Wow! eBook
Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas: A typological overview: 102
Author(s): Bernard Comrie (Editor), Zarina Estrada-Fernández
- Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
- Publication Date: 20 Sept. 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 321 pages
- ISBN-10: 902720683X
- ISBN-13: 9789027206831
Book Description
Patterns of relative clause formation tend to vary according to the typological properties of a language. Highly polysynthetic languages tend to have fully nominalized relative clauses and no relative pronouns, while other typologically diverse languages tend to have relative clauses which are similar to main or independent clauses. Languages of the Americas, with their rich genetic diversity, have all been under the influence of European languages, whether Spanish, English or Portuguese, a situation that may be expected to have influenced their grammatical patterns. The present volume focuses on two tasks: The first deals with the discussion of functional principles related to relative clause formation: diachrony and paths of grammaticalization, simplicity vs. complexity, and formalization of rules to capture semantic-syntactic correlations. The second provides a typological overview of relative clauses in nine different languages going from north to south in the Americas.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This book is undoubtedly a welcome and significant contribution to the field of relative clauses focusing on indigenous languages in the Americas. The cross-linguistic coverage of the volume provides valuable and first-hand data for typological studies as well as for the knowledge of relative clauses of each language discussed in it. — Claudine Chamoreau, CNRS (SEDYL-CELIA)
This is a very useful volume, with chapters from diverse theoretical perspectives that are especially notable for their wealth of data, detailed and rigorous analyses, and careful attention to the typological implications of the materials. — Jane H. Hill, The University of Arizona
