Preferred Argument Structure offers a profound insight into the relationship between language use and grammatical structure. In his original publication on Preferred Argument Structure, Du Bois (1987) demonstrated the power of this perspective by using it to explain the origins of ergativity and ergative marking systems. Since this work, the general applicability of Preferred Argument Structure has been demonstrated in studies of language after language. In this collection, the authors move beyond verifying Preferred Argument Structure as a property of a given language. They use the methodology to reveal more subtle aspects of the patterns, for example, to look across languages, diachronically or synchronically, to examine particular grammatical relations, and to examine special populations or particular genres. This volume will appeal to linguists interested in the relationship of pragmatics and grammar generally, in the typology of grammatical relations, and in explanations derived from data- and corpus-based approaches to analysis.

Table of contents

Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction John W. Du Bois, Lorraine E. Kumpf and William J. Ashby 1–10 Argument structure: Grammar in use John W. Du Bois 11–60 Preferred Argument Structure across time and space: A comparative diachronic analysis of French and Spanish William J. Ashby and Paola A. Bentivoglio 61–80 The lexicon in interaction: Developmental origins of Preferred Argument Structure in Korean Patricia M. Clancy 81–108 Genre and Preferred Argument Structure: Sources of argument structure in classroom discourse Lorraine E. Kumpf 109–130 Issues in the comparative argument structure analysis in Mayan narratives Nora C. England and Laura Martin 131–157 New light on information pressure: Information conduits, “escape valves”, and role alignment stretching Mark Durie 159–196 Beyond Preferred Argument Structure: Sentences, pronouns, and given referents in Nepali Carol Genetti and Laura D. Crain 197–223 Multiple constraints on reference form: Null, pronominal, and full reference in Mapudungun Jennifer E. Arnold 225–245 Argument splits in Finnish grammar and discourse Marja-Liisa Helasvuo 247–272 Core arguments and the inversion of the nominal hierarchy in Roviana Simon H. Corston-Oliver 273–300 Preferred Argument Structure in early Inuktitut spontaneous speech data Shanley E.M. Allen and Heike Schröder 301–338 The role of Preferred Argument Structure for understanding aphasic sentence planning Susan E. Kohn and Ana Cragnolino 339–351 Nominal information flow in the talk of two boys with autism Elizabeth G. Weber 353–383 Tracking the deer: Nominal reference, parallelism and Preferred Argument Structure in Itzaj Maya narrative genres Charles Andrew Hofling 385–410 Narrator virtuosity and the strategic exploitation of Preferred Argument Structure in Mocho: Repetition and constructed speech in Mocho narrative Laura Martin 411–435 Preferred Argument Structure Bibliography 437–445 Name index 447–448 Language index 449–450 Subject index 451–458