Unipartite clauses
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Shlomo Izre’el
Abstract
Within an integrative approach to the structure of spoken language, taking into account prosody, information structure, and syntax, a new model of clause is suggested, viz., a unipartite clause, where the only necessary and sufficient component is the predicate, i.e., with no subject component required. By default, the predicate is viewed as the element carrying the informational load of the clause, the ‘new’ element in the discourse, and the focused component of the clause. The predicate carries the clause modality, where ‘modality’ is viewed in a broad perspective. A preliminary classification of unipartite clauses in Hebrew is also offered.
Abstract
Within an integrative approach to the structure of spoken language, taking into account prosody, information structure, and syntax, a new model of clause is suggested, viz., a unipartite clause, where the only necessary and sufficient component is the predicate, i.e., with no subject component required. By default, the predicate is viewed as the element carrying the informational load of the clause, the ‘new’ element in the discourse, and the focused component of the clause. The predicate carries the clause modality, where ‘modality’ is viewed in a broad perspective. A preliminary classification of unipartite clauses in Hebrew is also offered.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
-
Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
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Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
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Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
-
Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
-
Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
-
Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
