37.1894, Books: Apprehensional Constructions in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Faller, Vuillermet, and Schultze-Berndt (eds.) (2026)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1894. Tue May 26 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1894, Books: Apprehensional Constructions in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Faller, Vuillermet, and Schultze-Berndt (eds.) (2026)

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Date: 26-May-2026
From: Sebastian Nordhoff [support at langsci-press.org]
Subject: Apprehensional Constructions in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Faller, Vuillermet, and Schultze-Berndt (eds.) (2026)


Title: Apprehensional Constructions in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
Series Title: Research on Comparative Grammar
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Language Science Press
           http://langsci-press.org
Book URL: https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/530

Editor(s): Martina Faller, Marine Vuillermet, Eva Schultze-Berndt

eBook

Abstract:

The functional domain of apprehensionality encompasses grammatical
markers or constructions which conventionally encode or pragmatically
implicate that the situation described by the clause is an undesirable
possibility. Its main manifestations discussed in this volume are (i)
apprehensives, which are modal markers which can occur in main
clauses, and thus could serve to translate English might in Don't go
near this dog, it might bite (but also add a component of
undesirability), and (ii) precautionary subordinators such as English
lest in Don't go near this dog, lest it bite. As just illustrated,
such elements tend to occur in warnings and are often but not
necessarily accompanied by an instruction as to how to avoid the
undesirable situation. Although wide-spread cross-linguistically, they
have received very little attention in the linguistic literature and
their discussion has been mostly restricted to brief sections in
language-specific discussions of some lesser studied languages. This
volume addresses this gap by presenting in-depth discussions of
apprehensional markers in individual languages (and in some
contributions, language groups), by experts on these languages and
based on first-hand data. The editors' introduction offers a review of
the existing literature, including of the varied terminology used and
of the main research questions arising. The individual papers present
detailed investigations of the semantic and pragmatic properties of
the construction(s) in question, their syntactic status, and in many
cases also their diachrony. The final contribution is a questionnaire
for the in-depth exploration of variation within apprehensional
constructions. The volume is aimed at typologists, semanticists
interested in modality, and general linguists.

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics
                     Typology

Written In: English (eng)



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