Walking the line: Balancing description, argumentation and theory in academic grammar writing

This chapter explores how to incorporate linguistic typology, argumentation, and theor- etical innovation into a reference grammar. It provides recommendations on how to produce a balanced grammar that is firmly grounded in theory, responsible to the unique structures of the language, and comprehensible now and over time. Linguistic typology provides a set of widely recognized linguistic categories used in the classification of grammatical patterns. These can be taken as starting points from which the structures of the language can be compared, contrasted, explored, and explained, profiling the unique shapes of language-particular categories. Argumentation for particular analyses provides clarification and explanation, although excessive argumentation can obscure descriptive facts. Simply asserting facts is appropriate for lower-level linguistic features, simple canonical structures, or uncontroversial elements or their functions. Argumentation is appropriate when structures differ from typologically-expected patterns, when the analysis counters descriptions in the literature, and in cases of multiple interpretations of a structure. Grammar writing immerses researchers in the structure of a language, revealing new vistas of understanding and novel ways of interpreting structure. Theoretically innov- ative analyses that reflect these insights can be incorporated as long as they are motivated, well-explained, and balanced by a typologically-informed descriptive base.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

The Development of Subordinators from Postpositions In Bodic Languages

Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (1986), pp. 387-40

Direction and Associated Motion in Tibeto-Burman

This study analyzes systems of direction and associated motion in 23 languages of the Tibeto-Burman family. Both direction and associated motion can be encoded by a range of grammatical strategies, including affixes, clitics, parti- cles, serial-verb constructions, and auxiliary verbs. While some languages have only associated motion or direction, others have both, either via distinct sub- systems, syntactic ambiguity, or context-dependent interpretation. While direc- tional encodings can be interpreted as associated motion in some contexts, the reverse can also be true. Verbal semantics is key to the pragmatic interpretation of examples in context; some types of motion verbs are more compatible with directional interpretations and others with associated motion. In addition, certain types of motion verbs were found to be compatible with different temporal re- lationships that hold between the activity of the primary verb and the motional component. Finally, the grammatical role of the figure in such constructions de- pends on both the temporal relationship and the semantics of the verb

The Tibeto-Burman languages of South Asia

[Extract] This survey is an introduction to the Tibeto-Burman languages of South Asia and their genetic classification; it is intended to be a brief but useful starting point for those seeking an overview and guide to the literature

Direct speech reports and the cline of prosodic integration in Dolakha Newar

Direct speech reporting is a rhetorical strategy used frequently in the production of Dolakha Newar narrative. Direct speech reports are syntactically uniform in constituting center-embedded objects of ditransitive verbs. Prosodically, they show a wide range of behaviors. They may be set off from the surrounding quotative frame by intonation-unit boundaries, variations in pitch or loudness, and/or the production of contours typical of conversational speech. They may also be produced across multiple intonation units and may show patterns of macro-level prosodic structuring indicative of internal prosodic coherence and embedding within higher-level structures. On the other hand, they may exhibit none of these prosodic characteristics and be prosodically integrated with respect to the quotative frame. This variable behavior results from competition among a variety of pressures, including speakers’ performative goals, the syntax of complementation, the rhetorical impact of the quoted speech, performance factors, and inter-speaker variation in style, among others. While statistical analyses might fruitfully be applied to objectively quantifiable factors, a purely statistical model will never fully predict prosodic behavior, due to the meaningful nature of prosody and intangible features of individuals in the production of discourse

A contrastive study of the Dolakhali and Katmandou Newari dialects

Dans cet article sont décrits plusieurs aspects de la morphologie et syntaxe du dialecte newari de Dolakha, en particulier la déclinaison casuelle du nom, la conjugaison, les catégories thématiques du verbe, et la formation des propositions relatives. Quelques remarques sont faites sur la phonologie, la négation, et l'ordre des mots dans la proposition. C'est la première notice du dialecte dolakhali à paraître dans une langue européenne. A partir de la comparaison entre dolakhali et un des dialectes newari les mieux connus, celui de Katmandou l'auteur tente de reconstruire certains aspects de la morphologie verbale du Proto-Newari.Genetti Carol. A contrastive study of the Dolakhali and Katmandou Newari dialects. In: Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, vol. 17 2, 1988. pp. 161-191

Book review of "Basic Linguistic Theory" by R.M.W. Dixon, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

[Extract] Volumes 1 and 2 of Basic linguistic theory are the first of a three-volume set scheduled to be completed in 2011. The front matter describes the work as a 'new and fundamental characterization of the nature of human language and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis'. This is an accurate portrayal. These books are monumental and destined to become classics, [End Page 899] equatable to the two volumes entitled Language by Sapir (1921) and Bloomfield (1933), and to Givón's Syntax, volumes 1 (1984) and 2 (1990), but in each case surpassing them in scope, detail, rigor, and coherence. Dixon presents a complete, fully articulated, and cohesive explication of grammar, with extensive elaboration on every major grammatical structure found in the world’s languages, as well as many minor ones

C3 CTLDC panel: Creating global training networks: The Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation

The Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation is a global network of organizations which train people in LDC practices or support training through allied activities. The CTLDC will maximize the effective sharing of resources such that expertise and materials will have broad impact in communities across the globe