Title: A Typology of Reference Systems
Publication Year: 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Book URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-typology-of-reference-systems-9780192896438?utm_source=linguistlist&utm_medium=listserv&utm_campaign=linguistics

Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Hardback: ISBN: 9780192896438 Price: U.S. $ 130.00
Abstract:

This volume offers a typology of reference systems across a range of typologically and genetically distinct languages, including English, Mandarin, non-literary varieties of Russian, Chadic languages, and a number of understudied Sino-Russian idiolects. The term 'reference system' designates all functions within the grammatical system of a given language that indicate whether and how the addressee(s) should identify the referents of participants in the proposition. Zygmunt Frajzyngier explores the major functional domains, subdomains, and individual functions that determine the identification of participants in a given language, and outlines which are the most and least frequently found cross-linguistically. The findings reveal that bare nouns, pronouns, demonstratives and determiners, and coding on the verb ('agreement') have different functions in different languages. The concluding chapters offer explanations for these differences and explore their implications for the theory and methodology of syntactic analysis, for linguistic typology, and for syntactic theories.

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology
Philosophy of Language
Semantics
Syntax
Typology

Written In: English (eng)

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