Irina Nikolaeva

This book is a part of a two-volume reference grammar of Tundra Yukaghir, a critically endangered language spoken in the north-eastern part of Siberia. The grammar is the first substantial English-language description of the language, which aims to address the linguistic phenomena presently regarded as crucial in any grammatical account as comprehensively as possible. It introduces a large variety of data and will be inherently valuable as a piece of language documentation. Although illustrative examples from previous literature are cited, most examples come from newly collected data reflecting the modern state of the language. The grammar of Tundra Yukaghir has played relatively little role in the considerations of modern linguists, as there are numerous aspects which have not received systematic treatment previously or have not been addressed at all. For a language as little researched as Tundra Yukaghir, any such aspect may turn out to be of potential linguistic significance. Thus, this detailed, systematically organized and conventionally represented grammatical description will prove useful for linguists working on broader issues. It will provide a reference source for both native speakers and researchers in linguistics, whether descriptively, typologically or theoretically inclined.

This book is a part of a two-volume reference grammar of Tundra Yukaghir, a critically endangered language spoken in the north-eastern part of Siberia. The grammar is the first substantial English-language description of the language, which aims to address the linguistic phenomena presently regarded as crucial in any grammatical account as comprehensively as possible. It introduces a large variety of data and will be inherently valuable as a piece of language documentation. Although illustrative examples from previous literature are cited, most examples come from newly collected data reflecting the modern state of the language. The grammar of Tundra Yukaghir has played relatively little role in the considerations of modern linguists, as there are numerous aspects which have not received systematic treatment previously or have not been addressed at all. For a language as little researched as Tundra Yukaghir, any such aspect may turn out to be of potential linguistic significance. Thus, this detailed, systematically organized and conventionally represented grammatical description will prove useful for linguists working on broader issues. It will provide a reference source for both native speakers and researchers in linguistics, whether descriptively, typologically or theoretically inclined.

Exploring the phenomenon of 'mixed categories', this book is the first in-depth study of the way in which languages can use a noun, as opposed to an adjective, to modify another noun. It investigates noun-adjective hybrids - adjectives and adjective-like attributive forms which have been derived from nouns and systematically retain certain nominal properties. These rarely-discussed types of mixed category raise a number of important theoretical questions about the nature of lexemic identity, the inflection-derivation divide, and more generally, the relationship between the structure of words and their phrasal syntax. The book proposes a new formal framework that models cross-linguistic and cross-constructional variation in noun modification constructions. The framework it offers enables readers to explicitly map word structure to syntactic structure, providing new insights into, and impacting upon, all current theoretical models of grammar.

Este trabalho dedicado aos problemas de desenvolvimento de software lingu stico e algor tmico que serve para criar um sistema moderno de extrac o de informa o de conte do chave atrav s da aplica o de uma vasta classe de m todos matem ticos e lingu sticos de processamento l gico e anal tico de grandes matrizes de caracteres. Como parte desta investiga o, um esquema generalizado de processamento de um conjunto de textos publicit rios para a sub-l ngua dos media, identificou tend ncias, tendo em conta os resultados do processamento de texto em linguagem natural, realizado por computador e pelo homem, prop s um modelo do texto como um composto de modelos formais dos seus componentes, que se baseia na integra o de m todos lingu sticos estat sticos e formais, O algoritmo de extrair elementos de significado do conjunto de textos de t picos limitados, incluindo o bloco de processamento sem ntico prim rio, bloco de indexa o e classifica o dos conceitos, bloco de estabelecimento de rela es, bloco de identifica o da unidade tem tica, bloco de estabelecimento de ocorr ncia de pares, bloco de constru o de uma rede sem ntica, bloco de s ntese de informa o da rede.

Vashemu vnimaniju predlagaetsja tetrad-repetitor po russkomu jazyku dlja mladshikh shkolnikov. Redaktor: Vdovina I. Khudozhnik: Lanskaja I., Antsiferova O., Sysoeva Z.

Exploring the phenomenon of 'mixed categories', this book is the first in-depth study of the way in which languages can use a noun, as opposed to an adjective, to modify another noun. It investigates noun-adjective hybrids - adjectives and adjective-like attributive forms which have been derived from nouns and systematically retain certain nominal properties. These rarely-discussed types of mixed category raise a number of important theoretical questions about the nature of lexemic identity, the inflection-derivation divide, and more generally, the relationship between the structure of words and their phrasal syntax. The book proposes a new formal framework that models cross-linguistic and cross-constructional variation in noun modification constructions. The framework it offers enables readers to explicitly map word structure to syntactic structure, providing new insights into, and impacting upon, all current theoretical models of grammar.

