Copulas : universals in the categorization of the lexicon
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Copulas : universals in the categorization of the lexicon
（Oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory）（Oxford linguistics）
Oxford University Press, 2005, c2003
- : pbk
Available at / 24 libraries
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Etchujima library, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology工海事管理
: pbk801.5/P97201252005
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Note
"First published 2003. First published in paperback 2005"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. [248]-259) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Copulas (in English, the verb to be) are conventionally defined functionally as a means of relating elements of clause structure, especially subject and complement, and considered to be semantically empty or meaningless.They have received relatively little attention from linguists. Dr Pustet in this extensive cross-linguistic study goes some way towards correcting this neglect. In doing so she takes issue with both accepted definition and description. She
presents an analysis of grammatical descriptions of over 160 languages drawn from the language families of the world. She shows that some languages have a single copula, others several, and some none at all. In a series of statistical analyses she seeks to explain why by linking the distribution of copulas to
variations in lexical categorization and syntactic structure. She concludes by advancing a comprehensive theory of copularization which she relates to language classification and to theories of language change, notably grammaticalization.
Table of Contents
- PREFACE
- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
- 1. Copulas in Current Research
- 2. Copulas in Cross-Linguistic Perspective
- 3. Copularization and Lexical Semantics
- 4. The Multi-Factor Model of Copularization
- 5. Synopsis
by "Nielsen BookData"
