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Arguments and information management in Inuktitut

Abstract

Research on a variety of structurally different languages suggests that information packaging is assigned to grammatical form via preferred representations of arguments. According to the Preferred Argument Structure Hypothesis (PAS), these preferences can be captured by four interacting constraints. Since polysynthetic languages are not under the hegemony of syntax, the constraints concerning grammatical form must be reconsidered. In Inuktitut, arguments of predicates are represented morphologically, and in the vast majority of instances, they are not specified by independent lexical items. Incorporation, on the other hand, represents the established domain for lexical representation of arguments. In Inuktitut, and probably in other polysynthetic languages, information structure manifests itself within the domain of the polysynthetic word. Information structure thus manifests itself wherever grammatical configuration occurs.

Abstract

Research on a variety of structurally different languages suggests that information packaging is assigned to grammatical form via preferred representations of arguments. According to the Preferred Argument Structure Hypothesis (PAS), these preferences can be captured by four interacting constraints. Since polysynthetic languages are not under the hegemony of syntax, the constraints concerning grammatical form must be reconsidered. In Inuktitut, arguments of predicates are represented morphologically, and in the vast majority of instances, they are not specified by independent lexical items. Incorporation, on the other hand, represents the established domain for lexical representation of arguments. In Inuktitut, and probably in other polysynthetic languages, information structure manifests itself within the domain of the polysynthetic word. Information structure thus manifests itself wherever grammatical configuration occurs.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
Variations on Polysynthesis
This chapter is in the book Variations on Polysynthesis
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.86.13arg

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
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