LSTL 50: Typology of Concessive Constructions

Typology of Concessive Constructions

Viktor S. Xrakovskij (ed.)
Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Linguistic Research, Saint-Petersburg

This collective monograph by the Language Typology Workshop of the St. Petersburg Institute of Linguistic Research (Russian Academy of Sciences) proposes a study of concessive constructions in different languages from a single theoretical perspective. The monograph was prepared under a general research program adopted in the Laboratory as of the 1960s and focused on the grammatical verb categories related to the semantic and syntactic sentence structure. It continues the earlier collective monographs published under this program.

The volume consists of two parts and two appendices. Part 1 includes one chapter which sets forth the theoretical concept underlying all linguistic analyses provided in the collective monograph. The concept was developed as a device to describe concessive constructions in any language in a form which makes it possible to explicitly show both the common (above all, semantic) properties and typological (above all, formal) differences among concessive sentences attested in both related and unrelated languages. In addition, Chapter 1 provides a description of prototypical and marginal types of concessive constructions and proposes two multidimensional calculus classifications for concessive and concessive-conditional constructions.

Part 2 consists of three sections and 20 chapters on concessive constructions in various natural languages. The descriptions are to a large extent uniform, since they are based on the same typological questionnaire. The languages addressed in detail include: Bulgarian, Armenian, Early Latin, French, English, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Hausa, Indonesian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Greek, Turkic languages, Even, Evenki, Eskimo, Japanese, and Agul (a Daghestanian language). Appendix 1 proposes a study of a concessive-conditional construction in Russian.

Appendix 2 presents a universal typological questionnaire on concessive constructions used as a yardstick for all descriptions provided in Part 2. The questionnaire has several sections, each addressing a separate set of issues with a preliminary brief description of those issues illustrated with examples from various languages and followed with relevant questions.

Other collective monographs by the Language Typology Workshop published earlier by LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics include: Xrakovskij V. S. (ed.). Typology of Iterative Constructions. LINCOM EUROPA, 1997; Xrakovskij V. S. (ed.). Typology of Imperative Constructions. LINCOM EUROPA 2001; and Xrakovskij V. S. (ed.). Typology of Conditional Constructions. LINCOM EUROPA, 2005.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Abbreviations

PART ONE

Chapter 1. Concessive constructions: meaning, syntax, and typology
Viktor S. Xrakovskij

PART TWO

Section one

Languages with prototypical concessive and concessive conditional constructions structured as complex sentence

Chapter 1. Concessive constructions in Bulgarian
Ruselina Nicolova

Chapter 2. Concessive constructions in Armenian
Natalia A. Kozintseva

Chapter 3. Concessive constructions in Early Latin
Margarita K. Sabaneyeva

Chapter 4. Concessive constructions in Modern French
Elena E. Kordi

Chapter 5. Concessive constructions in Modern English (some problems of description)
Victor A. Stegnij

Chapter 6. Concessive constructions in Finnish
Hannu Tommola

Chapter 7. Concessive constructions in Estonian
Katrin Karu, Irina P. Külmoja

Chapter 8. Concessive constructions in Hungarian
Katalin Palásti

Chapter 9. Concessive constructions in Hausa
Myrrah A. Smirnova, Nikolaj A. Dobronravin

Chapter 10. Expression of concessive meaning in Indonesian
Svetlana G. Kramarova, Alexander K. Ogloblin

Chapter 11. Concessive constructions in Cambodian
Natalya M. Spatari

Chapter 12. Concessive constructions in Vietnamese
Igor’ S. Bystrov, Nonna V. Stankevich

Chapter 13. Concessive constructions in Ancient Chinese
Tamara N. Nikitina

Section two

Languages with prototypical concessive constructions structured as semi-complex sentences, and prototypical concessive conditional constructions structured as complex sentences

Chapter 14. Concessive constructions in Ancient Greek (in Ionic and Attic prose of V–IV centuries B.C.)
Ildar I. Ibragimov

Section three

Languages with prototypical concessive and concessive conditional constructions structured as semi-complex sentences

Chapter 15. Concessive constructions in Turkic Languages
Dmitrij M. Nasilov, Xoršid F. Isxakova, Irina A. Nevskaya

Chapter 16. Concessive constructions in Even
Andrey L. Malchukov

Chapter 17. Concessive constructions in Evenki
Igor’ V. Nedjalkov

Chapter 18. Concessive constructions in Modern Japanese
Vladimir M. Alpatov, Tatiana V. Andronova

Chapter 19. Concessive constructions in Asiatic Eskimo
Nikolaj B. Vakhtin

Chapter 20. Concessive constructions in Agul
Nina R. Dobrushina, Solmaz R. Merdanova

Appendix 1

Concessive constructions in Russian: a case study of a non-finite conditional plus “focus particle” construction
Vera I. Podlesskaya

Appendix 2

A questionnaire on concessive constructions
Viktor S. Xrakovskij REFERENCES

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

INDEX OF LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS

INDEX OF AUTHORS

ISBN 9783862885107 (Hardbound). LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 50. 584pp. 2012.