New Benjamins title - Bar ðdal/Chelliah: The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case

Mon Apr 20 18:14:13 UTC 2009

The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the 
Development of Case

Edited by Jóhanna Barðdal and Shobhana L. Chelliah
University of Bergen / University of North Texas

<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_seriesview.cgi?series=SLCS>Studies 
in Language Companion Series 108
2009. xx, 432 pp.

Hardbound  978 90 272 0575 9 / EUR 105.00 / USD 158.00
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?t=u&copies=1&edition=0&bookid=SLCS%20108>
[]
e-Book – Not yet available
978 90 272 8992 6 / EUR 105.00 / USD 158.00

The aim of this volume is to bring non-syntactic factors in the 
development of case into the eye of the research field, by 
illustrating the integral role of pragmatics, semantics, and 
discourse structure in the historical development of morphologically 
marked case systems. The articles represent fifteen typologically 
diverse languages from four different language families: (i) 
Indo-European: Vedic Sanskrit, Russian, Greek, Latin, Latvian, 
Gothic, French, German, Icelandic, and Faroese; (ii) Tibeto-Burman, 
especially the Bodic languages and Meithei; (iii) Japanese; and (iv) 
the Pama-Nyungan mixed language Gurindji Kriol. The data also show 
considerable diversity and include elicited, archival, corpus-based, 
and naturally occurring data. Discussions of mechanisms where change 
is obtained include semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic 
case variation, discourse motivated subject marking, reduction or 
expansion of case marker distribution, case syncretism motivated by 
semantics, syntax, or language contact, and case splits motivated by 
pragmatics, metonymy, and subjectification.

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Table of contents

List of contributors
vii–viii
Introduction: The role of semantic, pragmatic and discourse factors 
in the development of case
Jóhanna Barðdal and Shobhana L. Chelliah
ix–xx
Part I. Semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=889122007>Case 
variation in Gothic absolute constructions
Tonya Kim Dewey and Yasmin Syed
3–21
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=77122008>Some 
semantic and pragmatic aspects of object alternation in Early Vedic
Eystein Dahl
23–55
Part II. Discourse motivated subject marking
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=562122010>The 
case of the shifty ergative marker: A pragmatic shift in the ergative 
marker of one Australian mixed language
Felicity Meakins
59–91
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=889122011>How 
useful is case morphology? The loss of the Old French two-case system 
within a theory of Preferred Argument structure
Ulrich Detges
93–120
Part III. Reduction or expansion of case marker distribution
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=236122013>The 
development of case in Germanic
Jóhanna Barðdal
123–159
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=562122014>A 
usage-based approach to change: Old Russian possessive constructions
Hanne Martine Eckhoff
161–180
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=312122015>Lacking 
in Latvian: Case variation from a cognitive and constructional perspective
Sturla Berg-Olsen
181–202
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=14122016>Verb 
classes and dative objects in Insular Scandinavian
Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson
203–224
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=889122017>Transitive 
adjectives in Japanese
Daniela Caluianu
225–257
Part IV. Case syncretism motivated by syntax, semantics or language contact
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=313122019>Patterns 
of development, patterns of syncretism of relational morphology in 
the Bodic languages
Michael Noonan
261–282
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=516122020>The 
evolution of local cases and their grammatical equivalent in Greek and Latin
Silvia Luraghi
283–305
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=842122021>Argument 
structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin
Michela Cennamo
307–346
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=236122022>Case 
loss in Texas German: The influence of semantic and pragmatic factors
Hans C. Boas
347–373
Part V. Case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy and subjectification
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=610122024>Semantic 
role to new information in Meithei
Shobhana L. Chelliah
377–400
<http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_articles.cgi?bookid=SLCS%20108&artid=842122025>From 
less personal to more personal: Subjectification of ni-marked NPs in 
Japanese discourse
Misumi Sadler
401–422
Author index
423–426
Subject index
427–432

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"This volume is an important collection of in-depth studies dealing 
with case evolution, case variation, case syncretism and case loss in 
a variety of languages. As contributions to the volume convincingly 
show, the evolution of case systems cannot be explained in syntactic 
terms exclusively, but it is guided by a variety of factors among 
which semantic, pragmatic, and discourse factors play an important 
role. The volume contributes not only to the field of historical 
linguistics but also to linguistic theory insofar as it extends the 
scope of usage-based theories to diachronic studies."
Andrej Malchukov, Max Planck Institute, Leipzig

"This volume brings together empirically rich studies on how factors 
of syntactic structure, discourse usage, and lexical valency shape 
the development of case marking in various languages around the 
world. The diachronic orientation of this research fits well with the 
'historical turn' that characterizes modern typology, and the present 
volume therefore provides a key resource for future research on the 
typology of case marking and alignment."
Balthasar Bickel, University of Leipzig

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