The Grammar of Causation and Interpersonal Manipulation: 48 (Typological Studies in Language) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 902722952X ISBN 13: 9789027229526

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002

Synopsis

This volume presents fifteen original papers dealing with various aspects of causative constructions ranging from morphology to semantics with emphasis on language data from Central and South America. Informed by a better understanding of how different constructions are positioned both synchronically (e.g., on a semantic map) and diachronically (e.g., through grammaticalization processes), the volume affords a comprehensive up-to-date perspective on the perennial issues in the grammar of causation such as the distribution of competing causative morphemes, the meaning distinctions among them, and the overall form-meaning correlation. Morphosyntactic interactions of causatives with other phenomena such as incorporation and applicativization receive focused attention as such basic issues as the semantic distinction between direct and indirect causation and the typology of causative constructions.

About this title

Synopsis

The grammar of causation has long been an intensely scrutinized area of language studies. For one thing, no grammatical description can be complete without a discussion of causative constructions, because every human language seems to possess a means of expressing the notion of causation, and this ubiquity, in turn, indicates the fundamental nature of this cognitive category. Such a basic category in human conceptualization is an ideal field of investigation for cross-linguistic comparison leading to the study of language universals and cross-linguistic variation. Grammarians have an intuitive understanding of what causation means, as causative expressions, encountered in one language after another, translate rather easily unlike such phenomena as "topic/focus" constructions in the manner of Philippine languages, the adversative passive in Japanese, and ethical datives in German or French. Despite these advantages and despite the intensive effort during the last three decades, a great deal about the grammar of causation remains a mystery. This volume aims to unravel some of the mysteries.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 902722952X
• ISBN 13: 9789027229526
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 565
• Editor: Shibatani Masayoshi