[review of:] Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau, eds. 2015. Voice and Argument Structure in Baltic

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 216-225
Author(s):  
Seppo Kittilä
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Present Book ◽  
Argument Realization

Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau, eds. 2015. Voice and Argument Structure in Baltic. (Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 2). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN: 9789027259103 (hardback), ISBN: 9789027267955 (e-book). The present book deals with different aspects of voice in Baltic languages. The book presents the second volume in the (mini-)series "Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic".  

scholarly journals Editorial Book Critique: A Grammar of Kusaal

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-98
Author(s):  
Reginald Akuoko Duah
Keyword(s):  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Grammatical Relations

In this paper, we review Musah’s (2018) Grammar of Kusaal – a modern, carefully researched study of Kusaal, a Central-East Mabia language spoken in the Bawku Municipality and surrounding towns, and in parts of Burkina Faso and Togo. The review covers major topics in the book such as phonology, morphological affixes, syntax of nouns, verbs and modifiers, temporal and aspectual marking, argument structure and grammatical relations, serialization, and focus constructions. The author makes an effort to situate the Kusaal language in the larger Mabia cluster in the analysis of the data. More importantly, he provides fresh data and analysis of Kusaal that incorporates ethnolinguistic knowledge. The book is written in a clear language and effort is made to limit theoretical labeling and jargon to a minimum thus, making it accessible to those with limited background in linguistics.

Morphology and Argument Alternations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malka Rappaport Hovav
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Causative Alternation ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Morphologically Rich Languages ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Morphological Patterns

Theories of argument realization typically associate verbs with an argument structure and provide algorithms for the mapping of argument structure to morphosyntactic realization. A major challenge to such theories comes from the fact that most verbs have more than one option for argument realization. Sometimes a particular range of realization options for a verb is systematic in that it is consistently available to a relatively well-defined class of verbs; it is then considered to be one of a set of recognized argument alternations. Often—but not always—these argument alternations are associated morphological marking. An examination of cross-linguistic patterns of morphology associated with the causative alternation and the dative alternation reveals that the alternation is not directly encoded in the morphology. For both alternations, understanding the morphological patterns requires an understanding of the interaction between the semantics of the verb and the construction the verb is integrated into. Strikingly, similar interactions between the verb and the construction are found in languages that do not mark the alternations morphologically, and the patterns of morphological marking in morphologically rich languages can shed light on the appropriate analysis of the alternations in languages that do not mark the alternations morphologically.

scholarly journals The causative–instrumental syncretism

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (04) ◽  
pp. 751-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
KYLE JERRO
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
General Constraints ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Semantic Notion ◽  
Verb Meaning ◽  
Insight Into

Causative and applicative morphemes have been central in work on the morphosyntax of argument structure. However, several genetically unrelated languages use a single, syncretic form for both functions, which complicates the traditional view that a causative adds a new subject and an applicative adds a new object. In this paper, I propose an analysis of a morphological syncretism found in the Bantu language Kinyarwanda where the morphological causative and instrumental applicative are both realized by the morpheme –ish. I argue for Kinyarwanda that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are analyzable as two outgrowths of the same semantic notion of introducing a new link into the causal chain described by the verb. The different causative and instrumental readings derive from underspecification of the position of the new link in the causal chain, although its placement is restricted via general constraints on possible event types as well as constraints on verb meaning and argument realization. This analysis provides an explanation for the presence of the causative–instrumental syncretism as well as provides insight into the interface between verb meaning and valency-changing morphology.

scholarly journals Verbal prefixation and realizations of antipassive alternations in Polish

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Mroczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Verbal Prefixes ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
The Subject ◽  
National Corpus

