ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0252-0910
Current Organisation
CNRS
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 15-05-2022
Publisher: Zenodo
Date: 2018
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 27-09-2021
DOI: 10.1075/SL.20061.RIE
Abstract: Western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages exhibit at least two basic transitive constructions. This paper investigates what factors influence speakers’ choice of one voice over another in natural spoken discourse. It provides a thorough assessment of all factors that have been proposed to be relevant for voice choice in the literature on symmetrical voice systems. Using the Indonesian language Totoli as a case study, we show that unlike in languages with asymmetrical voice alternations, argument-related properties such as topicality, activation state, animacy, etc. do not play a major role in voice choice in symmetrical voice languages. We argue that for symmetrical voice alternations other factor groups are relevant than for asymmetrical voice alternations and that the clear structural differences between the two alternation types are mirrored in functional differences.
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 15-05-2022
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 14-03-2022
DOI: 10.1075/SL.19088.MAR
Abstract: This study investigates the linguistic expression of bring and take events and more generally of the semantic domain of directed caused accompanied motion (‘directed CAM’) across a s le of eight languages of the Pacific and the Americas. Unlike English, the majority of languages in our s le do not lexicalise directed CAM events by simple verbs, but rather encode the defining meaning components – caused motion, accompaniment, and directedness – in morphosyntactically complex constructions. The study shows a high degree of crosslinguistic ersity, even among closely related languages. Meaning components are contributed to directed CAM expressions by a mix of lexical semantics, morphosyntax, and pragmatic means. The study proposes a text-based, semantic typology of directed CAM events by drawing on corpus data from endangered languages.
Publisher: Project MUSE
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1353/OL.2013.0021
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Date: 22-10-2015
Abstract: It has been argued in the literature that morpho-syntactically agents are universally more prominent than patients. At first sight, this claim seems to be challenged by so called symmetrical voice languages because these languages show no preference for agents to be the privileged syntactic argument (PSA). They do thus not display an obvious syntactic prominence of agents. However, this paper will argue that even symmetrical voice languages show instances of agent prominence. These instances are not reflected in a default linking of agents to PSA function, but rather in a slightly more subtle manner: First, agents always function as binders to reflexive pronouns, regardless of position or grammatical function. Second, agent properties like volitionality, ability and control are reflected in verbal morphology, even in undergoer voice construction in which the agent is not the PSA. This is the case in potentive, stative, and causative construction.
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 15-05-2022
Publisher: De Gruyter
Date: 25-10-2021
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Date: 03-05-2022
DOI: 10.1075/TSL.134
Publisher: Open Library of the Humanities
Date: 07-2020
DOI: 10.5334/LABPHON.192
Publisher: Project MUSE
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1353/OL.2021.0026
Publisher: Zenodo
Date: 2018
Publisher: Project MUSE
Date: 2019
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Date: 25-04-2018
Abstract: A phenomenon often termed “optional ergative marking” is found in a number of genetically unrelated languages. Yali, a Trans-New Guinea language spoken in West Papua, shows striking similarities to optional ergative systems as described in the literature. This paper focuses on the relation between agentivity and discourse prominence, and argues in favour of a systematic distinction between semantic and syntactic contexts as conditioning factors for optional ergative marking. It further provides new evidence for the close interplay of ergative marking and what has been termed “discourse prominence” in descriptions of some other languages and shows that in Yali, optional ergative marking operates on both the global and the local level of discourse.
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Sonja Riesberg.