Grammatical Roles and Relations [Paperback]

A typological survey of Subject, Object and related grammatical concepts in the languages of the world.Many examples reveal that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of the world's languages in a typological survey of grammatical roles and the relations of familiar concepts in traditional grammars.Many examples reveal that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of the world's languages in a typological survey of grammatical roles and the relations of familiar concepts in traditional grammars.Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent, Patient, and Beneficiary, as well as grammatical relations, such as Subject, (Direct) Object and Indirect Object, which are familiar concepts in traditional grammars. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages. Grammatical Roles and Relations will be welcomed by all those interested in language typology.1. Introduction; 2. Roles and relations; 3. Accusative, ergative and agentive systems; 4. Syntactic relations; 5. Passive; 6. Passive: related and problematic issues; 7. Antipassive; 8. Topic and inverse systems; 9. Causatives; Glossary of terms; References and citations index; Language index; General index.'A valuable source of information and examples...amply illustrated with examples of languages ... a comprehensive and systematic presentation'. International Review of Applied Linguistics