Remarks on the coding of Goal, Recipient and Vicinal Goal in European Uralic
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Seppo Kittilä
Abstract
This paper discusses the coding of three roles, Goal, Recipient and Vicinal Goal (‘to the vicinity of’) in European Uralic languages. The paper shows that Uralic languages typically use cases for Recipients and Goals, while Vicinal Goals bear adpositional coding except for a few languages with extraordinarily rich case inventories. The explanation given for this is that Goals and Recipients are expected roles, borne by inanimate and animate endpoints of transfer, respectively, while Vicinal Goal is a marked role, not retrievable directly from the features of the landmark. Consequently, a more elaborate coding is needed. Many studies only concern Goals and Recipients, but the findings of this paper show that a broader perspective is needed for arriving at a better understanding of Goal.
Abstract
This paper discusses the coding of three roles, Goal, Recipient and Vicinal Goal (‘to the vicinity of’) in European Uralic languages. The paper shows that Uralic languages typically use cases for Recipients and Goals, while Vicinal Goals bear adpositional coding except for a few languages with extraordinarily rich case inventories. The explanation given for this is that Goals and Recipients are expected roles, borne by inanimate and animate endpoints of transfer, respectively, while Vicinal Goal is a marked role, not retrievable directly from the features of the landmark. Consequently, a more elaborate coding is needed. Many studies only concern Goals and Recipients, but the findings of this paper show that a broader perspective is needed for arriving at a better understanding of Goal.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction to case, animacy and semantic roles 1
- Remarks on the coding of Goal, Recipient and Vicinal Goal in European Uralic 29
- A case in search of an independent life 65
- The division of labour between synonymous locative cases and adpositions 113
- Is there a future for the Finnish comitative? 135
- Animacy and spatial cases 157
- There’s more than “more animate” 183
- The coding of spatial relations with human landmarks 209
- A survey of the origins of directional case suffixes in European Uralic 235
- Dutch spatial case 283
- Case on the margins 305
- Why should beneficiaries be subjects (or objects)? 329
- General index 349
- Language index 353
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction to case, animacy and semantic roles 1
- Remarks on the coding of Goal, Recipient and Vicinal Goal in European Uralic 29
- A case in search of an independent life 65
- The division of labour between synonymous locative cases and adpositions 113
- Is there a future for the Finnish comitative? 135
- Animacy and spatial cases 157
- There’s more than “more animate” 183
- The coding of spatial relations with human landmarks 209
- A survey of the origins of directional case suffixes in European Uralic 235
- Dutch spatial case 283
- Case on the margins 305
- Why should beneficiaries be subjects (or objects)? 329
- General index 349
- Language index 353
