Subjects and Universal Grammar: An Explanatory Theory
Author(s): Yehuda N. Falk (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: September 4, 2006
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 258 pages
ISBN-10: 0521858542
ISBN-13: 9780521858540
Book Description
The ‘subject’ of a sentence is a concept that presents great challenges to linguists. Most languages have something which looks like a subject, but subjects differ across languages in their nature and properties, making them an interesting phenomenon for those seeking linguistic universals. This pioneering volume addresses ‘subject’ nature from a simultaneously formal and typological perspective. Dividing the subject into two distinct grammatical functions, it shows how the nature of these functions explains their respective properties, and argues that the split in properties shown in ‘ergative’ languages (whereby the subject of intransitive verbs is marked as an object) results from the functions being assigned to different elements of the clause. Drawing on data from a typologically wide variety of languages, including English, Hebrew, Tagalog, Inuit and Acehnese, it explains why, even in the case of very different languages, certain core properties can be found.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This book examines the ‘subject’ of a sentence, and how it displays similarities across typologically different languages.
Subjects and Universal Grammar: An Explanatory Theory
Author(s): Yehuda N. Falk (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: November 12, 2009
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 260 pages
ISBN-10: 0521122953
ISBN-13: 9780521122955
Book Description
The ‘subject’ of a sentence is a concept that presents great challenges to linguists. Most languages have something which looks like a subject, but subjects differ across languages in their nature and properties, making them an interesting phenomenon for those seeking linguistic universals. This pioneering volume addresses ‘subject’ nature from a simultaneously formal and typological perspective. Dividing the subject into two distinct grammatical functions, it shows how the nature of these functions explains their respective properties, and argues that the split in properties shown in ‘ergative’ languages (whereby the subject of intransitive verbs is marked as an object) results from the functions being assigned to different elements of the clause. Drawing on data from a typologically wide variety of languages, including English, Hebrew, Tagalog, Inuit and Acehnese, it explains why, even in the case of very different languages, certain core properties can be found.
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This book examines the ‘subject’ of a sentence, and how it displays similarities across typologically different languages.
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