Impersonal Constructions
A cross-linguistic perspective
Editors
| Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Institute for Linguistic Studies, St. Petersburg & Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
| University of Lancaster
This volume offers a much needed typological perspective on impersonal constructions, which are here viewed broadly as constructions lacking a referential subject. The contributions to this volume deal with all types of impersonality, namely constructions featuring nonagentive subjects, including those with experiential predicates (A-impersonals), presentational constructions with a notional subject deficient in topicality (T-impersonals), and constructions with a notional subject lacking in referential properties (R-impersonals), i.e. both meteo-constructions and man-constructions. The typological discussion benefits from a good coverage of impersonality in European languages, but also includes considerations of several African, American, South-East Asian, Australian, and Oceanic languages. The variation in the cross-linguistic realization of impersonality and the diachronic pathways leading to and from impersonality documented in this volume point to a novel perspective on impersonals as transitional structures or an intermediate stage of a more basic diachronic change be it from transitive to intransitive, or from active to passive, or participant-to event-centered construction.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 124] 2011. ix, 641 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of contributors
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vii–x
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1–16
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Part I. Impersonal constructions
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17–54
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57–90
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91–126
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127–166
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Part II. Impersonal constructions
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167–188
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189–228
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229–254
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Part III. Cross-linguistic variation in Impersonal constructions
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255–284
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285–306
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307–322
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323–356
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357–394
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395–438
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439–458
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459–488
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489–516
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517–546
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547–580
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581–606
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607–626
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Author index
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627–632
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Language index
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633–636
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Language index
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637–642
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“The book is undoubtedly a welcome and useful contribution to language typology. Impersonal constructions have not been subject to a detailed and comprehensive cross-linguistic analysis before, and this volume successfully fills this gap. The editors can be praised for having been able to establish a good balance between descriptive and theoretical studies, as well as between synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The cross-linguistic coverage of the volume is almost comprehensive, with a slight bias towards Africa and Eurasia and a regrettable lack of Papuan and South and Meso American languages. Inclusion of several papers dealing with whole language families or areas instead of individual languages, thus addressing issues of intra-genetic and areal typology, is also an example to be followed.”
Peter M. Arkadiev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow on Linguist List 23.1803, 2012
Cited by
Cited by 20 other publications
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2014.
In Profiling Discourse Participants [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 246],
No author info given
2015.
In Impersonals and other Agent Defocusing Constructions in French [Human Cognitive Processing, 50],
Busso, Lucia, Alessandro Lenci & Florent Perek
2020. Valency coercion in Italian.
Constructions and Frames 12:2 ► pp. 171 ff.
Cennamo, Michela
2020.
In Historical Linguistics 2017 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 350],
► pp. 110 ff.
Cigankova, Natalja
2016. Grammatical Expression of Impersonality in LSP Texts and Translations.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 231 ► pp. 99 ff.
Creissels, Denis, F. Neveu, B. Harmegnies, L. Hriba & S. Prévost
2018. La typologie générale des constructions impersonnelles et les constructions impersonnelles du français.
SHS Web of Conferences 46 ► pp. 15001 ff.
De Cock, Barbara & Bettina Kluge
2016. On the referential ambiguity of personal pronouns and its pragmatic consequences.
Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) 26:3 ► pp. 351 ff.
Georgakopoulos, Thanasis & Stéphane Polis
2018. The semantic map model: State of the art and future avenues for linguistic research.
Language and Linguistics Compass 12:2 ► pp. e12270 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2016.
In Atypical predicate-argument relations [Lingvisticæ Investigationes Supplementa, 33],
► pp. 27 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2020.
In Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew [Studies in Language Companion Series, 210],
► pp. 539 ff.
Legate, Julie Anne
2021. Noncanonical Passives: A Typology of Voices in an Impoverished Universal Grammar.
Annual Review of Linguistics 7:1 ► pp. 157 ff.
Magnani, Marco
2019. Non-canonical case marking on subjects in Russian and Lithuanian.
Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 1:2 ► pp. 175 ff.
Nir, Bracha
2020.
In Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew [Studies in Language Companion Series, 210],
► pp. 659 ff.
Pustet, Regina
2015.
In The Linguistics of Temperature [Typological Studies in Language, 107],
► pp. 889 ff.
Rozwadowska, Bożena, Arkadiusz Nowak & Anna Bondaruk
2020.
In Beyond Emotions in Language [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 263],
► pp. 1 ff.
Shibasaki, Reijirou
2014.
In Grammaticalization – Theory and Data [Studies in Language Companion Series, 162],
► pp. 129 ff.
Van linden, An
2020. Constructional effects of indirect evidential marking in Harakmbut.
Functions of Language 27:1 ► pp. 7 ff.
Viti, Carlotta
2017. Semantic and cognitive factors of argument marking in ancient Indo-European languages.
Diachronica 34:3 ► pp. 368 ff.
Wang, Yong
2016. Impersonal clauses in Chinese.
Functions of Language 23:3 ► pp. 361 ff.
Zúñiga, Fernando & Seppo Kittilä
2019.
In Grammatical Voice,
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 april 2021. 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.
Subjects
BIC Subject: CFK – Grammar, syntax
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General