Grammatical Roles and Relations (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) - Softcover

Palmer, Frank Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521458366 ISBN 13: 9780521458368

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent, Patient, Beneficiary, and grammatical relations, such as Subject, Direct Object and Indirect Object, which are familiar concepts in traditional grammars. It describes the devices, such as the Passive, that alter or switch the identities between such roles and relations. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages, for which we need to use such terms as 'Ergative' and 'Antipassive'. Professor Palmer provides an elegant and consistent framework within which grammatical roles and relations may be discussed, combining a great clarity of discussion with evidence from an enormous number of the world's languages.

About this title

Review

'A valuable source of information and examples...amply illustrated with examples of languages ... a comprehensive and systematic presentation'. International Review of Applied Linguistics

Book Description

Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent and Patient, and grammatical relations, such as Subject and Direct Object. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521458366
• ISBN 13: 9780521458368
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276