ENGLISH

Deixis and Alignment: Inverse Systems in Indigenous Languages of the Americas

By Fernando Zúñiga

Book information

Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Year
2006
ISBN
9027229821, 9789027229823, 9789027293046
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (2938525 bytes)
Series
Typological Studies in Language 70
Edition
1st
Pages
309\325
Topic
Linguistics
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

This book proposes a notion of inverse that differs from two widespread positions found in descriptive and typological studies (one of them restrictive and structure-oriented, the other broad and function-centered). This third stance put forward here takes both grammar and pragmatic functions into account, but it also relates the opposition between direct and inverse verbs and clauses to an opposition between deictic values, thereby achieving two advantageous goals: it meaningfully circumvents one of the usual analytic dilemmas, namely whether a given construction is passive or inverse, and it refines our understanding of the cross-linguistic typology of inversion. This framework is applied to the description of the morphosyntax of eleven Amerindian languages (Algonquian: Plains Cree, Miami-Illinois, Ojibwa; Kutenai; Sahaptian: Sahaptin, Nez Perce; Kiowa-Tanoan: Arizona Tewa, Picurís, Southern Tiwa, Kiowa; Mapudungun).

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