Cases and Thematic Roles: Ergative, Accusative and Active

Author:   Beatrice Primus
Publisher:   De Gruyter
Edition:   Reprint 2010
Volume:   393
ISBN:  

9783484303935


Pages:   296
Publication Date:   29 March 1999
Recommended Age:   College Graduate Student
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Our Price $188.67 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Cases and Thematic Roles: Ergative, Accusative and Active


Add your own review!

Overview

This book is concerned with the mapping of thematic roles, such as agent and patient, onto syntactic cases, such as nominative or ergative, or onto structural relations. It shows that cases and structural relations code different aspects of thematic structure. The thematic determination of the structural relation of an argument is confined to its position in the thematic structure of the predicate. Case mapping is determined by the number of basic thematic concepts involved in this structure. This fact and other facts presented in the book presuppose an approach to thematic roles that decomposes them into more basic concepts involving volitionality, causation, activity, sentience, possession, etc., and motivate the hypothesis that syntactic cases cannot be derived from structural relations in universal grammar. The phenomena pertaining to relational typology that classifies languages into ergative, accusative and active languages are shown to be restricted to case mapping. The specific thematic determination of case mapping and the hierarchical organization of case systems explain not only the existence of these types of mapping, but also the fact that ergative and active phenomena are typically case-based. The book provides a global cross-linguistic perspective, but German data recurrently serve as an illustration of the main theoretical assumptions.

Full Product Details

Author:   Beatrice Primus
Publisher:   De Gruyter
Imprint:   De Gruyter
Edition:   Reprint 2010
Volume:   393
Dimensions:   Width: 21.00cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 28.00cm
Weight:   1.077kg
ISBN:  

9783484303935


ISBN 10:   348430393
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   29 March 1999
Recommended Age:   College Graduate Student
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

RGJUNE2025

 

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List