Grammatical Roles and Relations

A typological survey of Subject, Object and related grammatical concepts in the languages of the world.

Frank Robert Palmer (Author)

9780521458368, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 February 1994

276 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.376 kg

'A valuable source of information and examples...amply illustrated with examples of languages ... a comprehensive and systematic presentation'. International Review of Applied Linguistics

Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent, Patient, Beneficiary, and grammatical relations, such as Subject, Direct Object and Indirect Object, which are familiar concepts in traditional grammars. It describes the devices, such as the Passive, that alter or switch the identities between such roles and relations. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages, for which we need to use such terms as 'Ergative' and 'Antipassive'. Professor Palmer provides an elegant and consistent framework within which grammatical roles and relations may be discussed, combining a great clarity of discussion with evidence from an enormous number of the world's languages.

1. Introduction
2. Roles and relations
3. Accusative, ergative and agentive systems
4. Syntactic relations
5. Passive
6. Passive: related and problematic issues
7. Antipassive
8. Topic and inverse systems
9. Causatives
Glossary of terms
References and citations index
Language index
General index.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]