are not an instance of antecedent-dependent topic drop but that they are licensed by discrete verbal inflectional endings. Thus, according to this property, German can be classified as a partial pro-drop language. Next to theoretical discussions and considerations this book offers a broad (empirically covered) data basis, which makes it suitable for both theoretically and empirically interested (generative) linguists.
Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages
Title | Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages PDF eBook |
Author | Sten Vikner |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 304 |
Release | 1995-04-13 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 0195359259 |
This book is the study of two different kinds of variation across the Germanic languages. One involves the position of the finite verb, and the other the possible positions of the "logical" subject in constructions with expletive (or "dummy") subjects. The book applies the theory of Principles-and-Parameters to the study of comparative syntax. Several languages are considered, including less frequently discussed ones like Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, and Yiddish.
Word-order Change as a Source of Grammaticalisation
Title | Word-order Change as a Source of Grammaticalisation PDF eBook |
Author | Susann Fischer |
Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing |
Pages | 216 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 9027255407 |
followed by the loss of morphology. --Book Jacket.
Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects
Title | Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects PDF eBook |
Author | Jóhanna Barðdal |
Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
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.
The MIHI EST construction
Title | The MIHI EST construction PDF eBook |
Author | Mihaela Ilioaia |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |
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?