Universals in comparative morphology [[electronic resource] ] : suppletion, superlatives, and the structure of words / / Jonathan David Bobaljik

• Autore: Bobaljik Jonathan David
• Pubblicazione: Cambridge, MA, : MIT Press, 2012
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (333 p.)
• Disciplina: 415/.9
• Soggetto topico: Grammar, Comparative and general - Morphology; Grammar, Comparative and general - Syntax; Grammar, Comparative and general - Word formation; Linguistics
• Soggetto genere / forma: Electronic books.
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Distributed Morphology; 1.3 Constructing the Database; 1.4 Comparative Typology; 2 Comparative Suppletion; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 *ABA: Explaining a Gap; 2.3 Universal Grammar versus the European Sprachbund; 2.4 Summary; 3 The Containment Hypothesis; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Transparent Containment; 3.3 Comparison and the Synthetic/Analytic Divide; 3.4 The Synthetic Superlative Generalization; 3.5 Containment and Semantic Considerations; 3.6 Chapter Summary; 4 The Comparative-Superlative Generalization: The Data ; 4.1 Adjectives4.2 Adverbs; 4.3 Quantifiers; 4.4 Chapter Summary; 5 Theoretical Refinements; 5.1 Introduction: Taking Stock; 5.2 Conditions on Suppletion: Exponence versus Readjustment; 5.3 Adjacency, ABC, *AAB; 5.4 AAB Ablaut; 5.5 Merger, Rule Ordering, Diacritics, and Acquisition; 6 Getting Better: Comparison and Deadjectival Verbs; 6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Preliminary Remarks; 6.3 Deadjectival Degree Achievements: Doubting Dowty; 6.4 To Good, to Badden, and to Many; 6.5 Summary: What's the Difference?; 7 Complexity, Bundling, and Lesslessness; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Lesslessness ; 7.3 Conservative Decomposition: Adjacency and Bundling7.4 Concluding Remarks; Appendixes; A The Broad Sample; B The Focused Survey; C Principal Sources; References; Name Index; Subject Index; Language Index; Current Studies in Linguistics
• Sommario/riassunto: An argument for, and account of linguistic universals in the morphology of comparison, combining empirical breadth and theoretical rigor. This groundbreaking study of the morphology of comparison yields a surprising result: that even in suppletion (the wholesale replacement of one stem by a phonologically unrelated stem, as in good-better-best) there emerge strikingly robust patterns, virtually exceptionless generalizations across languages. Jonathan David Bobaljik describes the systematicity in suppletion, and argues that at least five generalizations are solid contenders for the status of linguistic universals. The major topics discussed include suppletion, comparative and superlative formation, deadjectival verbs, and lexical decomposition. Bobaljik's primary focus is on morphological theory, but his argument also aims to integrate evidence from a variety of subfields into a coherent whole. In the course of his analysis, Bobaljik argues that the assumptions needed bear on choices among theoretical frameworks and that the framework of Distributed Morphology has the right architecture to support the account. In addition to the theoretical implications of the generalizations, Bobaljik suggests that the striking patterns of regularity in what otherwise appears to be the most irregular of linguistic domains provide compelling evidence for Universal Grammar. The book strikes a unique balance between empirical breadth and theoretical detail. The phenomenon that is the main focus of the argument, suppletion in adjectival gradation, is rare enough that Bobaljik is able to present an essentially comprehensive description of the facts; at the same time, it is common enough to offer sufficient variation to explore the question of universals over a significant dataset of more than three hundred languages.
• Titolo autorizzato: Universals in comparative morphology
• ISBN: 1-283-63775-8; 0-262-30552-6
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910462145403321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II