Toward a functional typology of agenf defocusing

Bibliographic Data

ID3987648
AuthorsJohn Myhill (corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume35
Issue5
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.1997.35.5.799
OpenAlexW2072338001
LanguageEN
Citations received8

This paper proposes a preliminary system for categorizing the various functions served by constructions (e.g. passives) having agents that are defocused syntactically and/or pragmatically. These are divided into discourse functions and semantic functions; the discourse functions consider the humanness, person, number, and specificity of the agent, while the semantic functions involve affectedness, agentivity, anteriority, ability, and responsibility. The primary data are taken from Biblical Hebrew, English, Javanese, and Chinese, with a smaller amount of data from other languages. It is shown that there is considerable variation from one language to another concerning which agents are defocused and which are not; therefore, it would be premature to attempt to posit general human cognitive structures accounting for agent defocusing as a general phenomenon, until we have a better understanding of cross-linguistic variation in the factors controlling agent defocusing

Cognition · Epistemology · Linguistics · Phenomenon · Physics · Sociology · Typology · Variation (astronomy) · Anthropology · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology

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