Deponency is a mismatch between form and function in language that was first described for Latin, where there is a group of verbs (the deponents) which are morphologically passive but syntactically active. This is evidence of a larger problem involving the interface between syntax and morphology: inflectional morphology is supposed to specify syntactic function, but sometimes it sends out the wrong signal. Although the problem is as old as the Western linguistic tradition, no generally accepted account of it has yet been given, and it is safe to say that all current theories of language have...
Deponency is a mismatch between form and function in language that was first described for Latin, where there is a group of verbs (the deponents) whic...
Syncretism--where a single form serves two or more morphosyntactic functions--is a persistent problem at the syntax-morphology interface. It results from a 'mismatch', whereby the syntax of a language makes a particular distinction, but the morphology does not. This pioneering book provides the first full-length study of inflectional syncretism, presenting a typology of its occurrence across a wide range of languages. It will be welcomed by linguists interested in the relation between words and the larger units of which they are a part.
Syncretism--where a single form serves two or more morphosyntactic functions--is a persistent problem at the syntax-morphology interface. It results f...
Syncretism--where a single form serves two or more morphosyntactic functions--is a persistent problem at the syntax-morphology interface. It results from a 'mismatch', whereby the syntax of a language makes a particular distinction, but the morphology does not. This pioneering book provides the first full-length study of inflectional syncretism, presenting a typology of its occurrence across a wide range of languages. It will be welcomed by linguists interested in the relation between words and the larger units of which they are a part.
Syncretism--where a single form serves two or more morphosyntactic functions--is a persistent problem at the syntax-morphology interface. It results f...
An important design feature of language is the use of productive patterns in inflection. In English, we have pairs such as 'enjoy' 'enjoyed', 'agree' 'agreed', and many others. On the basis of this productive pattern, if we meet a new verb 'transduce' we know that there will be the form 'transduced'. Even if the pattern is not fully regular, there will be a form available, as in 'understand' 'understood'. Surprisingly, this principle is sometimes violated, a phenomenon known as defectiveness, which means there is a gap in a word's set of forms: for example, given the verb 'forego', many if...
An important design feature of language is the use of productive patterns in inflection. In English, we have pairs such as 'enjoy' 'enjoyed', 'agree' ...
Dunstan Brown Marina Chumakina Greville G. Corbett
This is the first book to present Canonical Typology, a framework for comparing constructions and categories across languages. The canonical method takes the criteria used to define particular categories or phenomena (eg negation, finiteness, possession) to create a multidimensional space in which language-specific instances can be placed. In this way, the issue of fit becomes a matter of greater or lesser proximity to a canonical ideal. Drawing on the expertise of world class scholars in the field, the book addresses the issue of cross-linguistic comparability, illustrates the range of areas...
This is the first book to present Canonical Typology, a framework for comparing constructions and categories across languages. The canonical method ta...
