From case to adposition : the development of configurational syntax in Indo-European languages / John Hewson & Vit Bubenik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hewson, John, 1930-

Contributor:

Bubeník, Vít, 1942-

Series:

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Current issues in linguistic theory ; Series IV, v. 280.

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory, 0304-0763 ; v. 280

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indo-European languages--Syntax.

Indo-European languages.

Indo-European languages--Grammar, Historical.

Physical Description:

xxx, 419 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins Pub. Co., c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the historical development of many languages of the IE phylum the loss of inflectional morphology led to the development of a configurational syntax, where syntactic position marked syntactic role. The first of these configurations was the adposition (preposition or postposition), which developed out of the uninflected particle/preverbs in the older forms of IE, by forming fixed phrases with nominal elements, a pattern later followed in the development of a configurational NP (article + nominal) and VP (auxiliary + verbal). The authors follow this evolution through almost four thousand years of documentation in all twelve language families of the Indo-European phylum, noting the resemblances between the structure of the original IE case system and the systemic oppositions to be found in the sets of adpositions that replaced it.Quite apart from its theoretical analyses and proposals which in themselves amount to a new look at many traditional problems, this study has a value in the collected store of information on cases, and on adpositions and their usage. There is also a considerable store of etymological information that is relevant to the description of the systemic development.

Contents:

From Case to Adposition

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

AUTHORS' PREFACE

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ABBREVIATIONS OF LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS

ABBREVIATIONS OF PRIMARY LITERATURE

ABBREVIATIONS OF GRAMMATICAL TERMS

1. TYPOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN INDO-EUROPEAN: FROM PARADIGM TO PHRASE

2. THE SYNTAX OF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

3. CASES AND PREPOSITIONS IN ANCIENT GREEK

4. CASES AND POSTPOSITIONS IN HITTITE

5. CASES AND POSTPOSITIONS IN INDO-ARYAN

6. CASES AND PREPOSITIONS IN IRANIAN

7. ARMENIAN

8. FROM OLD TO MODERN SLAVIC

9. BALTIC LANGUAGES

10. FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN CELTIC

11. FROM LATIN TO MODERN ROMANCE

12. FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN GERMANIC

13. ALBANIAN

14. TOCHARIAN

15. CASES, ADVERBIAL PARTICLES AND ADPOSITIONS IN PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN

16. CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES AND SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX OF AUTHORS

INDEX OF LANGUAGES

GENERAL INDEX

The series Current Issues in Linguistic Theory.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [384]-409) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612155086

9781282155084

1282155083

9789027292964

9027292965

OCLC:

705531184