In many languages, the objects of transitive verbs are either marked by grammatical case or agreement on the verb, or they remain unmarked: this is differential object marking. This book is a cross-linguistic study of how differential object marking is affected by information structure, the structuring of the utterance in accordance with the informational value of its elements and contextual factors. Marked objects tend to be associated with old information or information that the sentence is about, while unmarked objects tend to express new information. The book also sheds light on grammatical patterning in languages with differential object marking: in some languages marked and unmarked objects have identical grammatical properties, whereas in other languages marked objects are more active in syntax. Finally, it provides a theory of the historical changes that lead to the emergence of various patterns of differential object marking.

The book is the first substantial description of Tundra Nenets, a highly endangered Uralic language spoken in Western Siberia and the north of European Russia, destined for the international linguistic community. Its purpose is to provide a thorough documentation of all of the major grammatical phenomena in the language. The grammar particularly emphasizes the description of syntax, because this has traditionally been a very neglected area of Nenets studies. Many syntactic aspects have not received a systematic treatment in the existing literature or have not been addressed at all. Since the existing works are not easily available, incomplete, or idiosyncratically presented, Tundra Nenets syntax has played little or no role in the considerations of modern linguists, whether more descriptively or theoretically inclined. The book is largely descriptive: it is not intended to address theoretical questions per se and the description is not meant to be formulated within a particular framework. However, it identifies and discusses issues which are of broad typological and theoretical interest. The description is richly exemplified. Most of the cited examples are the result of fieldwork conducted by the in various locations. They are sentences produced by native speakers either spontaneously or elicited in response to questions posed in Russian. Other examples are excerpts from original texts.

Descriptive grammarians and typologists often encounter unusual constructions or unfamiliar variants of otherwise familiar construction types. Many of these phenomena are puzzling from the perspective of linguistic theories: they neither predict these "anomalies" nor, arguably, provide the tools to describe them insightfully. This book analyzes an unusual type of relative clause found in many related and unrelated languages of Eurasia. While providing a detailed case study of Tundra Nenets, it broadens this inquiry into a detailed typological exploration of this relative clause type. The authors argue that an understanding of this construction requires exploring the (type of) grammar system in which it occurs in order to identify the (set of) independent constructions that motivate its existence. The resulting insights into grammar organization illustrate the usefulness of a construction-theoretic syntax and morphology informed by a developmental systems perspective for the understanding of complex grammatical phenomena.

In many languages, the objects of transitive verbs are either marked by grammatical case or agreement on the verb, or they remain unmarked: this is differential object marking. This book is a cross-linguistic study of how differential object marking is affected by information structure, the structuring of the utterance in accordance with the informational value of its elements and contextual factors. Marked objects tend to be associated with old information or information that the sentence is about, while unmarked objects tend to express new information. The book also sheds light on grammatical patterning in languages with differential object marking: in some languages marked and unmarked objects have identical grammatical properties, whereas in other languages marked objects are more active in syntax. Finally, it provides a theory of the historical changes that lead to the emergence of various patterns of differential object marking.

Descriptive grammarians and typologists often encounter unusual constructions or unfamiliar variants of otherwise familiar construction types. Many of these phenomena are puzzling from the perspective of linguistic theories: they neither predict these "anomalies" nor, arguably, provide the tools to describe them insightfully. This book analyzes an unusual type of relative clause found in many related and unrelated languages of Eurasia. While providing a detailed case study of Tundra Nenets, it broadens this inquiry into a detailed typological exploration of this relative clause type. The authors argue that an understanding of this construction requires exploring the (type of) grammar system in which it occurs in order to identify the (set of) independent constructions that motivate its existence. The resulting insights into grammar organization illustrate the usefulness of a construction-theoretic syntax and morphology informed by a developmental systems perspective for the understanding of complex grammatical phenomena.

The series builds an extensive collection of high quality descriptions of languages around the world. Each volume offers a comprehensive grammatical description of a single language together with fully analyzed sample texts and, if appropriate, a word list and other relevant information which is available on the language in question. There are no restrictions as to language family or area, and although special attention is paid to hitherto undescribed languages, new and valuable treatments of better known languages are also included. No theoretical model is imposed on the authors; the only criterion is a high standard of scientific quality. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.