Nominal determination : typology, context constraints, and historical emergence / edited by Elisabeth Stark, Elisabeth Leiss, Werner Abraham.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Stark, Elisabeth.

Leiss, Elisabeth.

Abraham, Werner.

Series:

Studies in language companion series ; v. 89.

Studies in language companion series, 0165-7763 ; v. 89

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Determiners.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Definiteness (Linguistics).

Grammar, Comparative and general--Nominals.

Physical Description:

vi, 369 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub., c2007.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Three different nominal word orders in Old English through present-day English are investigated, in order to determine whether English has an 'adjectival' possessive similar to Modern Italian. It is argued that the orders a) demonstrative, possessive, noun and b) possessive, demonstrative, noun represent different syntactic constructions, with different paths of development. It is concluded that the a) order represents three different constructions: i) apposition, ii) a possible 'adjectival' possessive, no longer found in Middle English, iii) an Early Modern English focus construction using the proximal. The b) order represents a demonstrative in form, functioning only as a definiteness marker.

Contents:

Nominal Determination

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Synchrony - and its implications for diachrony

Discourse bindingDP and pronouns in German, Dutch, and English

Gender, number, and indefi nite articles: About the 'typological inconsistency' of Italian

Covert patterns of definiteness/indefiniteness and aspectuality in Old Icelandic, Gothic, and Old High German

The definite article in Indo-European: Emergence of a new grammatical category?

'No' changes: On the history of German indefinite determiners in the scopeof negation

2. Synchrony - ontological and typological characteristics

The functional range of bare singular count nouns in English

The definite article in non-specific direct object noun phrases: Comparing French and Italian

Early functions of definite determiners and DPs in German first language acquisition

3. Diachrony - universally unifi ed characteristics?

The discourse-functional crystallizationof the historically original demonstrative

Determinerless noun phrases in Old Romance passives

On the structure and development of nominal phrases in Norwegian

The emergence of DP from a perspective of ontogeny and phylogeny: Correlation between DP, TP and aspect in Old English and first language acquisition

Demonstratives and possessives: From Old English to present-day English

Author and subject index

The series Studies in Language Companion Series.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612152757

9781282152755

1282152750

9789027292100

9027292108

OCLC:

191950524