Uniqueness and grammatical relations in Upper Necaxa Totonac

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5089892
AutoresDavid Beck (0000-0001-8422-7728, University of Alberta, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume54
Fascículo1
Data de publicação2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling-2015-0044
OpenAlexW2547732919
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas12

The Principle of the Uniqueness of Grammatical Relations, which requires that all grammatical relations be distinguishable on morphological and/or syntactic grounds and non-repeatable in a clause, is often assumed to be a universal requirement of language and is a central tenet, explicit or implicit, of many theories of grammar. Upper Necaxa Totonac offers an apparent exception to this principle in that it has clauses with multiple objects that seem grammatically identical, yet do not appear to be adjuncts as they control agreement and are active in processes such as reciprocalization. Extensive testing of the properties of Upper Necaxa objects shows that, while a primary object can be distinguished on the basis of a single diagnostic, any remaining objects are indistinguishable and so must be treated as being governed by the same grammatical relation which is, therefore, non-unique. This data requires a reconsideration of the Uniqueness Principle as an absolute universal, and as an axiom or a necessary tenet of theories of human language

Agreement · Axiom · Grammar · Linguistics · Object (grammar) · Relation (database) · Uniqueness · Universal Grammar · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation