Content, Expression and Structure
Studies in Danish functional grammar
Editors
This collection of papers offers an alternative to mainstream functional linguistics on two points. Especially in American linguistics, function and structure are often viewed almost as polar opposites; in addition, structure is often understood as being only a matter of linguistic form — or expression — as opposed to content. The book tries to illustrate why function and structure must be understood as mutually dependent in relation to language — and why the most interesting aspect of language structure is the way it structures the content side of language. In this, the book represents a reaffirmation of traditional concerns in structural linguistics, especially with respect to the structural integrity of individual languages — but with a reversal of traditional priority: structure is not autonomous, but must be understood on the basis of function. Without being hostile to typological and universal generalizations, the articles suggest that similarities between languages can only be responsibly discussed on the basis of an understanding that includes a respect for language differences.
The book contains discussions of a number of different languages including Nahuatl, Danish Sign Language, French, and Tlapanec, and focuses on the way meaning is organized in the grammar of Danish. A final section sums up theoretical perspectives.
The book contains discussions of a number of different languages including Nahuatl, Danish Sign Language, French, and Tlapanec, and focuses on the way meaning is organized in the grammar of Danish. A final section sums up theoretical perspectives.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 29] 1996. xvi, 510 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Introduction | p. vii
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Is there a passive in Nahuatl?Una Canger | p. 1
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Grammaticalized focus in Yukagir: Is it really grammaticalized and is it really focus?Michael Fortescue | p. 17
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Iconic motivations in conflict: Language-specific structure and influence from the mediumElisabeth Engberg-Pedersen | p. 39
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The syntax of Danish verbs: Lexical and syntactic transitivityPer Durst-Andersen and Michael Herslund | p. 65
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From lexical potential to syntactic realization: A Danish verb valency modelLone Schack Rasmussen and Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen | p. 103
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Danish directional adverbs: Content syntax and complex predicates — a case for host and co-predicatesPeter Harder, Lars Heltoft and Ole Nedergaard Thomsen | p. 159
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Danish passives and subject positions as a mood system: A content analysisLars Heltoft and Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen | p. 199
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Information structure and the anatomy of the noun phrase: The expression of subject and object in Danish noun phrasesIrène Baron | p. 235
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Topic continuity and prosody: An experimental study in DanishErik Kristiansen | p. 261
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Discourse particles in DanishNiels Davidsen-Nielsen | p. 283
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Eh bien: Marker of comparison and contrastMaj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen | p. 315
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The degrammaticalization of agentivity in TlapanecSøren Wichmann | p. 343
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The functions of locative prepositionsEbbe Spang-Hanssen and Henrik Rue | p. 361
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Communicative function and language-specific structure in second language acquisition: A discussion of natural sequences of acquisitionKaren Lund | p. 385
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Theoretical considerations | p. 421
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Linguistic structure in a functional grammarPeter Harder | p. 423
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Iconicity and arbitrarinessElisabeth Engberg-Pedersen | p. 453
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Paradigmatic structure, word order and grammaticalizationLars Heltoft | p. 469
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Subject index | p. 495
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Index of names | p. 505
Cited by
Cited by 23 other publications
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Boye, Kasper & Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
Brinton, Laurel J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Christensen, Tanya Karoli & Torben Juel Jensen
Diewald, Gabriele & Dániel Czicza
2022. Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions. Constructions and Frames 14:1 ► pp. 1 ff. 
Harder, Peter
Heltoft, Lars
2014. Constructional change, paradigmatic structure and the orientation of usage processes. In Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change [Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 69], ► pp. 203 ff. 
2016. Review of Jensen (2011): Nominativ i gammelskånsk – Afvikling og udviklinger med udgangspunkt i Skånske Lov i Stockholm B 69. Diachronica 33:2 ► pp. 282 ff. 
Jensen, Eva Skafte
Jeppesen Kragh, Kirsten & Lene Schøsler
2014. Reanalysis and gramma(ticaliza)tion of constructions. In Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change [Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 69], ► pp. 169 ff. 
2019. From a single lexical unit to multiple grammatical paradigms. In Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 345], ► pp. 271 ff. 
Juul-Nielsen, Peter
2019. Diachronic morphology, indexical function and a critique of the morphome analysis. In Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 345], ► pp. 125 ff. 
Karrebæk, Martha Sif
Kristensen, Line Burholt & Mikkel Wallentin
Mortensen, Sune Sønderberg
Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens & Lars Heltoft
2015. Grammaticalisation as paradigmatisation. In New Directions in Grammaticalization Research [Studies in Language Companion Series, 166], ► pp. 261 ff. 
Schoning, Christian, Jørn Helder & Chloé Diskin-Holdaway
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General