Full Description
This volume analyzes constructions with non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, drawing on insights from cognitive and discourse-functional linguistics. Prototypical subjects have often been characterized in terms of their semantic, syntactic and discourse features, such as animacy, agentivity, topicality, referentiality, definiteness and autonomy of existence of the subject referent. A non-canonical subject is one that lacks some of these features. This may be reflected in its meaning, grammatical coding, and/or discourse function. In discussing non-canonical subjects in individual languages and cross-linguistically, the chapters in the volume address the following more general topics: What kinds of grammatical, semantic and discourse criteria can be used to distinguish subjects from non-subjects? To what extent are subject criteria construction-specific? What kinds of constructions have non-canonical subjects? What are the semantic and discourse functions of constructions with non-canonical subjects? Are subjects which are grammatically non-canonical also atypical in terms of their discourse features?
Contents
1. Abbreviations; 2. Canonical and non-canonical subjects in constructions: Perspectives from cognition and discourse (by Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa); 3. Section I: Grammatical and discourse perspectives on non-canonical subjects; 4. On the subject of subject in Finnish (by Huumo, Tuomas); 5. Hidden subjects in conversation: Estonian personless verb forms as referential devices9 (by Pajusalu, Renate); 6. Subjects under generic conditions: Implied subjects in Finnish and Estonian if-clauses (by Jokela, Hanna); 7. Section II: Stretching the limits of subjecthood; 8. Abstract locational subjects: Field and settings in French and English (by Achard, Michel); 9. Subjecthood of the agent argument in Estonian passive constructions (by Lindstrom, Liina); 10. Categorization and semantics of subject-like obliques: A cross-linguistic perspective (by Serzant, Ilja A.); 11. The world is raining: Meteorological predicates and their subjects in a typological perspective (by Eriksen, Pal Kristian); 12. Section III: Subjects in networks of constructions; 13. The syntactic and semantic history of the Finnish genitive subject: Construction networks and the rise of a grammatical category (by Leino, Jaakko); 14. From canon to monolith to clusters: A constructionist model of subjecthood in Russian (by Kyrolainen, Aki-Juhani); 15. The role of non-canonical subjects in the overall grammar of a language: A case study of Russian (by Janda, Laura A.); 16. Construction index; 17. Subject index
