DOI: 10.5507/ff.14.24440606.15

The Role of Information Structure in Czech Possessive Constructions

Jan Křivan

The paper deals with the functional properties of possessive constructions. It focuses on internal (adnominal) possession and external (affectedness) possession in Czech. The elements of both construction types (the possessor, the possessum, and the predicate) are first thoroughly investigated from a semantic and pragmatic perspective. In the main part of the article, it is claimed that the emergence of specialized possessive constructions can also be explained as a functional, speaker-oriented preference, based on different needs in terms of information structure. It concerns the hypothesis that the possessive construction types are correlated with different word order arrangements. A case study examining the relative frequency of word order patterns for each construction type corroborates this assumption. Specifically, for dative external possession, the emergence of the construction can be explained as a discourse preference of speakers to employ the possessor in the topic and the possessum in the focus.

stránky: 211-227



Reference

  1. Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2013. "Possession and Ownership: A Cross Linguistic Perspective." In Possession and Ownership: A Cross-Linguistic Typology, edited by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Robert M. W. Dixon, 1-64. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  2. Aissen, Judith. 1999. "External Possessor and Logical Subject in Tz'utujil." In External Possession, edited by Doris L. Payne and Immanuel Barshi, 167-93. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  3. Bybee, Joan L. 2007. Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. JAN KŘIVAN 225 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  4. Chafe, Wallace. 1987. "Cognitive Constraints on Information Flow." In Coherence and Grounding in Discourse: Outcome of a Symposium; Eugene, Oregon, June 1984, edited by Russell Tomlin, 21-51. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  5. Comrie, Bernard, Martin Haspelmath, and Balthasar Bickel. 2008. The Leipzig Glossing Rules: Conventions for Interlinear Morpheme-by-Morpheme Glosses. Last modified February 2008. http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php.
  6. Daneš, František. 1974. "Functional Sentence Perspective and the Organization of the Text." In Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective, edited by František Daneš, 106-28. Prague: Academia. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  7. Daneš, František. 1985. Věta a text: Studie ze syntaxe spisovné češtiny. Prague: Academia.
  8. Dixon, Robert M. W. 2010. Basic Linguistic Theory. Vol. 2, Grammatical Topics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  9. Du Bois, John W. 1987. "The Discourse Basis of Ergativity." Language 63 (4): 805-55. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  10. Fried, Mirjam. 2009. "Plain vs. Situated Possession in Czech: A Constructional Account." In The Expression of Possession, edited by William McGregor. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  11. Haspelmath, Martin. 1999. "External Possession in a European Areal Perspective." In External Possession, edited by Doris L. Payne and Immanuel Barshi, 109-35. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  12. Haspelmath, Martin. 2008. "Creating Economical Morphosyntactic Patterns in Language Change." In Linguistic Universals and Language Change, edited by Jeff Good, 185-214. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  13. Hopper, Paul. 1998. "Emergent Grammar." In The New Psychology of Language, vol. 1, Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure, edited by Michael Tomasello, 155-75. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  14. König, Ekkehard, and Martin Haspelmath. 1998. "Les constructions à possesseur externe dans les langues d'Europe." In Actance et valence dans les langues de l'Europe, edited by Jack Feuillet, 525-606. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  15. Martin, Jack B. 1999. "External Possession in Creek." In External Possession, edited by Doris L. Payne and Immanuel Barshi, 229-50. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  16. Payne, Doris L., and Immanuel Barshi. 1999. "External Possession: What, Where, How, and Why." In External Possession, edited by Doris L. Payne and Immanuel Barshi, 3-29. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  17. Piťha, Petr. 1992. Posesivní vztah v češtině. Prague: AVED.
  18. Seiler, Hansjakob. 1983. Possession: As an Operational Dimension of Language. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
  19. Silverstein, Michael. 1976. Hierarchy of Features and Ergativity. Canberra: Australian National University.
  20. Stassen, Leon. 2009. Predicative Possession. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  21. Zimek, Rudolf. 1960. "K chápání posesivnosti." In Rusko-české studie, edited by Ctirad Bosák et al., 131-56. Prague: SPN.