Morphosyntactic Categories and the Expression of Possession
Published on 30. January 2013
Book
Hardback
341 pages
978-90-272-5582-2 (ISBN)
Description
The analysis of constructions denoting possession (particularly, but not exclusively, in English) has long presented a challenge to morpho-syntactic theory and has been a topic of debate for some time. The papers presented here afford thought-provoking insights into the morphosyntactic nature of possessive markers under a variety of theoretical frameworks. The distribution of phrases expressing possession is explored in a range of languages (including English, Swedish, Urdu and West Flemish), with rigorous exploitation of corpus data and careful statistical analysis. Descriptions and analyses represent the state of the art in research into possessive constructions. Particular attention is paid to the English possessive 's, both synchronically and diachronically. This volume is essential for scholars interested in theoretical and corpus-based linguistics, morphosyntactic constructions, and the expression of possession.
Reviews / Votes
The volume is essential reading for any linguist interested in the morphosyntactic realization of possession. While the overall focus is clearly on English, this is not necessarily a negative: it enables the volume to approach the various issues in English from several distinct angles, while maintaining a manageable set of data. Empirical-statistical, cognitive and theoretical-explanatory accounts add up to render a rather complete picture of the English possessive constructions from a synchronic as well as from a diachronic perspective. In addition, descriptive papers team up to provide insights into other languages' possessive structures as well. -- Sebastian Sulger, University of Konstanz, on Linguist List 24,3673, 2013More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 164 mm
Weight
775 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-5582-2 (9789027255822)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kersti Börjars | David Denison | Alan K. Scott
Morphosyntactic Categories and the Expression of Possession
E-Book
01/2013
1st Edition
John Benjamins Publishing Company
€123.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
1. Introduction (by Borjars, Kersti); 2. Dealing with postmodified possessors in early English: Split and group genitives (by Allen, Cynthia L.); 3. Variation in the form and function of the possessive morpheme in Late Middle and Early Modern English (by Juvonen, Teo); 4. The great regression: Genitive variability in Late Modern English news texts (by Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt); 5. Nominal categories and the expression of possession: A cross-linguistic study of probabilistic tendencies and categorical constraints (by O'Connor, Catherine); 6. Expression of possession in English: The significance of the right edge (by Borjars, Kersti); 7. A cognitive analysis of John's hat (by Hudson, Richard A.); 8. The oblique genitive in English (by Payne, John); 9. The marker of the English "Group Genitive" is a special clitic, not an inflection (by Anderson, Stephen R.); 10. Two prenominal possessors in West Flemish (by Haegeman, Liliane); 11. A Mozart sonata and the Palme murder: The structure and uses of proper-name compounds in Swedish (by Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria); 12. Possessive clitics and ezafe in Urdu (by Bogel, Tina); 13. References; 14. Index