Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
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Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
Avery D. Andrews
include some which are by definition core (a in Warlpiri). Furthermore, there is no striking overall difference in syntactic behaviour between the marked and the unmarked nps. Nonetheless, something corresponding to the core/oblique distinction in English usually seems to exist even in languages where a, s and p normally carry the same kinds of markers as other grammatical functions. One set of cases, commonly called ‘syntactic’, ‘structural’, or ‘direct’ cases, mark the core functions, another, commonly called ‘semantic’ cases, mark the oblique functions. nps with syntactic cases tend to express a wide range of semantic functions and to be targetted by rules sensitive to grammatical function, while np s with ‘semantic’ cases tend not to have these properties. Usually, the properties of core nps suggest that they should be viewed as bearing ‘abstract grammatical relations’: structural relationships which are not necessarily directly reflected by coding features, and do not necessarily correlate precisely with semantic roles, pragmatic functions, or other aspects of meaning. By contrast, the grammatical function of obliques, such as the pps in (7–8) can for the most part be identified with their semantic roles. Most of the typological work on grammatical functions has been directed toward core functions, although recently there has been increasing consideration of external ones. Obliques on the other hand still seem to be relatively neglected. In the remainder of this section we will briefly consider external and oblique functions, and then, in section 3, we will discuss at greater length core functions and the grammatical relations associated with them. 2.2 External functions As we observed above, external functions give the appearance of being essen- tially outside of the clause structure, and are each closely associated with a specific pragmatic function. But the grammar of a language does not specify any associations between external functions and semantic roles (ways of par- ticipating in the situation described by the sentence), and, for some external functions, their bearer needn’t have any semantic role in the sentence at all. Suppose Jim’s wife, Harriet, has left him. If some of the couple’s former friends were discussing Jim, one of them might say: (27) Speaking of Jim, what’s Harriet been up to lately? Jim is brought up as the topic of the sentence, what the sentence is about, but does not have a semantic role with respect to the predicate. In English, such constructions have a fairly minor place in the system of the language, but in many languages they are the predominant form of sentence in ordinary usage. Such languages were called ‘Topic Prominent’ by C. N. Li and Thompson (1976), and seem to be especially characteristic of Southeast Asia. The major functions of the noun phrase 155 We illustrate typical instances of such constructions with examples from Chinese, Lahu (Tibeto-Burman), and Japanese, with the topic (which appears in initial position) italicized: (28) a. Chinese Ne`ı-chang hu ɔ x`ıngkui x¯ıaofang-du`ı la´ı de ku`ai that-clsfr fire fortunate fire-brigade come ptcl quick ‘That fire, fortunately the fire brigade came quickly’ C. N. Li and Thompson (1976:482) b. Lahu H ɔ ɔ ¯ na-q ɔ ´ y¨ı ve y`o elephant top nose long picl dec ‘Elephant, noses are long’ C. N. Li and Thompson (1976:482) c. Japanese Nihon wa Tokyo ga sumi-yoi Japan top Tokyo nom easy.to.live.in ‘As for Japan, Tokyo is comfortable to live in’ Kuno (1973:65) These examples cannot be adequately glossed in English, since their nearest counterparts use constructions using as for and speaking of, which, as noted above, carry a switch-topic force that is absent in the examples of (28). Chafe (1976:50) characterizes the function of the topic in these constructions as that of setting ‘a spatial, temporal or individual framework within which the main predication holds’ (see also Lambrecht (1994:118)). External functions whose bearers needn’t have a semantic role in the accom- panying clause will be called ‘free’. Free external functions always seem to introduce topics, functioning more or less as described by Chafe. Furthermore they always place an np at the beginning of the sentence, either with accompa- nying morphological material (Lahu, Japanese, English) or without it (Chinese). Other external functions require their bearer to have a semantic role in the clause (of course this is also possible for free topics). We call these ‘bound’. In English the it-cleft construction is a bound external function, as is the ‘topical- ization’ construction in which an np is preposed without additional marking. Observe the contrast below: (29) a. As for American self-confidence, Columbia gave people a lift b. *American self-confidence, Columbia gave people a lift c. *It was American self-confidence that Columbia gave people a lift In all of these exampIes. the clause fails to assign a semantic role to the initial np . The result is acceptable in the case of the as for construction (29a), but not in the case of the others, the topicalization construction (29b) and the it-cleft |
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