On Reconstructing Grammar

Download or read book On Reconstructing Grammar written by Spike Gildea and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book shows how to combine grammaticalization theory with the comparative method to reconstruct the grammar of Proto-Languages. To showcase the methodology, seven morphosyntactically distinct verbal systems in the Cariban family--three ergative, three nominative, and one inverse--are reconstructed. Spike Gildea presents detailed data in his reconstruction of Proto-Carib verbal and nominal morphologies. The inverse verbal system reconstructs to Proto-Carib; the other six are innovative, and reconstruct to Proto-Carib nonfinite source-constructions.