Topic and discourse structure in West Greenlandic agreement constructions / / Anna Berge

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910975292103321
• Autore: Berge Anna
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Lincoln : , : University of Nebraska Press, , c2011
• ISBN: 9786613664686; 9781280687747; 1280687746; 9780803226869; 0803226861
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (465 pages)
• Collana: Studies in the native languages of the Americas.
• Disciplina: 497/.12
• Soggetti: Kalaallisut language - Discourse analysis; Kalaallisut language - Syntax
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "In cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington."
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of Tables; Preface; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations; Orthographic Conventions; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Overview of West Greenlandic grammar; 1.2 Inuit language in syntactic theory; 1.3 Approaches to the study of discourse; 1.4 Theoretical approach to discourse structure in West Greenlandic; 2 Topic (and theme) as discourse roles; 2.1 Issues in the definition of topic; 2.2 Issues in the definition of theme; 2.3 Introduction and identification of topics and themes; 2.4 Discourse roles; 3 Ergativity as a reflection of topic status; 3.1 Ergativity in West Greenlandic3.2 Treatment of ergativity in modern syntactictheories of West Greenlandic; 3.3 Subjecthood, agency, and topic; 3.4 Role of topic in the use and distribution ofergative structures in West Greenlandic; 3.5 Data analysis; 3.6 Chapter conclusion; 4 Switch-reference or thematic coherence and topic continuity?; 4.1 Switch-reference in West Greenlandic; 4.2 Switch-reference as a system of subjector topic/thematic coherence; 4.3 Role of topic in the use and distribution of switch reference marking in West Greenlandic; 4.4 Data ; analysis; 4.4.1 Subordinate pronominal inflection4.4.2 Contemporatives and participials; 4.4.2.1 The contemporative; 4.4.2.2 The participial; 4.5 Chapter conclusion; 5 Conclusion; 5.1 Findings; 5.2 Some comments on the role of discourse in linguistic descriptions; Appendix; A1 Notes on data collection; A2 Notes on transcription and intonation; Notes; References; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: "[Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement Constructions] is comprehensive, written with great clarity, and will be of considerable interest to scholars of syntax and linguists working on such polysynthetic languages."-Stephen Pax Leonard, Journal of Anthropological Research.