Switch reference, in which certain clauses contain a signal indicating whether that clause has the same or a different subject, is examined in Mbya Guarani. It is found that most cases can be covered by a grammatical rule stated in terms of the grammatical subjects of the two clauses involved, yielding "same subject" and "different…

This collection contains five papers on discourse in a variety of languages. "A Stratificational Perspective on the Discourse Structure of Limos Kalinga" by Hartmut Wiens demonstrates the value of the stratificational model in looking at language in relatively small portions at various levels while also showing how its structural aspects…

The theoretical generalization that no lexical material can occur between a Wh-element and a verb in any clause in Basque is challenged, and it is argued that case is not assigned structurally in the Basque language. The account demonstrates how a number of well documented properties of Basque may combine to produce this grammatical result, and an…

The order of constituents in Finnish clauses having free word order is analyzed. It is proposed that these clauses are defined only in terms of their immediate constituency, and that the logically possible permutations of these constituents form another set of sequence constructions, which transcend individual clause types. Each sequence…

Because Mandarin Chinese is a language without much morphology in case, number, and gender; i.e., an uninflectional analytical language in which word order plays a decisive role in determining the semantics of a sentence; it seems inconvenient to investigate the language in the framework of relational grammar (RG); which depends heavily on case…

Literary Yiddish shows a high frequency of declarative sentences with the subject present and the verb in sentence-initial position, the so-called consecutive order. This construction was analyzed in one collection of 17 short narratives and with reference to a hypothesis of German grammarians regarding a similar structure in German. In this…

This paper describes and analyzes the complementation patter of Hausa aspectual verbs, examining some instances of aspectual verb complementation that have not been addressed in previous research. It attempts to show that, syntactically, the phenomenon of Control in this type of complementation exists in Hausa. It demonstrates that the…

The properties of presupposition were investigated in Japanese and English. The investigation examined how the presupposition is preserved under different syntactic structures, and identified presupposition in terms of the transitivity of factive verbs. Japanese was seen as more clearly manifesting "presuppositionability" than English in…

Investigates the pragmatic functions of topicalizing subject (S) and object (O) in Standard Arabic and attempts to find a functional explanation for the occasional preposing/topicalization of S and/or O over the verb (V) to yield a construction in the form of SVO order or any other order sanctioned by the rules of Arabic grammar. (22 references)…

Reflexives and reciprocals in Ixil, a Mayan language of Guatemala, appear to have features that distinguish them from reflexives surveyed in typological studies such as Faltz (1985) and Geniusiene (1987). Third person reflexives and reciprocals seem to have the form of a possessed noun optionally followed by a possessor NP. Moreover, reflexives…

This paper focuses on the long-standing problem in Bantu syntax of why some objects lose the ability to be realized as object markers (OMs) in the passive. The standard answer to this question since the work of Gary and Keenan (1977) is that the passive and object marker require the same property (e.g., a grammatical relation or a particular case)…

This study investigates whether other relationships in sentence structure besides the "brother-in-law" relation sanction surrogate agreement in Zinacanteco Tzotzil (Mayan). Surrogate agreement refers to cases in which an element that lies outside the class of regular agreement controllers in a language (the surrogate) controls…

Kutenai has an obviation system reminiscent of the systems found in Algonquian languages, in which at most one third person nominal in a clause is proximate and others are obviate. Although the behavior of proximate nominals within clauses and within texts reflects a special status for proximates as having some sort of "higher rank" than…

Explores how children learn the range of aspect inflection to which a verb is amenable. Analyses focus on the children's mastery of Aktionsart specific intersentential patterns. Three conclusions are given based on the study's results. (21 references) (GLR)

An analysis of applicative constructions in Bantu languages proposes a typology of applicative structures, using examples from Ndendeule and Swahili. First, the basic facts about applicative constructions are presented, including those concerning morphology, meaning, and alternative expressions, and several arguments are posited. Primary objects…