CiNii Books - The grammar of possession : inalienability, incorporation, and possessor ascension in Guaraní

The Grammar of Possession: Inalienability, incorporation and possessor ascension in Guarani, is an exhaustive study of linguistic structures in Paraguayan Guarani which are directly or indirectly associated with the semantic domain of inalienability. Constructions analyzed in the book include adnominal and predicative possessive constructions, noun incorporation, and possessor ascension. Examples are drawn from a rich data base that incorporate native speaker intuitions and resources in the construction of illustrative linguistic forms as well as the analysis of the communicative use of the forms under study. The book provides a complete picture of inalienability as a coherent integrated system of grammatical and semantic oppositions in a language that has received little attention in the theoretical linguistic literature. The analysis moves from general principles to specific details of the language while applying principles of Cognitive Grammar and Functional Linguistics. There is an explicit aim to uncover the particularities of form-meaning connections, as well as the communicative and discourse functions of the structures examined. Other approaches are also considered when appropriate, resulting in a theoretically informed study that contains a rich variety of considerations.

Table of Contents

1. Figures and Tables
2. List of Abbreviations
3. Acknowledgments
4. 1. Introduction
5. 1.1. Aims and Assumptions
6. 1.2. About the Language
7. Part One: The Alienable/Inalienable Distinction in the Grammar of Possession
8. Introduction to Part One
9. 2. The Alienability/Inalienability Opposition in Language
10. 2.1. General Overview
11. 2.2. Inalienability viewed as a Formal Phenomenon
12. 2.3. Inalienability as a Semantic Phenomenon
13. 2.4. Motivational Pressures in the Expression of Inalienability
14. 3. The Alienability/Inalienability Contrast in Guarani Possessive Constructions
15. 3.1. A Schematic Characterization of Possession
16. 3.2. Possession at the Nominal Level
17. 3.3. Non-Verbal Predicative Construction
18. 3.4. Verbal Predicative Construction
19. 3.5. The Equational Possessive Construction
20. 3.6. Summary and Conclusions
21. Part Two: The Expression of Maximal Inalienability: Incorporation and Possessor Ascension
22. Introduction to Part Two
23. 4. Noun Incorporation in Guarani: Formal and Semantic Aspects
24. 4.1. The Phenomenon of NI: General Background
25. 4.2. Constraints on Incorporability
26. 4.3. Non-body-part Incorporation in Guarani
27. 4.4. Incorporation as a Lexicalization Process
28. 4.5. Remarks on Object Placement and Incorporation
29. 4.6. Concluding Remarks
30. 5. Incorporation of Body-part Terms
31. 5.1. The Phenomenon of Pa: General Overview
32. 5.2. The NI+PA Construction: General Structural Considerations
33. 5.3. Grammatical Function of the Incorporated Body-Part Term
34. 5.4. Motivation for Overt Mention of Body-Part Terms
35. 5.5. Semantic boundaries of the NI+PA Construction
36. 5.6. Concluding Remarks
37. 6. The Discourse Function of the NI+PA Construction
38. 6.1. NI+Pa as a Discourse Coherence and Topic Maintenance Device
39. 6.2. NI+PA as an Evaluative Device
40. 6.3. Body-Parts as Individuated Entities in Discourse
41. 6.4. Concluding Remarks
42. 7. Conclusions
43. 7.1. Summary of Results
44. 7.2. Further Research Issues
45. 7.3. Contribution to the Field of Linguistics
46. Appendix A: Semantic Classification of Guarani Lexical Roots
47. Appendix B: Inventory of Conventionalized Incorporated Structures
48. Appendix C: Text of Guarani Folk Tale Analyzed in Section 6.2
49. Notes
50. References

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The grammar of possession : inalienability, incorporation, and possessor ascension in Guaraní

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