Publications
Publication details [#20155]
Comrie, Bernard. 1984. Form and function in explaining language universals. In Collier, René. Some physiological and perceptual contrasts on tonal systems. In : 237–247. : 87–103.
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
Language as a subject
Annotation
C. discusses a number of language universals that can be explained by functional consideration. The main part of the paper is concerned with the notion of control; more specifically with constructions where a noun phrase that is absent from the surface structure of a sentence has to be interpreted as coreferential with some overtly expressed noun phrase in the sentence data from English, Dyirbal, Nirkh, and Modern Eastern Armenian.