Similative and Equative Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Perspective

Treis, Yvonne (Editor)/ Vanhove, Martine (Editor)

ISBN 10: 9027206988 / ISBN 13: 9789027206985

Published by John Benjamins Pub Co, 2017

About this Item

437 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __9027206988

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Similative and Equative Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Perspective
• Publisher: John Benjamins Pub Co
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9027206988
• ISBN 13: 9789027206985
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.94 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

While comparative constructions have been extensively studied in the past decades, the expression of equality and similarity has so far attracted little attention in the typological literature. The fifteen contributions assembled in this volume study similative and equative constructions in typologically and genetically distant languages, albeit with a focus on Africa, and from a range of perspectives. Purely synchronically oriented case studies are supplemented by contributions that also shed light on the diachronic development of similative and equative constructions in language contact situations. Sources of similative morphemes and lexically expressed concepts of likeness are examined, and little-known multifunctionality patterns and grammaticalisation targets of similative morphemes – such as purpose clause markers, modality morphemes and markers of glottonyms – are discussed. Based on a sample of 119 languages worldwide, a new typology of equative constructions is proposed. The book should be of interest to typologists, semanticists, specialists of grammaticalization, historical linguistics and syntax.