The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity
This volume offers theoretical and descriptive perspectives on the issues pertaining to ergativity, a grammatical patterning whereby direct objects are in some way treated like intransitive subjects, to the exclusion of transitive subjects. This pattern differs markedly from nominative/accusative marking whereby transitive and intransitive subjects are treated as one grammatical class, to the exclusion of direct objects. While ergativity is sometimes referred to as a typological characteristic of languages, research on the phenomenon has shown that languages do not fall clearly into one category or the other and that ergative characteristics are not consistent across languages.

Chapters in this volume look at approaches to ergativity within generative, typological, and functional paradigms, as well as approaches to the core morphosyntactic building blocks of an ergative construction; related constructions such as the anti-passive; related properties such as split ergativity and word order; and extensions and permutations of ergativity, including nominalizations and voice systems. The volume also includes results from experimental investigations of ergativity, a relatively new area of research. A wide variety of languages are represented, both in the theoretical chapters and in the 16 case studies that are more descriptive in nature, attesting to both the pervasiveness and diversity of ergative patterns.
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The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity
This volume offers theoretical and descriptive perspectives on the issues pertaining to ergativity, a grammatical patterning whereby direct objects are in some way treated like intransitive subjects, to the exclusion of transitive subjects. This pattern differs markedly from nominative/accusative marking whereby transitive and intransitive subjects are treated as one grammatical class, to the exclusion of direct objects. While ergativity is sometimes referred to as a typological characteristic of languages, research on the phenomenon has shown that languages do not fall clearly into one category or the other and that ergative characteristics are not consistent across languages.

Chapters in this volume look at approaches to ergativity within generative, typological, and functional paradigms, as well as approaches to the core morphosyntactic building blocks of an ergative construction; related constructions such as the anti-passive; related properties such as split ergativity and word order; and extensions and permutations of ergativity, including nominalizations and voice systems. The volume also includes results from experimental investigations of ergativity, a relatively new area of research. A wide variety of languages are represented, both in the theoretical chapters and in the 16 case studies that are more descriptive in nature, attesting to both the pervasiveness and diversity of ergative patterns.
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The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

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Overview

This volume offers theoretical and descriptive perspectives on the issues pertaining to ergativity, a grammatical patterning whereby direct objects are in some way treated like intransitive subjects, to the exclusion of transitive subjects. This pattern differs markedly from nominative/accusative marking whereby transitive and intransitive subjects are treated as one grammatical class, to the exclusion of direct objects. While ergativity is sometimes referred to as a typological characteristic of languages, research on the phenomenon has shown that languages do not fall clearly into one category or the other and that ergative characteristics are not consistent across languages.

Chapters in this volume look at approaches to ergativity within generative, typological, and functional paradigms, as well as approaches to the core morphosyntactic building blocks of an ergative construction; related constructions such as the anti-passive; related properties such as split ergativity and word order; and extensions and permutations of ergativity, including nominalizations and voice systems. The volume also includes results from experimental investigations of ergativity, a relatively new area of research. A wide variety of languages are represented, both in the theoretical chapters and in the 16 case studies that are more descriptive in nature, attesting to both the pervasiveness and diversity of ergative patterns.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780198739371
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 08/15/2017
Series: Oxford Handbooks
Pages: 1296
Product dimensions: 6.70(w) x 9.80(h) x 2.50(d)

About the Author

Jessica Coon is Associate Professor of Linguistics at McGill University. She finished her PhD at MIT in 2010 and then spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Jessica has worked on topics including ergativity, split ergativity, verb-initial word order, and agreement, with a special focus on Mayan languages. Her book Aspects of Split Ergativity was published by OUP in 2013.

Diane Massam (Ph.D. MIT 1985) is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto, where she has also served as Chair. Her research areas are argument structure, case, predication, and word order, with a focus on the Niue language (Polynesian), and an interest in register variation in English. She has edited volumes on Austronesian syntax, ergativity, and the count-mass distinction, including Count and Mass Across Languages (OUP 2012).

