Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia
Rethinking theoretical and geographical boundaries
Editors
This volume presents a cross-linguistic investigation of clausal noun-modifying constructions in genetically varied languages of Eurasia. Contrary to a common premise that, in any language, adnominal clauses that share some features of relative clauses constitute a structurally distinct construction, some languages of Eurasia exhibit a General Noun-Modifying Clause Construction (GNMCC) -- a single construction covering a wide range of semantic relations between the head noun and the clause. Through in-depth examination of naturally-occurring and elicited data from Ainu, languages of the Caucasus (e.g. Ingush, Georgian, Bezhta, Hinuq), Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Nenets, Sino-Tibetan languages (e.g. Cantonese, Mandarin, Rawang), and Turkic languages (e.g. Turkish, Sakha), the chapters discuss whether or not the language in question exhibits a GNMCC and the range of noun modification covered by such a construction. The findings afford us new facts, new theoretical perspectives and the first step toward a more global assessment of the possibilities for GNMCCs.
[Typological Studies in Language, 116] 2017. vi, 381 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Preface | pp. 1–2
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Introduction. Noun-modifying clause constructions in languages of Eurasia: Rethinking theoretical and geographical boundariesYoshiko Matsumoto, Bernard Comrie and Peter Sells | pp. 3–21
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Chapter 1. General noun-modifying clause constructions in JapaneseYoshiko Matsumoto | pp. 23–43
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Chapter 2. The attributive versus final distinction and the manifestation of “main clause phenomena” in Japanese and Korean noun modifying clause constructionsKaoru Horie | pp. 45–57
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Chapter 3. Noun-modifying constructions in KoreanShin-Sook Kim and Peter Sells | pp. 59–89
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Chapter 4. Noun-modifying clause constructions in Sino-Tibetan languagesRandy J. LaPolla | pp. 91–103
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Chapter 5. Noun-modifying clauses in CantoneseStephen Matthews and Virginia Yip | pp. 105–120
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Chapter 6. General noun-modifying clause constructions in Hinuq and Bezhta, with a note on other Daghestanian languagesBernard Comrie, Diana Forker and Zaira Khalilova | pp. 121–146
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Chapter 7. The general noun-modifying clause construction in Tundra Nenets and its possible originIrina Nikolaeva | pp. 147–178
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Chapter 8. Noun-modifying constructions and relativization in the central and western CaucasusJohanna Nichols | pp. 179–201
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Chapter 9. Noun-modifying clause constructions in AinuAnna Bugaeva | pp. 203–250
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Chapter 10. Turkish and Turkic complex noun phrase constructionsJaklin Kornfilt and Nadezhda Vinokurova | pp. 251–292
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Chapter 11. Noun-modifying constructions in MarathiPeter Edwin Hook and Prashant Pardeshi | pp. 293–329
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ConclusionBernard Comrie, Peter Sells and Yoshiko Matsumoto | pp. 331–337
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Examples to explore in noun-modifying constructions
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Appendix 1.. Examples to explore in noun-modifying constructions | pp. 339–353
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Appendix 2.. Relative clauses and noun-modifying clauses in ChantyalMichael Noonan | pp. 355–369
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Language index
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Name index
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Subjects index
“Most investigations of noun modifying constructions have focused on relative clauses in widely spoken languages. The new volume by Matsumoto, Comrie and Sells looks at these constructions from a broader perspective. Not only do the authors of the studies in the volume include a broad variety of noun modifying constructions, but the range of languages is much greater than most previous studies. The authors of the individual chapters are the leading experts on the languages under consideration, and the range of languages spans both Europe and Asia. This is a book that will be valuable for both typologically oriented linguists and for theoreticians who wish to test their theoretical perspective against a wider range of languages and constructions.”
Peter Cole, University of Delaware
“A novel and interesting research question has been clearly delineated within a coherent theoretical
framework and been operationalized in a common methodology to enable a group of
international specialists to apply it to the languages of an area. The close cooperation of the
contributors has produced comparable results which enrich the descriptive basis of the languages
concerned, allow the formulation of typological and areal connections and constitute a
valuable contribution to theories of grammar and pragmatics. This book will be of high relevance
to specialists in several fields of linguistics, including syntax, pragmatics, description of
Eurasian languages and linguistic typology.”
framework and been operationalized in a common methodology to enable a group of
international specialists to apply it to the languages of an area. The close cooperation of the
contributors has produced comparable results which enrich the descriptive basis of the languages
concerned, allow the formulation of typological and areal connections and constitute a
valuable contribution to theories of grammar and pragmatics. This book will be of high relevance
to specialists in several fields of linguistics, including syntax, pragmatics, description of
Eurasian languages and linguistic typology.”
Christian Lehmann, University of Erfurt
“This book offers a dazzling array of data from various languages of Eurasia, brings together different theoretical approaches, and challenges many of the existing assumptions about clauses that can modify nouns. This work will undoubtedly stimulate new research on adnominal clausal modifiers.”
Dr. Maria Polinsky, University of Maryland
“This volume breaks new ground in capturing the dynamics of a key feature of many Eurasian languages and brings together an impressive array of in-depth studies that chart fine-grained variations on a common theme.”
Prof. Dr. Balthasar Bickel, University of Zurich
Cited by
Cited by 11 other publications
Beekhuizen, Barend & Sandra A Thompson
2022. ‘Something that’s very American’: The interactional role of Light-Head Relative Clauses. Discourse Studies 24:2 ► pp. 149 ff. 
Cinque, Guglielmo
2020. The Syntax of Relative Clauses,
Daniels, Don
Liu, Danqing, Ailan Fu & Gong Cheng
McDonnell, Bradley
2020. Chapter 10. The pragmatics of ‘light nouns’ in Besemah. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 238 ff.
Nagaya, Naonori
2022. Prashant Pardeshi and Kaoru Horie (eds.): Nihongo to sekai no gengo no meisisyuusyoku-hyoogen
. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 38:2 ► pp. 279 ff.
Ono, Tsuyoshi & Sandra A. Thompson
2020. Chapter 12. What can Japanese conversation tell us about ‘NP’?. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 316 ff.
Seraku, Tohru
2024. Intransparent-Gap Relatives in Japanese. Journal of Linguistics ► pp. 1 ff.
Thompson, Sandra A. & Tsuyoshi Ono
2020. Chapter 1. Introduction. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 2 ff.
WU, Tong
2022. The general noun-modifying clause construction beyond Eurasia. Linguistic Typology 26:1 ► pp. 89 ff.
Майсак, Тимур Анатольевич
2020. PARTICIPIAL RELATIVE CLAUSES IN UDI FROM A CORPUS PERSPECTIVE. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology :2(28) ► pp. 46 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. 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
Main BIC Subject
CFK: Grammar, syntax
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009060: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax