The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case

Editors

Jóhanna Barðdal

| University of Bergen

Shobhana L. Chelliah

| University of North Texas

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027205759 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027289926 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00

The aim of this volume is to bring non-syntactic factors in the development of case into the eye of the research field, by illustrating the integral role of pragmatics, semantics, and discourse structure in the historical development of morphologically marked case systems. The articles represent fifteen typologically diverse languages from four different language families: (i) Indo-European: Vedic Sanskrit, Russian, Greek, Latin, Latvian, Gothic, French, German, Icelandic, and Faroese; (ii) Tibeto-Burman, especially the Bodic languages and Meithei; (iii) Japanese; and (iv) the Pama-Nyungan mixed language Gurindji Kriol. The data also show considerable diversity and include elicited, archival, corpus-based, and naturally occurring data. Discussions of mechanisms where change is obtained include semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation, discourse motivated subject marking, reduction or expansion of case marker distribution, case syncretism motivated by semantics, syntax, or language contact, and case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy, and subjectification.

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 108] 2009. xx, 432 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.108

Table of Contents

List of contributors | pp. vii–viii

Introduction: The role of semantic, pragmatic and discourse factors in the development of case

Jóhanna Barðdal and Shobhana L. Chelliah | pp. ix–xx

Part I. Semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation

Case variation in Gothic absolute constructions

Tonya Kim Dewey-Findell and Yasmin Syed | pp. 3–21

Some semantic and pragmatic aspects of object alternation in Early Vedic

Eystein Dahl | pp. 23–55

Part II. Discourse motivated subject marking

The case of the shifty ergative marker: A pragmatic shift in the ergative marker of one Australian mixed language

Felicity Meakins | pp. 59–91

How useful is case morphology? The loss of the Old French two-case system within a theory of Preferred Argument structure

Ulrich Detges | pp. 93–120

Part III. Reduction or expansion of case marker distribution

The development of case in Germanic

Jóhanna Barðdal | pp. 123–159

A usage-based approach to change: Old Russian possessive constructions

Hanne Martine Eckhoff | pp. 161–180

Lacking in Latvian: Case variation from a cognitive and constructional perspective

Sturla Berg-Olsen | pp. 181–202

Verb classes and dative objects in Insular Scandinavian

Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson | pp. 203–224

Transitive adjectives in Japanese

Daniela Caluianu | pp. 225–257

Part IV. Case syncretism motivated by syntax, semantics or language contact

Patterns of development, patterns of syncretism of relational morphology in the Bodic languages

Michael Noonan | pp. 261–282

The evolution of local cases and their grammatical equivalent in Greek and Latin

Silvia Luraghi | pp. 283–305

Argument structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin

Michela Cennamo | pp. 307–346

Case loss in Texas German: The influence of semantic and pragmatic factors

Hans C. Boas | pp. 347–373

Part V. Case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy and subjectification

Semantic role to new information in Meithei

Shobhana L. Chelliah | pp. 377–400

From less personal to more personal: Subjectification of ni-marked NPs in Japanese discourse

Misumi Sadler | pp. 401–422

Author index | pp. 423–426

Subject index | pp. 427–432

“This volume brings together empirically rich studies on how factors of syntactic structure, discourse usage, and lexical valency shape the development of case marking in various languages around the world. The diachronic orientation of this research fits well with the 'historical turn' that characterizes modern typology, and the present volume therefore provides a key resource for future research on the typology of case marking and alignment.”

Balthasar Bickel, University of Leipzig

“This volume is an important collection of in-depth studies dealing with case evolution, case variation, case syncretism and case loss in a variety of languages. As contributions to the volume convincingly show, the evolution of case systems cannot be explained in syntactic terms exclusively, but it is guided by a variety of factors among which semantic, pragmatic, and discourse factors play an important role. The volume contributes not only to the field of historical linguistics but also to linguistic theory insofar as it extends the scope of usage-based theories to diachronic studies.”

Andrej Malchukov, Max Planck Institute, Leipzig

Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Barðdal, Jóhanna

2018. In Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects [Studies in Language Companion Series, 200], ► pp. 1 ff.

Cennamo, Michela

2020. In Historical Linguistics 2017 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 350], ► pp. 110 ff.

Kagan, Olga

2020. In The Semantics of Case,

Smirnova, Elena

2015. In Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 18], ► pp. 81 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 may 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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