Various works on transitivity suggest that aspectual notions may constitute semantic determinants of argument realization. Observations included in these works prompted theories implying that argument realization may be aspectually driven. Following this line of thought, this article presents the results of corpus-based studies on antipassive structure in the Polish language and makes an attempt at confirming the fact that aspectual notion may determine argument realization. The article consists of three main sections. The first one focuses on notions of aspect and various aspectual propositions distinguished in the literature on the subject, regarding the Polish language in particular. The second section, illustrated with examples extracted from the National Corpus of Polish (NKJP) and the corpus of Wielki Słownik Języka Polskiego (KWSJP), gives an overview of Polish perfectivizing verbal prefixes, i.e. a roz‑, na-, o-/ob- and u-prefix, and deals with the effect they may have on sentence structure and semantics. It also shows how the prefixed verbs combine with the marker się, which flags antipassive, i.e. is a recurring marker attested in antipassive constructions in the Polish language. In section three, an attempt is made at analyzing the interrelations between aspect and antipassive reading of a structure. As it seems that a perfective prefix used with a verb imposes certain requirements on the argument structure of the verb it combines with, we also offer a possible explanation to different aspectual requirements of verbs occurring in antipassive structures, assuming that projections coded in a verb may play a role here.

Do grammatical relations reflect information status? Reassessing Preferred Argument Structure theory against discourse data from Tondano

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Brickell ◽  
Stefan Schnell
Keyword(s):  
Information Flow ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Information Status ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Corpus Data

AbstractWe test Preferred Argument Structure theory against corpus data from Tondano, an Austronesian language with symmetrical voice. Investigating the use of full noun phrases in individual argument positions, we find no significant clustering of both S and P as opposed to A, hence no discourse ergativity. Moreover, neither pivotal nor non-pivotal grammatical relations appear to specialise in the accommodation of full noun phrases. Thus, grammatical relations do not serve as architecture for regulating information flow in discourse. Only constituent order reflects information flow, so that full noun phrases tend to occur in clause-final position. More generally, correlations of humanness and topicality predict most straightforwardly attested patterns of argument realisation.

scholarly journals For the sake of an argument. Grammatical relations and argument selectors in Baltic

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 239-271
Author(s):  
Eitan Grossman
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Causative Constructions ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Secondary Predicates

Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau, eds., Argument Realization in Baltic. (Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 3) Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2016. viii + 560 p. ISBN (hardback): 9789027259110, ISBN (e-book): 9789027267535 This volume is the third in the series Valency, Argument Realization and Gram-matical Relations in Baltic. It comprises thirteen articles, the majority of which are devoted to case and case alternations, with several articles dealing with top-ics such as secondary predicates, applicative and causative constructions, and nominalizations. In this review, I summarize and discuss each of the articles in turn, and conclude with some general comments.

[review of:] Rolandas Mikulskas. 2017. Copular constructions in Lithuanian

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 235-245
Author(s):  
Tuomas Huumo
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
Specific Construction

Rolandas Mikulskas. 2017. Copular constructions in Lithuanian. (Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic, 4). Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. This book by Rolandas Mikulskas is an in-detail analysis of copular constructions (henceforth: CCS) in one Baltic language, Lithuanian. It is a typologically aware, cognitive-linguistic approach to a specific construction, or rather a set of interconnected constructions, with a synchronic emphasis as opposed to the more diachronically-oriented tradition of Lithuanian syntax.

scholarly journals On the Integration of Dative Adjuncts into Event Structures in Yapa Languages

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Mitchell Browne
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Complex Predicate ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Event Structures ◽  
Single Argument ◽  
Grammatical Relation ◽  
New Research

Warlpiri and Warlmanpa (Ngumpin-Yapa languages of Australia) exhibit a complex predicate construction in which a class of preverbs introduces a single argument that is not shared by the argument structure of the inflecting verb, nor is there necessarily any shared event structure. This is problematic for many theories of linking structures of complex predicates, since no arguments or events are shared between the predicative elements of the complex predicate. The same grammatical relation is instantiated by a beneficiary adjunct. In light of new research in event and argument structure, I propose a lexical rule which introduces an applicative argument to account for the beneficiary construction; and that the preverbs take another predicate as one of their arguments to account for the complex predicates. The applicative rule and the preverbs both introduce an argument of the same grammatical relation, leading to interesting interactions, given that two grammatical relations of the same type are not expected to co-occur within a single clause.

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