Buch, Englisch, Band 03, 54 Seiten
Buch, Englisch, Band 03, 54 Seiten
Reihe: LINCOM Studies in Language Typology
ISBN: 978-3-89586-683-8
Verlag: LINCOM
This study is conceived as a contribution to a tyoplogy of attributive contructions, focussing on constructions exhibiting splits of head proporties. The term 'dependency reversal in noun-attributive constructions' (DNRA) is used to refer to possessive-like attributive constructions (of the type (that) idiot of a doctor), with the attribute surfacing as the formal head and the semantic head surfacing as the formal possessor. The body of the study presents a discussion of DNRA contructions as attested in six individual languages: Even (resp. other Tungusic languages), Aleut, Hausa, Gude, Chinook and Latin. The variation of the DNRA patterns, in particular along the parameter of the attribute’s upgrading/recategorization, is further considered.
Following the lines of structure-based typologies, an upward taxonomy of DNRA structures is presented to include other cases of constructions involving the attribute’s upgrading and the head (-to-possessor) demotion. In search of DNRA related patterns the discussion is extended to internal relative clauses and constructions with 'dominant attributes'. Finally factors favouring the rise of DNRA structures are tentatively considered: apart from diachronic factors, underdifferentiation of lexical categories as well as pragmatic salience of the attribute are shown to contribute to DNRA processes.
