Overview

This volume analyzes constructions with non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, drawing on insights from cognitive and discourse-functional linguistics. Prototypical subjects have often been characterized in terms of their semantic, syntactic and discourse features, such as animacy, agentivity, topicality, referentiality, definiteness and autonomy of existence of the subject referent. A non-canonical subject is one that lacks some of these features. This may be reflected in its meaning, grammatical coding, and/or discourse function. In discussing non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, the chapters in the volume address the following more general topics: What kinds of grammatical, semantic and discourse criteria can be used to distinguish subjects from non-subjects? To what extent are subject criteria construction-specific? What kinds of constructions have non-canonical subjects? What are the semantic and discourse functions of constructions with non-canonical subjects? Are subjects which are grammatically non-canonical also atypical in terms of their discourse features?

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The contributions to the volume under review, even when offering an analysis of Finnish or Estonian data, are of broader interest and can be read with profit by anyone concerned with general questions of grammatical relations and the different angles under which they can be approached. It should be noted, however, that several authors take the notion of subjecthood rather broadly, extending it to agent phrases, defocused referents in agent-backgrounding constructions etc. The different perspectives taken by the authors will certainly inspire further research into a domain that has much to gain from a constructional approach. The contents of the volume fully justify its title, as they illustrate the benefits of studying subjects in constructions, in the various meanings in which this formulation may be understood. -- Axel Holvoet, Vilnius University, in Constructions and Frames Vol. 10:1 (2018)

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