Objects and Information Structure
eBook - PDF

Objects and Information Structure

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Objects and Information Structure

About this book

In many languages, the objects of transitive verbs are either marked by grammatical case or agreement on the verb, or they remain unmarked: this is differential object marking. This book is a cross-linguistic study of how differential object marking is affected by information structure, the structuring of the utterance in accordance with the informational value of its elements and contextual factors. Marked objects tend to be associated with old information or information that the sentence is about, while unmarked objects tend to express new information. The book also sheds light on grammatical patterning in languages with differential object marking: in some languages marked and unmarked objects have identical grammatical properties, whereas in other languages marked objects are more active in syntax. Finally, it provides a theory of the historical changes that lead to the emergence of various patterns of differential object marking.

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Yes, you can access Objects and Information Structure by Mary Dalrymple,Irina Nikolaeva in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Linguistics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. OBJECTS AND INFORMATION STRUCTURE
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Preface and Acknowledgements
  7. List of Abbreviations
  8. 1 Introduction
  9. 2 Syntactic assumptions
  10. 3 Information structure in grammar
  11. 4 Syntax and information structure
  12. 5 Topicality and grammatical marking
  13. 6 Topical marking of nonsubjects
  14. 7 Topicality and DOM
  15. 8 Primary and secondary objecthood and DOM
  16. 9 Multiple objects and grammatical alignment
  17. 10 Semantic features, topicality and grammaticalisation
  18. 11 Conclusion
  19. References
  20. Author Index
  21. Language Index
  22. Subject Index