FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W2002040604> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W2002040604 endingPage "699" @default.
• W2002040604 startingPage "696" @default.
• W2002040604 abstract "The interplay between comparative concepts and descriptive categories (Reply to Newmeyer) Martin Haspelmath In his reply to my discussion note ‘Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies’(Haspelmath 2010, henceforth H10), Newmeyer (2010, henceforth N) defends the widespread old idea that there are crosslinguistic categories and that the same kinds of concepts are and should be used both in crosslinguistic studies and in language-particular description. His critique does not amount to a full-blown endorsement of the categorial-universalist position, however, which in its prototypical generative form assumes a single set of categories or features for both purposes. For instance, when N says that ‘it is only by means of working out the interplay between the languageparticular and the language-independent that we can hope to understand either’ (p. 688), he implies that the two are not identical, and that the relationship between them is nontrivial, much as I have emphasized. The bulk of N’s reply is devoted to listing various problems in H10’s examples that he sees as undermining its general claims, especially with respect to the notions of subject, thematic roles, adjectives, clause, and word. In this brief reply, I try to show that none of them are real, and that a closer consideration of these cases actually strengthens my position. N first observes that despite my criticism of the equation of language-particular ‘subject’ categories across languages, I do use ‘subject’ as a comparative concept in some of the generalizations and definitions (in particular, in examples 3 and 13). I did not give the relevant definition in H10 for lack of space, hoping that it could be inferred, but here it is: ‘the agent of a simple transitive clause’ (the same definition is assumed by Greenberg 1963). This is of course a very different concept from ‘Subject in Tagalog’ (defined in terms of case-marking by ang, very often different from the agent NP) and from ‘Subject in English’ (perhaps defined as in N’s ex. 6, comprising expletive there, which surely is not an agent). Thus, this underscores rather than undermines my central point. N’s own concrete proposal for defining ‘subject’ (‘[an entity that manifests] more of the core properties of subjects than of constructs that contrast with subjects’, p. 692) is also a possible comparative concept, provided that the ‘core properties’ can be defined in a universally applicable way. As I noted in H10 (§7.3) in the discussion of Keenan’s (1976) definition of ‘subject’, however, it is unclear how one can draw up such a list of core properties on a principled basis. And most crucially, it is unlikely that such a definition will be found useful in language-particular studies. Descriptive categories are normally defined in terms of specific conditions, not in vague quantitative terms (‘more properties than’). N also criticizes me for using semantic roles such as ‘recipient’ (in 2) and ‘agent’ (in 16) (even though he uses the latter concept himself in ex. 6). But he overlooks that the problems with such semantic roles have never arisen in a typological context. Nobody has ever seen problems with defining the comparative concept ‘ergative’ in terms of ‘agent’. It is only when one tries to describe particular languages with a single universal set of semantic roles that one runs into problems. But we can describe I play the sonata [End Page 696] in purely grammatical terms, without reference to general semantic roles.1 Generative linguists try to use as many crosslinguistic categories in the description of individual languages as possible, and this often leads to insurmountable problems. Typology is happy to limit its generalizations to clear cases of agents, patients, and recipients. Admittedly, we cannot formulate universals over sentences like I play a sonata, but typology does not strive for exhaustiveness of coverage. Comparative linguists can thus simply leave them aside, whereas descriptivists have to find a category for them, and this is difficult if one only wants to use crosslinguistic categories. Let us look at adjectives next. N is of course right that ‘it makes all the difference in the world for generalizations about Adjective-Noun order’ how ‘adjective’ is defined (p. 690). Greenberg and Dryer..." @default.
• W2002040604 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W2002040604 creator A5072247317 @default.
• W2002040604 date "2010-01-01" @default.
• W2002040604 modified "2023-09-30" @default.
• W2002040604 title "The interplay between comparative concepts and descriptive categories (Reply to Newmeyer)" @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1484082930 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1527142120 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1548472825 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1586060904 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1967084205 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1988582224 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W1992426425 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2022630633 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2038542953 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2049251236 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2087360383 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2092616487 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2325218811 @default.
• W2002040604 cites W2481363083 @default.
• W2002040604 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2010.0004" @default.
• W2002040604 hasPublicationYear "2010" @default.
• W2002040604 type Work @default.
• W2002040604 sameAs 2002040604 @default.
• W2002040604 citedByCount "27" @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042012 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042015 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042016 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042017 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042018 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042019 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042020 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042021 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042022 @default.
• W2002040604 countsByYear W20020406042023 @default.
• W2002040604 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W2002040604 hasAuthorship W2002040604A5072247317 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C111472728 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C15744967 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C161191863 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C177264268 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C199360897 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C2777855551 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C39890363 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConcept C41895202 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C111472728 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C138885662 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C15744967 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C161191863 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C177264268 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C199360897 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C2777855551 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C39890363 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C41008148 @default.
• W2002040604 hasConceptScore W2002040604C41895202 @default.
• W2002040604 hasIssue "3" @default.
• W2002040604 hasLocation W20020406041 @default.
• W2002040604 hasOpenAccess W2002040604 @default.
• W2002040604 hasPrimaryLocation W20020406041 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2036673948 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2043086521 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2066998427 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2134472999 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2270780425 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2330098976 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2350406804 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2363120434 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W2748952813 @default.
• W2002040604 hasRelatedWork W95538833 @default.
• W2002040604 hasVolume "86" @default.
• W2002040604 isParatext "false" @default.
• W2002040604 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W2002040604 magId "2002040604" @default.
• W2002040604 workType "article" @default.