Studien zur Lokalisation: Teil: 3. Raum und Grammatik oder: Wie berechenbar ist Sprache? ; [Darin enthalten: Hasase, Martin: Parameters of spatial orientation]

Gegenstand dieses Aufsatzes ist das Verhältnis zwischen der Wahrnehmung einer Anordnung im Raum und der Kategorisierung grammatischer Information. Bei der Diskussion unterschiedlicher Ansätze zu diesem Thema (Metapherntheorie , Gestalttheorie u.a.) stehen die Fragen nach der Existenzberechtigung und dem Erklärungspotential eines lokalistischen Ansatzes im Vordergrund. Während eine direkte Beziehung zwischen räumlicher und grammatischer Kategorisierung abzulehnen ist, liegt ein gemeinsamer Nenner in übergreifenden Prinzipien der Mustererkennung. In einer Theorie der Mustererkennung "vereinen sich wesentliche Gedanken aus Wahrnehmungs- und Lernbarkeitstheorien und deren Formulierung mittels "berechenbarer" geometrisch-topologischer Modelle. Als Illustration dienen u.a. Beispiele zur Kasusmarkierung und zur sprachlichen Kategorisierung von Aspekt und Tempus

Noun, verb, and participation

The present article is a crosslinguistic discussion of the distinction between a word class of nouns and a word class of verbs in the UNI TYP framework of the dimension of PARTICIPATION (for a first overall sketch of PARTICIPATION see Seiler 1984). According to this framework the noun/verb-distinction (henceforth N/V-D) must be regarded as a gradable, continuous phenomenon ranging from the stage of a clear-cut distinction with no overlap to almost a non-distinction. Although there is no question that most, if not all, languages do differentiate between nouns and verbs, it is also quite apparent that the languages do so to a different degree and by different means, and that it only makes sense to use the terms "noun" and "verb" in different languages when one actually has a common functional denominator in mind (see below). After a general introduction to the notion of a noun/verb-continuum (chapter 1) the reader will be presented with a survey of languages as diverse as German. English, Russian, Hebrew, Turkish, Salish. and Tongan (see chapter 2) in support of the continuum hypothesis. In chapter 3 the facts are coordinated in an overall pattern of regularities underlying the Increase or decrease of categorical restrictions between the respective word classes. Also, chapter 3 raises the issue to what degree a N/V-D can be considered a matter of certain lexemes or a matter of the morphosyntactic environment of certain lexical units. Lastly, we shall seek for an answer to the question why it is not a necessary requirement for languages to draw a sharp distinction between a word class of nouns and a word class of verbs

On the sequence of the techniques on the dimension of participation

This is a survey of the development of the model of PARTICIPATION (P'ATION) with reference to the postulated sequence of the techniques on the dimension of P'ATION. Along with a brief explanation of the techniques this article contains a discussion of the major claims with regard to the sequence of the techniques and the possibilities of subjecting the claims to empirical verification

La mise en ordre des relations actancielles : les conditions d'accès des rôles actanciels aux fonctions de sujet et d'objet

J. Francois & J. Broschart. La mise en ordre des relations actancielles : les conditions d'acces des roles actanciels aux fonctions de sujet et d'objet The aim of this contribution is to contrast different conceptions of the linking between semantic roles (agent, patient, experiencer, locative, benefactive, etc.) and syntactic functions (subject, direct and indirect object), especially investigating the form of an access hierarchy. We begin with the notion of (un)marked selection of subject and object in Fillmore's semantic case theory. Then we trace the evolution of the principle of « thematic hierarchy » in JackendofPs model of conceptual semantics. The third section is devoted to the discussion of universality and accessibility of the syntactic functions « subject » and « object » from a functionalist point of view. The fourth section is concerned with the distinction between case marking systems and the observed shifts from one system to another. Finally we demonstrate that the « participation » model of the UNITYP group in Cologne is able to provide a multi-factorial description of the grammaticalisation of case relations.François Jacques, Broschart Jürgen. La mise en ordre des relations actancielles : les conditions d'accès des rôles actanciels aux fonctions de sujet et d'objet. In: Langages, 28ᵉ année, n°113, 1994. Les relations actancielles. Sémantique, syntaxe, morphologie, sous la direction de Jacques François et Gisa Rauh. pp. 7-44