This book proposes a notion of inverse that differs from two widespread positions found in descriptive and typological studies (one of them restrictive and structure-oriented, the other broad and function-centered). This third stance put forward here takes both grammar and pragmatic functions into account, but it also relates the opposition between direct and inverse verbs and clauses to an opposition between deictic values, thereby achieving two advantageous goals: it meaningfully circumvents one of the usual analytic dilemmas, namely whether a given construction is passive or inverse, and it refines our understanding of the cross-linguistic typology of inversion. This framework is applied to the description of the morphosyntax of eleven Amerindian languages (Algonquian: Plains Cree, Miami-Illinois, Ojibwa; Kutenai; Sahaptian: Sahaptin, Nez Perce; Kiowa-Tanoan: Arizona Tewa, PicurÃ-s, Southern Tiwa, Kiowa; Mapudungun).
| ISBN: | 9789027229823 |
| Publication date: | 29th November 2006 |
| Author: | Fernando Zúñiga |
| Publisher: | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 309 pages |
| Series: | Typological Studies in Language |
| Genres: |
Linguistics |