Lisa deMena Travis received her PhD in Linguistics from MIT in 1984, writing her thesis on the parameters of word order variation. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at McGill University. Her current research focuses mainly on phrase structure, head movement, language typology, and Austronesian languages (in particular, Malagasy), and the interface between syntax and phonology. Her book Inner Aspect: The Articulation of VP was published by Springer in 2010.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Jessica Coon, Diane Massam, and Lisa deMena TravisPART I: ACCOUNTING FOR ERGATIVITYRepresenting Ergativity2. Ergativity in discourse and grammar, John W. Du Bois3. Parameterizing ergativity: An inherent case approach, Michelle Sheehan4. Accusative and ergative in Hindi, Anoop MahajanThe Nature of Ergative Case5. On inherent and dependent theories of ergative case, Mark C. Baker and Jonathan David Bobaljik6. The locus of ergative case, Julie Anne Legate7. Ergative need not split: An exploration into the TotalErg hypothesis, Itziar Laka8. The structural source of split ergativity and ergative case in Georgian, Lea NashPART II: CHARACTERISTICS AND EXTENSIONSCharacteristics9. Split ergativity in syntax and at morphological spellout, Ellen Woolford10. Split ergativity is not about ergativity, Jessica Coon and Omer Preminger11. Ergativity and differential case marking, Andrej Malchukov12. Three-way systems do not exist, Gereon Muller and Daniela Thomas13. Antipassive, Maria Polinsky14. Remarks on the relation between case-alignment and constituent order, Knut Tarald TaraldsenExtensions15. Ergativity in nominalization, Artemis Alexiadou16. Ergativity and Austronesian-type voice systems, Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine, Theodore Levin, and Coppe van Urk17. On the morphosyntactic reflexes of the information structure in the ergative patterning of the Inuit language, Alana Johns and Ivona Kucerova18. Ergative constellations in the structure of speech acts, Martina WiltschkoPART III: APPROACHES TO ERGATIVITYDIACHRONIC19. Grammaticalization of ergative case marking, William McGregor20. Deconstructing Iranian ergativity, Geoffrey Haig21. Intransitivity and the development of ergative alignment, Edith Aldridge22. Developments into and out of ergativity: Indo-Aryan diachrony, Miriam Butt and Ashwini Deo23. Ergativity and language change in Austronesian languages, Ritsuko Kikusawa24. Lexical category and alignment in Austronesian, Daniel KaufmanAcquisition25. The acquisition of ergativity: An overview, Edith Bavin26. The role of defaults in the acquisition of Basque ergative and dative morphology, Jennifer Austin27. A comparative study of the acquisition of nominative and ergative alignment in European and Mayan languages, Clifton Pye and Barbara PfeilerExperimental28. Processing ergativity: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence, Adam Zawiszewski29. Experimental approaches to ergative languages, Nicholas Longenbaugh and Maria PolinskyPART IV: CASE STUDIES30. Correlates of ergativity in Mayan, Judith Aissen31. Ergative case in Burushaski: A dependent case analysis, Mark C. Baker32. Ergativity in Basque, Ane Berro and Ricardo Etxepare33. Hindi/Urdu and related languages, Miriam Butt34. Ergativity in Inuktitut, Richard Compton35. Ergativity in Nakh-Dagestanian, Diana Forker36. Ergativity in Neo-Aramaic, Geoffrey Khan37. Ergativity in Africa, Christa Konig38. Ergativity in Tibeto-Burman, Shobhana Chelliah39. The ergative in Warlpiri: A case study, Mary Laughren40. Ergative-absolutive patterns in Tongan: An overview, Yuko Otsuka41. Ergativity across Tsimshianic, Tyler Peterson42. What being a syntactically ergative language means for Katukina-Kanamari, Francesc Queixalos43. Ergativity in Je languages, Andres Salanova44. Interaction of ergativity and information structure in Jaminjung (Australia), Eva Schultze-Berndt45. Alignment and orientation in Kartvelian (South Caucasian), Kevin Tuite
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