Philippine-type languages are often cited as exemplifying a cross-linguistically unique voice system, in which verb morphology can select not only an agent or patient, but also locative, instrumental and other adjunct type relations as the nominative argument. In this paper, we examine three approaches to this typologically remarkable system: the ergative analysis, the case agreement analysis and the nominalization analysis, arguing for the latter based on strong parallels between verbal and nominal predication from the root level to the clause level. The morphologically symmetric nature of Philippine-type languages is argued to stem from their nominal roots. The historical development of verbal roots leads to a more fixed argument structure in which canonical ergative languages develop. Mamuju, an Austronesian language of West Sulawesi, Indonesia, is offered as an example of a classically ergative language, in contrast to Philippine-type systems.
Margaret E. Winters
Layers are sub-components of the lexicon which have become part of a given language through direct or indirect contact with another language or languages. The contact may be on-going synchronic interaction or have occurred during the historical development of the language. Layers may have their own phonological, morphological, semantic, stylistic, and even syntactic and orthographic identity to the point where they may, at times, be identified in some way by naïve native speakers, who recognize that they are different from the core lexicon of their language. This chapter explores the nature of layers, what they are, how they arise, and how they are organized variously in different languages, with examples drawn principally from the history and current state of English, French, Yiddish, and Japanese.
The lexicon is traditionally viewed as distinct from the syntax of a language. Standard accounts of the history of the English language have separate chapters on syntax and vocabulary. The underlying assumption is that the two are considered either implicitly or explicitly as separate linguistic components. However, various strands of cognitive linguistics such as Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar and Croft’s Radical Construction Grammar have argued that there are no clear-cut boundaries between what are traditionally called lexicon, syntax and morphology but, rather, that they form a continuum. This chapter first examines some of the synchronic arguments in favor of this proposal before offering some diachronic arguments. It also briefly discusses three cases studies (the way construction, the adjectival resultative construction and –ingly adverbs) which support a continuum.
Dictionaries, those inventories of words which also often include definitions, pronunciations, histories, and usage labels, are often seen by their users as authoritative containers of lexical facts, while their creators view them as only tools which reflect language, rather than prescribe it. This chapter provides an overview of the history, function, and structure of dictionaries, with particular reference to the relationship between lexicography and words themselves. It highlights the issues with producing scholarly and commercial dictionaries, the relationship between lexicographers neutrally describing words and users wanting prescriptive rules for their use, and the ways in which modern artificial dictionary structures are rooted in natural language examples from electronic data.