A typology of clause structure (original) (raw)
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1972
This first volume of a three-part 1paiguage research study states and illustrates that the point of departure for comparative analysis of two languages rests on a, comprehensive typology in each of a number of areas of grammar. The report suggests that a limited set of functions can be isolated, and that the range of grammatical possibilities open to any given language within each of these areas can be narrowly delimited. The two grammar points considered here as examples are relative clause formation rules and case marking phenomena. Both issues are discussed in detail, and numerous examples from widely varying world languages are provided. For Volumes 2 and 3 of this study, see FL 003 683 and FL 003 684.
Verbal Derivatives and Process Types in Transitivity Configurations of English and German Clauses
Facta Universitatis Series: Linguistics and Literature, 2016
At the level of the clause as representation we reconsider the proposition of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) that there exists continuity between grammar and lexis. In English and German clauses, we shall examine verbal derivatives formed through prefixation with regard to the process types they actualize in the clauses. Prefixation involves the modification of the semantic properties of the base, which requires different configurations of semantic roles in a clause in functional terms. The idea that lexicogrammar is a core of the wording of the clause will be examined in relation to morphologically induced semantic modification resulting in the change in Transitivity configurations with different process types actualized by the base and the verbal derivative.
Word order type and syntactic structure
Linguistic variation yearbook, 2001
The central claim of this paper is that languages of one and the same word order type do not necessarily have the same IP syntax. For example, among verb-final languages two rather different syntactic types can be distinguished. The majority of verb-final languages are head-final in IP, in the sense that every projection in the IP domain has its complement to its left in the surface order. This is seen here as the result of repeated movement of complement to the nearest Spec. In other verb-final languages, the surface order is simply a result of argument movement. The projections in IP still have their complements to their right. It is further suggested that the class of verb-initial languages may be divided in two along similar lines. Finally, the non-existence of SVO languages with inflectional markers in front of the subject is taken as support for the idea that in the absence of strong features in IP, the c(omplement)-features of the heads in IP take effect, thereby yielding headfinal IP structure.
On the Interaction of Linguistic Typology and Functional Grammar (2002)
Functions of Language 9-2 (2002), 209–237., 2002
Research conducted within the wider theoretical framework of Dik’s Functional Grammar has resulted in important contributions to linguistic typology, and, vice versa, empirical facts from a wide variety of languages have significantly improved the theory of Functional Grammar, especially regarding its typological adequacy. This article discusses the following contributions to Linguistic Typology: the development of a sound sampling methodology, classification of noun categories (Seinsarten), an account of (so-called) number discord, the introduction of the new grammatical category of ‘nominal aspect’, a new typology of classifiers, and a universal concerning the occurrence of adjectives as a distinct word class. Conversely it will be shown that facts from many different languages have played an important role in the development of a layered model of the noun phrase in Functional Grammar and how currently these facts are used to test hypotheses concerning parallels between NPs and clauses.
Order and structure in syntax I Word order and syntactic structure
ed.). 2017. Order and structure in syntax I : Word order and syntactic structure (Open Generative Syntax 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/159 © 2017, the authors Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-96110-026-2 (Digital) 978-3-96110-027-9 (Hardcover)
The ordering distribution of main and adverbial clauses a typological study.
Language 77: 345-365, 2001
This article examines the ordering distribution of main and adverbial clauses in crosslinguistic perspective. Using a representative sample of forty languages, the author shows that the ordering of main and adverbial clauses correlates with the position of the subordinator in the subordinate clause. In languages in which adverbial clauses have a final subordinator, adverbial clauses tend to precede the main clause, whereas in languages in which adverbial clauses are marked by an initial subordinator, adverbial clauses commonly occur in both sentence-initial and sentence-final position. In the latter language type, the position of an adverbial clause varies with its meaning or function: conditional clauses precede the main clause more often than temporal clauses, which in turn are more often preposed than causal, result, and purpose clauses. The distributional patterns are explained in terms of competing motivations; it is suggested that they arise from the interaction between structural and discourse-pragmatic factors.* Since Greenberg's seminal work on word-order correlations it has been well known that the order of certain linguistic elements tends to correlate with the order of verb and object. For instance, in languages in which the object precedes the verb (henceforth OV languages), adpositions usually follow NP and genitives occur before the head noun, whereas in languages in which the object follows the verb (henceforth VO languages), adpositions tend to precede NP and genitives occur after the head noun. This article examines the positional patterns of adverbial clauses, which have been largely ignored in the literature on word-order correlations. 1 This is the first large-scale, crosslinguistic investigation in this domain and thus fills an important gap in the literature. Based on a representative sample of forty languages, I show that adverbial clauses are overall more common before the element that they modify, i.e. the main clause or main clause predicate. 2 More precisely, I show that there are two major crosslinguistic ordering patterns: (1) either a language uses adverbial clauses both before and after the main clause/predicate (and both orders are common), or (2) the adverbial clause usually precedes the main clause/predicate. What does not seem to occur is the rigid use of adverbial clauses after the main clause/predicate: if a language uses adverbial clauses in final position, it also makes common use of adverbial clauses before the main clause/ predicate. In such a case (i.e. when both orders are common), the position of the adverbial clause varies with its meaning or function: conditional clauses usually precede the main clause/predicate; temporal clauses may precede or follow it; causal clauses * I would like to thank Mark Aronoff, Orin Gensler, David Kemmerer, Maria Polinsky, Mike Tomasello, and three anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. I am of course responsible for all remaining errors.
SYSTEMIC ANALYSES OF THE STRUCTURES OF CLAUSES AND GROUPS
Abstract Most studies based on sociolinguistic investigations often require analytical interpretation of some discourse texts in relation to the semantic structures they manifest. Most of the time, such tasks find better expressions in functional linguistics than other models of grammar. While it undeniable that adequate knowledge in this model of grammar is indispensable to most sociolinguistic analysis of texts, it is saddening to note that in ESL contexts, choices are freely made between generative grammar and functional linguistics. As a result, students in some schools concentrate on generative grammar with little or no attention to important details in functional linguistics. The implication is that such students become handicapped whenever they are faced with tasks based on analytic study of discourse texts. This paper therefore examines the structures of Group and Clause under functionalists’ linguistics as a tool for scholarly analysis of texts in academic writing. The concepts of unit and structure were employed as basic tools for explication of the clauses and group structures. Their constituents were examined with copious illustrations of the various ways in which they can be used in texts analyses. Key words: functional linguistics, structures, units, clauses, groups