Topicality and the Shaping of Grammar : New Perspectives from Lesser-Studied Languages.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Palancar, Enrique L.

Series:

Typological Studies in Language Series

Typological Studies in Language Series ; v.137

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Genre:

Essays

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2026.

Summary:

This volume places topicality at the very heart of grammatical explanation, drawing on richly annotated discourse corpora from lesser-studied languages across the Americas and beyond.

Contents:

Intro

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

References

Part 1 Methods for documenting topic and focus in lesser-studied languages

Chapter 1 Strategies for documenting topic and focus in understudied languages

1. Introduction

2. The common ground

3. Focus

3.1 Characterizing 'focus'

3.2 Marking focus

3.2.1 Prosodic prominence

3.2.2 Morphology

3.2.3 Syntax

3.2.4 Conclusion

3.3 Documenting focus

3.3.1 Naturally occurring speech

3.3.2 Constructed contexts

3.3.3 Elicitation

3.4 Summary

4. Topic

4.1 Characterizing 'topic'

4.2 Marking topic

4.2.1 Syntactic position

4.2.2 Morphological markers

4.3 Documenting topic

4.3.1 Naturally occurring discourse

4.3.2 Constructed contexts

5. Contrastive topic

5.1 Characterizing contrastive topic

5.2 Marking contrastive topics

5.2.1 Prosodic prominence and morphology

5.2.2 Syntactic position

5.3 Documenting contrastive topic

5.3.1 Naturally occurring discourse

5.3.2 Constructed contexts

5.3.3 Translation

6. Conclusion

Abbreviations

Part 2 Topicality and the grammatical encoding of core arguments

Chapter 2 Establishing and navigating polysynthetic reference

2. The languages and the corpora

3. Direct cognitive effects on the expression of reference

3.1 Substance

3.2 Prosody

4. Some cross-linguistic differences

4.1 Pronominal distinctions

4.2 Verb stem semantics

4.3 Determiners

4.4 Constituent order

4.5 Clause combining

5. Conclusion

Acnowledgements

Chapter 3 Lexical, pronominal and zero argument encoding in Movima

2. Argument encoding in Movima

3. Lexical vs. nonlexical argument expressions

3.1 Referential devices in Movima.

3.2 Grammatical relation determining lexical vs. non-lexical argument expression

3.3 Animacy determining lexical vs. non-lexical encoding

4. Pronoun vs. zero

4.1 Grammatical relation

4.2 Animacy determining pronominal vs. zero encoding

4.3 Referent tracking

4.4 Comparing lexical, pronominal and zero argument encoding

5. Topicality shaping grammar in Movima

5.1 Topicality as a basis for alignment

5.2 Comparing S and Adr

Funding

Chapter 4 Information structure and optional case marking in Pesh (Chibchan)

