ENGLISH

Case in Africa (Oxford Linguistics)

By Christa König

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
2008
ISBN
0199232822, 9780199232826
LCC
P381.A3 K66 2008
Open Library ID
OL16395879M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
5 MB (4949554 bytes)
Pages
364\364
Topic
Linguistics Foreign
Orientation
no
Scanned
no
Time added
2011-08-31 04:54:40
Языки и языкознание;Африканские языки

Description

This book provides a typological overview of the different manifestations of grammaticalized case systems in African languages. After defining and distinguishing case systems, Christa K?nig begins a thorough analysis of case in roughly 100 African languages and reveals several features, such as tone as a marker for case and the marked-nominative system, which are rare phenomena in other languages of the world. Wherever possible, the author takes into account data from her own substantial and highly regarded field research. The book provides answers to questions such as the following: What is the relationship between definiteness and case. Are case phenomena areally or genetically motivated? Why are case distinctions neutralized in nearly all case languages with verb initial or verb medial word order? Which grammaticalizations appear with case? What is the relationship between topics and nominative cases, or focus and accusative cases?

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