The Story of Zero
The zero coding of referents or other clausal constituents is one of the most natural, communicatively and cognitively-transparent grammatical devices in human language. Together with its functional equivalent, obligatory pronominal agreement, zero is both extremely widespread cross-linguistically and highly frequent in natural text. In the domain of reference, zero represents, somewhat paradoxically, either anaphorically-governed high continuity or cataphorically-governed low topicality. And whether in conjoined/chained or syntactically-subordinate clauses, zero is extremely well-governed, at a level approaching 100% in natural text. The naturalness, cross-language ubiquity and well-governedness of zero have been largely obscured by an approach that, for 30-odd years, has considered it a typological exotica, the so-called "pro-drop" associated with a dubious "non-configurational" language type. The main aim of this book is to reaffirm the naturalness, universality and well-governedness of zero by studying it from four closely related perspectives: (i) cognitive and communicative function; (ii) natural-text distribution; (iii) cross-language typological distribution; and (iv) the diachronic rise of referent coding devices. The latter is particularly central to our understanding the functional interplay between zero anaphora, pronominal agreement and related referent-coding devices.
[Not in series, 204] 2017. xv, 414 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 24 January 2017
Published online on 24 January 2017
© T. Givón
Table of Contents
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Preface | pp. xiii–xvi
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Natural zero
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Chapter 1: The communicative ecology of zero anaphora | pp. 3–26
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Chapter 2: The grammar of referential coherence as mental processing instructions | pp. 27–68
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Chapter 3: Zero and the rise of pronominal agreement | pp. 69–100
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Chapter 4: Early diachrony of pronominal agreement: A case study in Ute | pp. 101–128
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Chapter 5: Is zero anaphora a typological exotica? | pp. 129–156
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Chapter 6: Verbal zero anaphora: Verbless clauses | pp. 157–186
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Chapter 7: Cataphoric zero: Passive and antipassive voice | pp. 187–206
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Structural zero
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Chapter 8: Co-reference in relative clauses | pp. 209–230
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Chapter 9: Co-reference in verb complements | pp. 231–246
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Chapter 10: Co-reference in adverbial clauses | pp. 247–280
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Chapter 11: Zero, pronouns and clause-chaining | pp. 281–318
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Chapter 12: Promiscuous ill-governed zeros? | pp. 319–340
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Chapter 13: Zero and the puzzle of stranded adpositions | pp. 341–388
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Bibliography
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Index
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General index | pp. 407–412
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Language index | pp. 413–414
Cited by (21)
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Nie, Xiaowen & Feng-hsi Liu
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2021. Variable subject pronoun expression in Cabo-Verdean Creole. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 36:1 ► pp. 109 ff. 
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Cornish, Francis
Gécseg, Zsuzsanna
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Givón, T.
Givón, T.
Givón, T.
[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFK: Grammar, syntax
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009060: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax