Generative Approaches to Finnic and Saami Linguistics: Case, Features and Constraints

With unusual structural characteristics, Finnish and Saami offer interesting challenges to linguistic theories formulated around more popular languages. Grammatically, for instance, languages in the Finnic and Saami group utilize extensive systems of case inflection on nouns to signal a broad variety of relations that in almost all other languages require additional words. Phonologically, as another example, the phenomenon of ‘consonant gradation’ is of particular interest to linguists.

This volume is the first to examine the phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics of Finnic and Saami languages within current generative linguistic frameworks. Collected here is research on these less-studied languages, some of which face extinction.

Diane Nelson is a lecturer in the linguistics and phonetics department at the University of Leeds. Satu Manninen is a lecturer in the English department at the University of Lund.

Contributors
1 Introduction Satu Manninen and Diane Nelson
I Phonology
- 2 Estonian Quantity: Implications for Moraic Theory Martin Ehala
- 3 Opaque Consonant Gradation in Finnish - A Recourse to IO-OO Correspondence Heli Harrikari
- 4 Finnish Noun Inflection Paul Kiparsky
II Syntax (Case)
- 5 A Liscencing Theory for Finnish Ash Sudeh
- 6 Resultatives and Depictives in Finnish Vivienne Fong
- 7 Postverbal Case Realization in Finnish Anne Vainikka
III Syntax (Other Topics)
- 8 Encoding (Non)Locality in Anaphoric Relations Elsi Kaiser
- 9 Finnish PPs and the Phase Impenetrability Condition Satu Manninen
- 10 Counting and the Grammar: Case Numerals in Inari Saami Diane Nelson and Ida Toivonen
- 11 Constraints on the Morphological Causitives in the Torne Dialect of North Sámi Mikael Svonni and Mikeal Vinka
IV Language Change
- 12 The Emergence of a Definite Article in Estonian Katrin Hiietam and Kersti Börjars
- 13 On the Negated Past in Finnic and Saami Marit Julien
- 10 Counting and the Grammar: Case Numerals in Inari Saami Diane Nelson and Ida Toivonen
Language Index
Subject Index

6/1/2003

ISBN (Paperback): 1575864126 (9781575864129)
ISBN (Cloth): 1575864118 (9781575864112)

Subject: General Language and Linguistics

Series: CSLI Lecture Notes (148)

The Possibility of Language (No. 147) Holographic Reduced Representation (No. 150)

Generative Approaches to Finnic and Saami Linguistics

Contents