Overview
A Grammar of Mina is a reference grammar of a hitherto undescribed and endangered Central Chadic language. The book contains a description of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and all the functional domains encoded by this language. For each hypothesis regarding a form of linguistic expression and its function, ample evidence is given. The description of formal means and of the functions coded by these means is couched in terms accessible to all linguists regardless of their theoretical orientations. The outstanding characteristics of Mina include: vowel harmony; use of phonological means, including vowel deletion and vowel retention, to code phrasal boundaries; two tense and aspectual systems, each system carrying a different pragmatic function; a lexical category ‘locative predicator’ hitherto not observed in other languages; some tense, aspect, and mood markers that occur before the verb, and others that occur after the verb; the markers of interrogative and negative modality that occur in clause-final position; the conjunction used for a conjoined noun phrase in the subject function that differs from the conjunction used for a conjoined noun phrase in all other functions.In addition to the coding of argument structure, adjuncts, tense, aspect, and mood categories, Mina also codes the category point-of-view. The language has a clausal category ‘comment clause’ used in both simple and complex sentences, which overtly marks the speaker’s comment on the proposition. The discourse structure has the principle of unity of place. If one of the participants in a described event changes scene, that is coded by a special syntactic construction in addition to any verb of movement that may be used. Because of these unusual linguistic characteristics, the Grammar of Mina will be of interest to a wide range of linguists.
Full Product Details
Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier ,
Eric Johnston ,
Adrian Edwards
Publisher: De Gruyter
Imprint: De Gruyter Mouton
Volume: 36
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 2.90cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 1.021kg
ISBN: 9783110185652
ISBN 10: 3110185652
Pages: 527
Publication Date: 15 December 2005
Recommended Age: College Graduate Student
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
""This reference grammar is packed with interesting facts and one would recommend it for students of Chadic languages and for typologists and general linguists alike.""Laura Buszard-Welcher in: Linguist List 18.912
This reference grammar is packed with interesting facts and one would recommend it for students of Chadic languages and for typologists and general linguists alike. Laura Buszard-Welcher in: Linguist List 18.912
Author Information
Zygmunt Frajzyngier is Professor at the Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. Eric Johnston is affiliated with the Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.
