1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910809874403321

Titolo

Meaning and universal grammar : theory and empirical findings. Volume I / / edited by Cliff Goddard, Anna Wierzbicka

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam, : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2002

ISBN

1-283-28030-2

9786613280305

90-272-8187-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (354 p.)

Collana

Studies in language companion series (SLCS), , 0165-7763 ; ; v. 60

Altri autori (Persone)

GoddardCliff

WierzbickaAnna

Disciplina

401

401.43

Soggetti

Semantics

Grammar, Comparative and general

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. General -- pt. 2. Individual language studies.

Sommario/riassunto

This book develops a bold new approach to universal grammar, based on research findings of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) program. The key idea is that universal grammar is constituted by the inherent grammatical properties of some 60 empirically established semantic primes, which appear to have concrete exponents in all languages. For six typologically divergent languages (Mangaaba-Mbula, Mandarin Chinese, Lao, Malay, Spanish and Polish), contributors identify exponents of the primes and work through a substantial set of hypotheses about their combinatorics, valency properties, compl