TY - BOOK
T1 - Cross-categorial classification
T2 - Nouns and verbs in Eegimaa
AU - Sagna, Serge
PY - 2022/3/7
Y1 - 2022/3/7
N2 - Languages in which non-finite verbs (infinitives, gerunds etc.) are classified using the same linguistic means as nouns are rare. This typologically unusual phenomenon is found in some Atlantic (Niger-Congo) languages, including Jóola languages like Eegimaa, Fogny and Kwatay, where several different noun class/gender prefixes (NCPs) are used to classify both nouns and verbs. In this book, it is argued following Sagna (2008), that these parallel morphosyntactic classifications in the nominal domain and verbal domains also reflect parallel semantic categorisation of entities and events. The main topics investigated in this book are word class flexibility between nouns and verbs, non-finiteness, noun class/gender (where morphological classes are analysed separately from agreement classes) and the semantic principles underlying the categorisation of entities and events. One of the central findings proposed in this book is that instances of NCP alternations on non-finite verbs reflect strategies of event delimitation. This book will be of interest to scholars investigating parts-of-speech systems, finiteness, systems of nominal and verbal classification, and linguistic categorization.
AB - Languages in which non-finite verbs (infinitives, gerunds etc.) are classified using the same linguistic means as nouns are rare. This typologically unusual phenomenon is found in some Atlantic (Niger-Congo) languages, including Jóola languages like Eegimaa, Fogny and Kwatay, where several different noun class/gender prefixes (NCPs) are used to classify both nouns and verbs. In this book, it is argued following Sagna (2008), that these parallel morphosyntactic classifications in the nominal domain and verbal domains also reflect parallel semantic categorisation of entities and events. The main topics investigated in this book are word class flexibility between nouns and verbs, non-finiteness, noun class/gender (where morphological classes are analysed separately from agreement classes) and the semantic principles underlying the categorisation of entities and events. One of the central findings proposed in this book is that instances of NCP alternations on non-finite verbs reflect strategies of event delimitation. This book will be of interest to scholars investigating parts-of-speech systems, finiteness, systems of nominal and verbal classification, and linguistic categorization.
KW - Noun class semantics
KW - non-finiteness
KW - Overt verb classification
KW - Noun verb distinctions
KW - Grammatical gender
KW - Overt verb class semantics
KW - Event delimitation
KW - Transitivity hierarchy
KW - Semantic transitivity
KW - Pluractionality
KW - Complementation
KW - Atlantic family
KW - Niger-Congo
KW - Jóola language
KW - Gújjolaay Eegimaa/Banjal
KW - Senegal
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/888dd600-efdf-358b-a423-ae899b859b27/
U2 - 10.1515/9783110636321
DO - 10.1515/9783110636321
M3 - Book
SN - 9783110636321
T3 - Empirical Approaches to Language Typology [EALT]
BT - Cross-categorial classification
PB - De Gruyter Mouton
CY - Berlin
ER -