The Syntax of Information-Structural Agreement
Author
In this research monograph, Johannes Mursell discusses the syntactic impact of information-structural features on agreement. So far, the syntactic contribution of this type of feature has mostly been reduced to movement of topics or foci clause-initial position. Here, the author looks at a different phenomenon, syntactic agreement, and how this process can be dependent on information-structural properties. Based partly on original fieldwork from a typologically diverse set of languages, including Tagalog, Swahili, and Lavukaleve, it is argued that for most areas for which information-structural features have been discussed, it is possible to find cases where these features influence phi-feature agreement. The analysis is then extended to cases of Association with Focus, which does not involve phi-features but can still be accounted for with agreement of information-structural features. The book achieves two main goals: first it provides a uniform analysis for different constructions in unrelated languages. Second, it also gives a new argument that information-structural features should be treated as genuine syntactic features.
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 268] 2021. xii, 280 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgments | pp. ix–x
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List of symbols and abbreviations | pp. xi–xii
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Chapter 1. Introduction | pp. 1–6
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Chapter 2. Theoretical background | pp. 7–52
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Chapter 3. Long distance agreement | pp. 53–82
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Chapter 4. Object marking in Swahili | pp. 83–116
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Chapter 5. Subject marking in Tagalog | pp. 117–150
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Chapter 6. Focus particles in Lavukaleve | pp. 151–178
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Chapter 7. Association with focus – general discussion | pp. 179–206
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Chapter 8. Association with focus in German | pp. 207–252
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Chapter 9. Conclusion | pp. 253–260
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References | pp. 261–278
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Index | pp. 279–280
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFK: Grammar, syntax
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009060: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax