Impersonal Constructions

A cross-linguistic perspective

Editors
| Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Institute for Linguistic Studies, St. Petersburg & Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
| University of Lancaster
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027205919 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027287168 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00
 
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This volume offers a much needed typological perspective on impersonal constructions, which are here viewed broadly as constructions lacking a referential subject. The contributions to this volume deal with all types of impersonality, namely constructions featuring nonagentive subjects, including those with experiential predicates (A-impersonals), presentational constructions with a notional subject deficient in topicality (T-impersonals), and constructions with a notional subject lacking in referential properties (R-impersonals), i.e. both meteo-constructions and man-constructions. The typological discussion benefits from a good coverage of impersonality in European languages, but also includes considerations of several African, American, South-East Asian, Australian, and Oceanic languages. The variation in the cross-linguistic realization of impersonality and the diachronic pathways leading to and from impersonality documented in this volume point to a novel perspective on impersonals as transitional structures or an intermediate stage of a more basic diachronic change be it from transitive to intransitive, or from active to passive, or participant-to event-centered construction.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 124] 2011.  ix, 641 pp.
Publishing status:
Table of Contents
“The book is undoubtedly a welcome and useful contribution to language typology. Impersonal constructions have not been subject to a detailed and comprehensive cross-linguistic analysis before, and this volume successfully fills this gap. The editors can be praised for having been able to establish a good balance between descriptive and theoretical studies, as well as between synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The cross-linguistic coverage of the volume is almost comprehensive, with a slight bias towards Africa and Eurasia and a regrettable lack of Papuan and South and Meso American languages. Inclusion of several papers dealing with whole language families or areas instead of individual languages, thus addressing issues of intra-genetic and areal typology, is also an example to be followed.”
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2024. Impersonal morphosyntax in generative grammar. Language and Linguistics Compass 18:2 DOI logo
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2024. Voice, impersonal construction, and zero lexeme: formalization of crucial notions. Folia Linguistica DOI logo
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2024. Impersonal Bei Sentences in Early Mandarin: Form and Function. In Linguistic Interfaces in East-Asian Languages [Studies in East Asian Linguistics, ],  pp. 105 ff. DOI logo
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2024. A typological approach to intersubjective uses of the Finnish clitic markers =hAn and =se from the perspectives of engagement and their interrelations with subject person. Open Linguistics 10:1 DOI logo
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2024. Корпусное исследование конкуренции конструкций с функцией «понижения агенса» в славянских языках. Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67:1-2  pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
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2023. On the object-individuation function of the East Sakhalin Ainu impersonal passive. Folia Linguistica 57:3  pp. 563 ff. DOI logo
Heath, Jeffrey & Vadim Dyachkov
2023. Dogon pseudo-subjects with or without true subjects. Studies in Language 47:2  pp. 392 ff. DOI logo
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2022. Las oraciones de relativo predicativas en español: pronombres reasuntivos y variación dialectal. Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 138:1  pp. 161 ff. DOI logo
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2022. On the referential ambiguity of personal pronouns and its pragmatic consequences. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)  pp. 351 ff. DOI logo
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2022. Semantic maps and temperature: Capturing the lexicon-grammar interface across languages. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 41:1  pp. 125 ff. DOI logo
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2022. Desubjectivizing discourse through the use of the periphrasis haber que + infinitive in Spanish. Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas 17  pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
Tronci, Liana
2022. Impersonal Constructions Between Personae and ‘Personlessness’. Strategies of Language Manipulation in Aeschines and Demosthenes. Trends in Classics 14:2  pp. 318 ff. DOI logo
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2022. Impersonals, passives, and impersonal pronouns: Lessons from Lithuanian. Syntax 25:2  pp. 188 ff. DOI logo
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2021. Two types of alignment change in nominalizations. Diachronica 38:3  pp. 314 ff. DOI logo
Breed, Adri & Daniël Van Olmen
2021. The Passive as an Impersonalisation Strategy in Afrikaans and Dutch: A Corpus Investigation. Dutch Crossing 45:2  pp. 171 ff. DOI logo
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2021. Distributing Agency and Experience in Therapeutic Interaction: Person References in Therapists' Responses to Complaints. Frontiers in Psychology 12 DOI logo
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2021. Noncanonical Passives: A Typology of Voices in an Impoverished Universal Grammar. Annual Review of Linguistics 7:1  pp. 157 ff. DOI logo
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2021. On the origin of 2nd person prefix #tV- in Trans-Himalayan languages. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 44:2  pp. 226 ff. DOI logo
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2021. Syntactic vs pragmatic passive. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2017 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 355],  pp. 358 ff. DOI logo
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Cennamo, Michela
2020. The actualization of new voice patterns in Romance. In Historical Linguistics 2017 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 350],  pp. 110 ff. DOI logo
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2019. Non-canonical case marking on subjects in Russian and Lithuanian. Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 1:2  pp. 175 ff. DOI logo
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2018. La typologie générale des constructions impersonnelles et les constructions impersonnelles du français. SHS Web of Conferences 46  pp. 15001 ff. DOI logo
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2018. A unifying approach to impersonality in Russian. Zeitschrift für Slawistik 63:1  pp. 120 ff. DOI logo
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2016. Grammatical Expression of Impersonality in LSP Texts and Translations. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 231  pp. 99 ff. DOI logo
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2020. Chapter 15. Impersonal and pseudo-impersonal constructions. In Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew [Studies in Language Companion Series, 210],  pp. 539 ff. DOI logo
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2022. What makes the dative-experiencer construction in Modern Hebrew different from its counterparts in European languages?. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 75:3  pp. 379 ff. DOI logo
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2016. Impersonal clauses in Chinese. Functions of Language 23:3  pp. 361 ff. DOI logo
Pustet, Regina
2015. The syntax of temperature predications. In The Linguistics of Temperature [Typological Studies in Language, 107],  pp. 889 ff. DOI logo
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2014. More Thoughts on the Grammaticalization of Personal Pronouns. In Grammaticalization – Theory and Data [Studies in Language Companion Series, 162],  pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
RAYNAUD, Savina
2012. Porre, comporre, disporre. From thetic judgements to thetic statements, themes and their correlates. Écho des études romanes 8:1  pp. 129 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CFK: Grammar, syntax

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
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U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2011000415 | Marc record