2. Methodology

3. Basic features of Pesh

4. Obligatory case marking in Pesh

5. Quantitative results

5.1 Referential distance

5.2 Topic persistence

6. Contrastive given referents

6.1 Contrastive given referents with high topic persistence

6.1.1 The ergative case marker

6.1.2 The absolutive case marker for O

6.2 Contrastive given referents with low topic persistence

6.2.1 The ergative case marker

6.2.2 The absolutive case marker

7. New referents

7.1 The ergative case marker

7.2 The absolutive case marker

8. Discriminative function

9. Final remarks

Chapter 5 Discourse topic and differential object marking in Zenzontepec Chatino

2. Language background and the data used for this study

3. Basic syntax and grammatical objects

4. DOM in Zenzontepec Chatino

4.1 Animacy

4.2 Definiteness (identifiability)

4.3 Specificity

5. Discussion and conclusions

Chapter 6 Word order, anaphora, and topicality in Eastern Armenian

2. Theoretical framework

2.1 Referential choice.

2.2 Lexical NPs vs. reduced referential devices (RDD)

2.3 Zero anaphora, verb agreement, and unstressed pronouns

2.4 Independent (stressed) pronouns

2.5 Word order and referential choice

3. Armenian

3.1 Anaphoric elements in Armenian

3.2 Word order and information structure

4. Quantitative study

4.1 Methodology

4.2 Results

4.2.1 DuBois Preferred Argument Structure (PAS)

4.2.2 Givenness

4.2.3 Humanness

4.2.4 Choice between reduced referential devices

4.2.5 Interaction between word order and referential choice

4.2.6 Conclusions on issues related to theoretical framework

5. Issues specifically relevant to features of Armenian

5.1 Selection of Third-Person pronouns in Armenian

5.1.1 Demonstrative pronouns

5.1.2 Emphatic 3rd person pronoun

5.1.3 Word order

5.2.1 Position of S and A Arguments

5.2.2 Definiteness as a determinant of word order

6. Summary and conclusion

Transliteration

Part 3 Topicality and the use of grammatical voice

Chapter 7 Discourse and reference tracking effects on voice alternations in Northern Amis (Austronesian)

2. Background on Amis morpho-syntax

2.1 Voices and bi-partite alignment

2.2 A symmetrical voice system

2.3 Voice affixes and their substitutes

3. Lexical, syntactic and semantic constraints on voice selection

3.1 Lexical properties and verb classes in declarative mood

3.2 Co-varying syntactic and semantic constraints on PSA and voice selection

3.3 Illocutionary acts and pragmatic effects of voice selection

4. The referential status of PSA arguments and voice selection in discourse

4.1 Voice alternation as strategies avoiding indefinite PSAs

4.2 Existential and staging constructions.

4.3 Choosing between existential, staging constructions and voice marked verbs

5. Discourse, topic continuity and topic tracking

5.1 Definitions

5.2 Topic continuous PSAs in chains of same voice-affixed verbs

5.3 Tracking topical arguments with voice alternation

5.3.1 Tracking an Snom as Pnom with voice alternation

5.3.2 Tracking a Tobl as Pnom of UV, LV

5.3.3 Tracking Tobl Themes as Pnom of applicative voice constructions

5.4 Tracking a location noun

5.5 Bridging effects on topic tracking

5.6 Discussion

6. Topic tracking, topic continuity and zero anaphora in two selected Amis texts

6.1 Mami (the Pear/orange story)

6.1.1 Percentage of two-argument AV or UV verbs

6.1.2 Ratio of lexically or pronominally expressed arguments

6.2 A procedural story

6.2.1 Percentage of two-argument AV or UV verbs

6.2.2 Ratio of lexically or pronominally expressed arguments

6.3 The two narratives compared

6.4 Amis in the perspective of Du Bois' theory of Preferred Argument Structure

7. Conclusion

Chapter 8 The emergence of an inverse marking system in Jitotoltec

2. The problem

3. Inversion in Mixe-Zoquean

3.1 The Zoquean branch

3.2 Mixean branch

3.3 Jitotoltec, the only Zoquean language with an innovative inverse system

4. The functions of *-hV in Mixean

4.1 Canonical inverse constructions

4.2 Modern reflexes of *-hV in reflexives and reciprocals

4.3 From passive marker to inverse marker

5. The genesis of the inverse marking system in Jitotoltec

5.1 The hierarchical marking pattern in Zoquean

5.2 A strictly hierarchical opposition in the paradigm with 1st person

5.3 The direct vs. passive with an overt oblique agent alternation

5.4 Direct: 3PROX:3OBV vs. Inverse: 3OBV:3PROX.

6. The pragmatics of voice in Jitotoltec

6.1 Methodology for the analysis of "voice"

6.1.1 Measuring 'referential distance'

6.1.2 Measuring 'Topic Persistence'

6.1.3 The results

7. Conclusions

Chapter 9 Topicality, word order and voice in Otomi

2. Basics of the grammar of Tilapa Otomi

2.1 Basics about word order in Tilapa Otomi

2.2 Basics about voice in Tilapa Otomi

3. The sample and initial results from the study

3.1 The sample

3.2 The methodology

4. Topicality and word order in Tilapa Otomi

5. Topicality and voice in Tilapa Otomi

6. A comparison with Northern Otomi

7. Summary of the proposal and concluding remarks

Subject index

Language index.

Notes:

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ISBN:

90-272-4379-4

OCLC:

1591760396