Nominal periphrasis

A canonical approach

Marina Chumakina | Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey

Periphrasis, the use of two independent word forms to serve the function of a single inflected word, is usually associated with verbal systems. However, it occurs also in nominal systems. Using the canonical approach to formulate the criteria for nominal periphrasis, I analyse instances of periphrasis in three Samoyedic languages (Tundra Nenets, Forest Enets and Nganasan) where it approaches the canonical ideal, and compare these to the case systems of Romanian, Armenian and Archi where the periphrasis is further away from the canonical centre. An important advantage of the canonical approach is that it provides an instrument to investigate periphrastic realisations in finer detail, and takes periphrasis as an integral part of the morphological and syntactic systems of an individual language.

Keywords: periphrasis, morphology, case systems, canonical typology approach

Published online: 30 September 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.35.2.01chu

Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

LEE, LESLIE & FARRELL ACKERMAN

2017. Word-based morphology–syntax interdependencies: Thai passives. Journal of Linguistics 53:2 ► pp. 359 ff.

Thornton, Anna M.

2019. In Competition in Inflection and Word-Formation [Studies in Morphology, 5], ► pp. 223 ff.

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