The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case (Studies in Language Companion Series)

List Of Contributors -- Introduction: The Role Of Semantic, Pragmatic And Discourse Factors In The Development Of Case / Jóhanna Barðdal & Shobhana L. Chelliah -- Pt. 1. Semantically And Aspectually Motivated Synchronic Case Variation -- Case Variation In Gothic Absolute Constructions / Tonya Kim Dewey & Yasmin Syed -- Some Semantic And Pragmatic Aspects Of Object Alternation In Early Vedic / Eystein Dahl -- Pt. 2. Discourse Motivated Subject Marking -- The Case Of The Shifty Ergative Marker : A Pragmatic Shift In The Ergative Marker Of One Australian Mixed Language / Felicity Meakins -- How Useful Is Case Morphology? : The Loss Of The Old French Two-case System Within A Theory Of Preferred Argument Structure / Ulrich Detges -- Pt. 3. Reduction Or Expansion Of Case Marker Distribution -- The Development Of Case In Germanic / Jóhanna Barðdal -- A Usage-based Approach To Change : Old Russian Possessive Constructions / Hanne Martine Eckhoff -- Lacking In Latvian : Case Variation From A Cognitive And Constructional Perspective / Sturla Berg-olsen -- Verb Classes And Dative Objects In Insular Scandinavian / Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson -- Transitive Adjectives In Japanese / Daniela Caluianu -- Pt. 4. Case Syncretism Motivated By Syntax, Semantics Or Language Contact -- Patterns Of Development, Patterns Of Syncretism Of Relational Morphology In The Bodic Languages / Michael Noonan -- The Evolution Of Local Cases And Their Grammatical Equivalent In Greek And Latin / Silvia Luraghi -- Argument Structure And Alignment Variations And Changes In Late Latin / Michela Cennamo -- Case Loss In Texas German : The Influence Of Semantic And Pragmatic Factors / Hans C. Boas -- Pt. 5. Case Splits Motivated By Pragmatics, Metonymy And Subjectification -- Semantic Role To New Information In Meithei / Shobhana L. Chelliah -- From Less Personal To More Personal : Subjectification Of Ni-marked Nps In Japanese Discourse / Misumi Sadler. Edited By Jóhanna Barðdal, Shobhana L. Chelliah. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. List of contributors Introduction: the role of semantic, pragmatic And discourse factors in the development of case / Jóhanna Barðdal & Shobhana L. Chelliah Part 1. Semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation: Case variation in Gothic absolute constructions / Tonya Kim Dewey & Yasmin Syed ; Some semantic and pragmatic aspects of object alternation in Early Vedic / Eystein Dahl Part 2. Discourse motivated subject marking: The case of the shifty ergative marker: A pragmatic shift in the ergative marker of one Australian mixed language / Felicity Meakins ; How useful is case morphology? The loss of the Old French two-case system within a theory of Preferred Argument Structure / Ulrich Detges Part 3. Reduction or expansion of case marker distribution: The development of case in Germanic / Jóhanna Barðdal ; A usage-based approach to change: Old Russian possessive constructions / Hanne Martine Eckhoff ; Lacking in Latvian: Case variation from a cognitive and constructional perspective / Sturla Berg-Olsen ; Verb classes and dative objects in Insular Scandinavian / Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson ; Transitive adjectives in Japanese / Daniela Caluianu Part 4. Case syncretism motivated by syntax, semantics or language contact: Patterns of development, patterns of syncretism of relational morphology in the Bodic languages / Michael Noonan ; The evolution of local cases and their grammatical equivalent In greek and latin / Silvia Luraghi ; Argument structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin / Michela Cennamo ; Case loss in Texas German: The influence of semantic and pragmatic factors / Hans C. Boas Part 5. Case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy and subjectification: Semantic role to new information in Meithei / Shobhana L. Chelliah ; From less personal to more personal: Subjectification of ni-marked NPs in Japanese discourse / Misumi Sadler. The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factorsin the Development of Case......Page 2 Editorial page ......Page 3 Title page ......Page 4 LCC data ......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 List of contributors......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Part 1. Semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation......Page 22 Case variation in Gothic absolute constructions......Page 24 Some semantic and pragmatic aspects of object alternation in Early Vedic*......Page 44 Part 2. Discourse motivated subject marking......Page 78 The case of the shifty ergative marker......Page 80 How useful is case morphology?......Page 114 Part 3. Reduction or expansion of case marker distribution......Page 142 The development of case in Germanic......Page 144 A usage-based approach to change......Page 182 Lacking in Latvian: Case variation from a cognitive and constructional perspective......Page 202 Verb classes and dative objects in Insular Scandinavian*......Page 224 Transitive adjectives in Japanese*......Page 246 Part 4. Case syncretism motivated by syntax, semantics or language contact......Page 280 Patterns of development, patterns of syncretism of relational morphology in the Bodic languages......Page 282 The evolution of local cases and their grammatical equivalent in Greek and Latin......Page 304 Argument structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin......Page 328 Case loss in Texas German......Page 368 Part 5. Case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy and subjectification......Page 396 Semantic role to new information in Meithei*......Page 398 From less personal to more personal......Page 422 Author index......Page 444 Subject index......Page 448 The series Studies in Language Companion Series......Page 454 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 (i) 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. 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 mix The Japanese ni is a postpositional particle, known for its wide range of semantic and grammatical roles such as a marker of locations, directions, recipients, and dative subjects. Based on an examination of pre-modern and modern Japanese texts, this study documents how the most basic meaning/usage of ni -marked NPs to mark stative locations has attained more subjective meaning/usage over the course of history. As discussed in Heine (1997), the transition from one stage to another is gradual, involving each new stage coexisting with the prior stages. These overlaps create ambiguit