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From the refinement of general methodology, to new insights of synchronic
and diachronic universals, to studies of specific phenomena, this
collection demonstrates the crucial role that language data play in the
evolution of useful, accurate linguistic theories. Issues addressed include
the determination of meaning in typological studies; a refined
understanding of diachronic processes by including intentional, social,
statistical, and level-determined phenomena; the reconsideration of
categories such as sentence, evidential or adposition, and structures such
as compounds or polysynthesis; the tension between formal simplicity and
functional clarity; the inclusion of unusual systems in theoretical
debates; and fresh approaches to Chinese classifiers, possession in Oceanic
languages, and English aspect. This is a careful selection of papers
presented at the International Symposium on Linguistic Diversity and
Language Theories in Boulder, Colorado. The purpose of the Symposium was to
confront fundamental issues in language structure and change with the rich
variation of forms and functions observed across languages.
Table of contents
Introduction
Zygmunt Frajzyngier and David S. Rood p.vii
What are we typologists doing?
Gilbert Lazard pp.1–23
The canonical approach in typology*
Greville G. Corbett pp.25–49
What is an empirical theory of linguistic meaning a theory of?
Pierre-Yves Raccah pp.51–80
Language processes, theory and description of language change, and building
on the past: Lessons from Songhay
Robert Nicolai pp.81–104
On the part played by human conscious choice in language structure and
language evolution
Claude Hagège pp.105–117
The challenge of polygrammaticalization for linguistic theory: Fractal
grammar and transcategorical functioning
Stéphane Robert pp.119–142
On discourse frequency, grammar, and grammaticalization
Regina Pustet pp.143–168
On the assumption of the sentence as the basic unit of syntactic structure
Marianne Mithun pp.169–183
Adpositions as a non-universal category
Scott DeLancey pp.185–202
Understanding antigemination
Juliette Blévins pp.203–234
What it means to be rare: The variability of person marking
Michael Cysouw pp.235–258
The principle of Functional Transparency in language structure and in
language evolution
Zygmunt Frajzyngier pp.259–283
The importance of discourse analysis for linguistic theory: A Mandarin
Chinese Illustration
Liang Tao pp.285–317
Compounding theories and linguistic diversity
Anders Soegaard pp.319–337
Inalienability and possessum individuation*
František Lichtenberk pp.339–362
Resultativeness in English: A sign-oriented approach
Marina Gorlach pp.363–377
Encoding speaker perspective: Evidentials
Ferdinand de Haan pp.379–397
Distinguishing between referential and grammatical function in
morphological typology
Edward J. Vajda pp.399–422
Index pp.423–430
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