Differential case-marking: Syntactic descriptions and pragmatic explanations
-
Ronnie Cann,
and
Merilin Miljan,
Abstract
In this paper, we argue for an approach to grammatical case that treats case-marking not as the passive realisation of other morpho-syntactic properties of a construction, but as bringing its own independent contribution to the construal of a clause, through inference over possibly underspecified semantic content of a case-marker in context. We take as case studies two instances of Differential Case-Marking: the partitive alternation in Estonian and differential uses of the marker ko in Hindi/Urdu. For Estonian, it is argued that the partitive case is semantically partitive even in alternation in grammatical contexts with nominative and genitive. From this assumption, we derive the various construals of the partitive as indicating indefinite quantity or imperfective aspect and show how other uses of the case, including after negation, may be traced to the basic partitive interpretation. We also argue that the completive interpretations of nominative and genitive derive from contrast with the partitive reading, rather than as being encoded in the case marking itself. With Hindi/Urdu ‘dative’ maker ko, we argue how pragmatic inference can operate also over grammatical levels to explain the uses of the marker with human direct objects, to specify definiteness of inanimate direct objects and, in alternation with ergative ne, deontic modality.
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction: Special issue on cognitive pragmatics and its interfaces in linguistics
- Pragmatic demands on the form of grammar: Theoretical and methodological limitations on the grammatical code
- Language as tools for interaction: Grammar and the dynamics of ellipsis resolution
- Differential case-marking: Syntactic descriptions and pragmatic explanations
- Word meaning and concept expressed
- Redefining logical constants as inference markers
- The relevance of tones: Prosodic meanings in utterance interpretation and in relevance theory
- A pragmatic perspective on the phonological values of utterance-final boundary tones in East Norwegian intonation
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction: Special issue on cognitive pragmatics and its interfaces in linguistics
- Pragmatic demands on the form of grammar: Theoretical and methodological limitations on the grammatical code
- Language as tools for interaction: Grammar and the dynamics of ellipsis resolution
- Differential case-marking: Syntactic descriptions and pragmatic explanations
- Word meaning and concept expressed
- Redefining logical constants as inference markers
- The relevance of tones: Prosodic meanings in utterance interpretation and in relevance theory
- A pragmatic perspective on the phonological values of utterance-final boundary tones in East Norwegian intonation
