The Essence of Linguistic Analysis An Integrated Approach (Brill Research Perspectives in Humanities and Social Sciences)

Many works on linguistic typology deal in some detail with one or more particular grammatical topics without clearly demonstrating how these relate to other categories or construction types. The Essence of Linguistic Analysis by R. M. W. Dixon presents a framework which connects individual topics in a cogent and coherent way, showing their dependencies and locating each in its place within the overall tapestry of a language. A clear distinction is made between semantic roles and syntactic functions. And it is held that the basic constituents of a language are lexical elements. Grammatical items serve to link together lexical units. At every level of analysis, the central units are lexical with grammar providing ancillary indicators. Contents 5 Preface 7 Acknowledgements 9 Abbreviations 10 The Essence of Linguistic Analysis: An Integrated Approach 13 Abstract 13 Keywords 13 Introduction 13 1 Preliminaries 14 2 The Basic Scheme 15 2a Types of Clause 15 2b Phrases Filling Slots in Clause Structure 16 2c Transitivity Classes of Verbs 18 2d Distinguishing A and O Arguments 19 2e Marking Core Arguments 21 2f ‘Accusative’ and ‘Ergative’ Labels 25 2g Phrase Structure 26 2h Word Formation 27 2i The Storeys and Their Different Characters 29 3 Semantic Types and Semantic Roles 30 4 Peripheral Arguments 37 4a Marking of Peripheral Arguments 37 4b Meaning of Peripheral Arguments 42 4c Extended Intransitive and Extended Transitive Clause Types 44 5 Clauses within Phrases and Clauses within Clauses 47 5a Relative Clauses 48 5b Complement Clauses 49 5c Complement Clauses and Semantic Roles 53 5d Conclusion 56 6 Free and Bound Pronouns 57 6a The Heterogeneous Class of Pronouns 57 6b Pronouns and Nouns 60 6c Bound Pronouns 61 6d The Limited Role of Bound Pronouns 65 7 Head of a Verb Phrase 67 7a Varieties of Structure for a Verb Phrase 67 7b Something Other Than a Verb as Head of a Verb Phrase 71 8 Copula Clauses and Verbless Clauses 72 8a Contrasting Copula Complement with Non-verbal VP Head 76 9 Types of Intransitive Subject, S 77 9a Split-S Marking 78 9b Fluid-S Marking 79 10 The Sentence and Above 83 10a The Syntax of Clause Linking 83 10b The Semantics of Clause Linking 85 10c Above the Sentence 87 Commentary and Notes 89 Preliminary Note 90 Notes to Sections 91 References 93 Index 95 Books by R. M. W. Dixon 98 Many works on linguistic typology deal in some detail with one or more particular grammatical topics without clearly demonstrating how these relate to other categories or construction types. R. M. W. Dixon presents a framework which connects individual topics in a cogent and coherent way, showing their dependencies and locating each in its place within the overall tapestry of a language. 0A clear distinction is made between semantic roles and syntactic functions. And it is held that the basic constituents of a language are lexical elements. Grammatical items serve to link together lexical units. At every level of analysis, the central units are lexical with grammar providing ancillary indicators