This book investigates the precise nature of nonfinite structures and explores the ways in which they change. Gary Miller examines a broad range of structures, including traditional infinitives, gerunds, and participles, across different Indo-European (and some non-Indo-European) languages now and in the past.As structures which are nonfinite in some languages are not so in others, the question arises whether the concept 'nonfinite' has any
meaning or explanatory power. In seeking an answer to this conundrum, the author shows that infinitives with subject person agreement, such as in West Greenlandic, Modern Greek, Portuguese, Welsh, and
Hungarian, share properties with prototypical nonfinite formations. Professor Miller examines languages with morphologically marked tense on infinitives, including Ancient Greek and Latin, and Modern Turkish. He demonstrates that nonfinite structures that can be assigned non-structural (inherent or semantic) case differ systematically from those with either structural or no case.The book concludes with a substantial history of infinitives, gerunds, and participles in Old
and Middle English, which reveals why and how nonfinite structures change and vary over time.Gary Miller(1)s innovative theoretical reasoning and the wide range of evidence on which
it is brought to bear make this book a considerable contribution to the understanding of grammatical change and its formal expression, as well as to the history of English.
- ISBN:
- 9780198299608
- 9780198299608
-
Category:
- Psycholinguistics
- Format:
- Hardback
- Publication Date:
-
21-03-2002
- Language:
- English
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Country of origin:
- United Kingdom
- Pages:
- 488
- Dimensions (mm):
- 241x166x31mm
- Weight:
- 0kg
This title is in stock with our Australian supplier and should arrive at our Sydney warehouse within 2 - 3 weeks of you placing an order.
Once received into our warehouse we will despatch it to you with a Shipping Notification which includes online tracking.
Please check the estimated delivery times below for your region, for after your order is despatched from our warehouse:
ACT Metro 2 working days
NSW Metro 2 working days
NSW Rural 2 - 3 working days
NSW Remote 2 - 5 working days
NT Metro 3 - 6 working days
NT Remote 4 - 10 working days
QLD Metro 2 - 4 working days
QLD Rural 2 - 5 working days
QLD Remote 2 - 7 working days
SA Metro 2 - 5 working days
SA Rural 3 - 6 working days
SA Remote 3 - 7 working days
TAS Metro 3 - 6 working days
TAS Rural 3 - 6 working days
VIC Metro 2 - 3 working days
VIC Rural 2 - 4 working days
VIC Remote 2 - 5 working days
WA Metro 3 - 6 working days
WA Rural 4 - 8 working days
WA Remote 4 - 12 working days
Share This Book: