Person Prominence and relation prominence
On the typology of syntactic relations with special reference
Published in 2000
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-3-89586-608-1 (ISBN)
Description
Two types of syntactic structures are postulated, one of person prominence, which is present in Standard Average European (SAE) languages, following Benjamin L. Whorf's term, and one of relation prominence, which is present in Yucatec Maya. The diverse structural manifestations of the two types and their implications for the organization of grammar are explored within eight mostly unrelated languages, English, German, Korean, Lezgian, Maori, Samoan, Tamil, and Yucatec Maya. The syntactic organization in different grammatical areas, namely modal and phase operator constructions, possessive constructions, experiential constructions, and benefactive constructions, is investigated and the languages are arranged on a continuum of person and relation prominence.
The study is intended for typologists, descriptive linguists and mayanists, but may as well be of interest to philologists of any of the other languages.
The study is intended for typologists, descriptive linguists and mayanists, but may as well be of interest to philologists of any of the other languages.