Course contents and suggested bibliography

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14. Noun Phrase Typology in Areal Perspective
MARIA KOPTJEVSKAJA-TAMM (University of Stockholm)


The course will focus on noun phrase structure mainly seen through an array of phenomena which are in various ways connected to adnominal possession across languages. Since particular attention will be paid to the geographical distribution of the relevant phenomena, we will start
by discussing what is meant by areal typology.
After that we will look at the structural range of possessive NPs in the languages of the world, i.e., at how different languages render such phrases as Peter's house, the girl's hat and a boy's foot /sister. The structural diversity in this domain is truly fascinating; some of the phenomena (e.g., Suffixaufnahme) are especially striking. Since many languages make use of several different possessive constructions, we will discuss the various structural splits pertaining to possessive NPs across languages, including splits in accordance with the possessor's animacy / referentiality / topicality, and alienability splits. In connection with the latter we will devote a special lecture
to kinterms in grammar, not restricted only to possession.
What makes linguistic possession particularly elusive is the variety of meanings and / or relations expressed by one and the same construction type. In the majority of cases, an entity, indicated by the head of a possessive noun phrase, is characterized via its relation to another entity, indicated by the dependent. Relations between the two differ, however, as to * whether they involve concrete referents of the head and the dependent in a NP, as the case is with "anchoring" relations (e.g. Peter's shirt, Monday's performance etc.), or not, with "non-anchoring" relations ('a women's magazine', 'a journey of one month', etc.).
We will discuss the meanings associated with possessive NPs across languages, paying particular attention to the distinction between anchoring and non-anchoring relations. In addition to "prototypical possession", two other types of relations are sometimes, but far from invariably, expressed in similar ways ' the relations between an action nominal and its arguments, the "subject
genitive" and the "object genitive", as in Peter's singing, the discovery of America by Columbus; and "quantative", or pseudo-partitive relations between a nominal quantifier and its complement, e.g. a cup of tea or a slice of bread. Both of these constructions will be considered in cross-linguistic perspective.


References to Koptjevskaja-Tamm's works which will be used in the course:

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 1995. Possessive and Relational Forms in Chukchi. In Plank, Frans (ed.), Double-Case. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 1997. Possessive NPs in Maltese: Alienability, Iconicity and Grammaticalization. In Borg, A. & F. Plank (ed.), The Maltese NP Meets Typology. Rivista di Linguistica 8.1: 245-274.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2000. Romani genitives in cross-linguistic perspective. In Els&ik, V. & Y. Matras (eds.), Grammatical Relations in Romani: The Noun Phrase. Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing company, 123-149.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2001. "A piece of the cake" and "a cup of tea": Partitive and pseudo-partitive nominal constructions in the Circum-Baltic Languages. In Dahl. Ö. & M. Koptjevskaja-Tamm (eds.), The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact. Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. v. 2, 523-568.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2002. Adnominal possession in the European languages: form and function. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF), 55, 2, 141-172.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2003a. Possessive noun phrases in the Languages of Europe. In Plank, F.(ed.), Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 621-722. Abstract

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2003b. "A woman of sin", "a man of duty" and "a hell of a mess": Non-determiner genitives in Swedish. In Plank, F. (ed.), Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 515-558. Abstract

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2003c. Action Nominal Constructions in the Languages of Europe. In Plank, F. (ed.), Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe, 723-759. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. Forthc. c. "Maria's ring of gold": adnominal possession and non-anchoring relations in the European languages. In Kim, Ji-yung, Yu. Lander, and B. H. Partee (eds.), Possessives and Beyond: Semantics and Syntax. Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications.

Dahl, Ö. & M. Koptjevskaja-Tamm, 2001. Kinship in Grammar. In Baron, I., M. Herslund, M. & F. Sørensen(eds.), Dimensions of Possession. Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing company, 201-225.

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