From Case to Adposition
The development of configurational syntax in Indo-European languages
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.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 280] 2006. xxx, 420 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Author's Preface | pp. v–xii
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List of illustrations | pp. xxi–xxiv
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Abbreviations of Languages and Dialects | pp. xxv–xxvi
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Abbreviations of Primary Literature | p. xxvii
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Abbreviations of Grammatical Terms | pp. xxviii–xxx
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Typological Evolution in IEJohn Hewson | pp. 1–27
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The Syntax of the Prepositional PhraseJohn Hewson | pp. 28–53
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Case and Prepositions in Ancient GreekJohn Hewson | pp. 54–80
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Cases and Postpositions in HittiteVit Bubenik | pp. 81–101
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Cases and Postpositions in Indo-AryanVit Bubenik | pp. 102–130
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Cases and Prepositions in IranianVit Bubenik | pp. 131–159
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ArmenianVit Bubenik | pp. 160–177
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From Old to Modern SlavicVit Bubenik | pp. 178–204
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Baltic LanguagesVit Bubenik and John Hewson | pp. 205–225
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From Ancient to Modern CelticJohn Hewson | pp. 228–246
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From Latin to Modern RomanceJohn Hewson | pp. 247–273
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From Ancient to Modern GermanicJohn Hewson | pp. 274–303
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AlbanianVit Bubenik | pp. 304–316
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TocharianVit Bubenik | pp. 317–333
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Cases, Averbial Particles and Adpositions in Proto-Indo-EuropeanVit Bubenik | pp. 334–356
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ConclusionsVit Bubenik and John Hewson | pp. 357–383
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References and Select Bibliography | pp. 384–409
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Index of Authors | pp. 410–412
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Index of Languages | pp. 413–417
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General Index | p. 418
“In a clear, succinct, and methodical way, but also with an amazing and admirable command of data from all twelve IE language branches spanning over 3000 years, Hewson and Bubenik offer us a wonderful book with answers to many perplexing questions. This book will become the reference work on the topic, but its worth for typological purposes will also become evident. As in T
ense and Aspect in Indo-European Languages (1997), the authors demonstrate why history is important for any meaningful advancement of knowledge. I read the current book with a lot of pleasure and interest, and learned a lot.”
Georgios K. Giannakis, University of Ioannina
“It's not often that we witness a revolution in linguistics as we do in the present volume. But the study itself demonstrates revolution in language itself as we pass from Latin to French, from Brittanic to Welsh and so on. In the general and massive shift from case to adposition, we have a quantum leap. We have two different analyses of reality. Each is based on a radically different method of systematisation. We become witnesses to a major re-organisation of sentence structure throughout Indo-European, each revealing a similar, yet independent, System of systems. Such a typological shift, as a whole and in individual cases must also be a perceptual shift, i.e. one that looks at things differently, where relationships are realised from a different psycho-mechanical stance.”
R.M. Jones, Prof. Emer., University of Wales
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Edith A. Moravcsik. 2006. An introduction to syntax: Fundamentals of syntactic analysis. London/New York: Continuum. Pp. xiv + 273. US$34.95 (softcover). -
Edith A. Moravcsik. 2006. An Introduction to syntactic theory. London/New York: Continuum. Pp. xiv + 263. US$34.95 (softcover).. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 54:1 ► pp. 172 ff.
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[no author supplied]
2010. Copyright Page. In Greek Prepositions, ► pp. iv ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Abbreviations. In Adpositions, ► pp. ix ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Foreword. In Greek Prepositions, ► pp. xii ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Copyright Page. In Adpositions, ► pp. iv ff.
[no author supplied]
2010. Dedication. In Greek Prepositions, ► pp. ii ff.
[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General