Project Details
Projekt
FOR 742: Grammar and Processing of Verbal Arguments
Subject Area
Humanities
Term
from 2006 to 2019
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 22381922
The Research Unit assembles scholars working in grammatical theory, linguistic typology, and psycholinguistics, in order to investigate the core of grammar - viz., the relation between a verb and its argument(s). Research is carried out on argument structures in the lexicon (which regulate the quality and quantity of thematic roles of a predicate); on argument realisation in syntax (i.e., the mapping from thematic roles to grammatical functions like subject and object); on argument encoding in morphology (i.e., the indication of grammatical functions by case or agreement); and on argument interpretation in semantics. In all these domains, there is a significant influence of prominence scales (related to animacy, definiteness, person, case, etc.), which is addressed in detail.
Investigations in all individual projects belong primarily to the realm of pure (rather than applied) research. The investigations are carried out on the basis of a multitude of languages, both from a typological perspective and from the perspective of grammatical theory: Throughout, the focus is as much on indepth studies of the grammar of verbal arguments of individual languages (among them Russian, Belorussian, Belhare, Dumi, Czech, Slovene, Tlapanec, Southern Tiwa, Menomini, Sierra Popolua, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Archi, Chechen, Diary, Kambera, and German, among others) as it is on large-scale comparison of languages with respect to certain phenomena. The results are systematically checked and backed up by psycholinguistic studies (EEG-based ERP (event-related potentials) studies and other experimental techniques). The threefold perspective (grammatical theory, typology, psycholinguistics) on a narrowly limited, central domain of language resulting this way is essentially new, and unique.
As shown by the results obtained in the first year of funding of the Research Unit, this approach brings with it clear synergy effects; open questions arising under one perspective can often be answered by taking into account evidence from another perspective. The success of such an enterprise can only be ensured by an approach that is genuinely interdisciplinary. The basis for this is provided by the special circumstances for linguistics in Leipzig: The Research Unit is jointly supported by Leipzig University, by the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and by the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Neuro Sciences.
Investigations in all individual projects belong primarily to the realm of pure (rather than applied) research. The investigations are carried out on the basis of a multitude of languages, both from a typological perspective and from the perspective of grammatical theory: Throughout, the focus is as much on indepth studies of the grammar of verbal arguments of individual languages (among them Russian, Belorussian, Belhare, Dumi, Czech, Slovene, Tlapanec, Southern Tiwa, Menomini, Sierra Popolua, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Archi, Chechen, Diary, Kambera, and German, among others) as it is on large-scale comparison of languages with respect to certain phenomena. The results are systematically checked and backed up by psycholinguistic studies (EEG-based ERP (event-related potentials) studies and other experimental techniques). The threefold perspective (grammatical theory, typology, psycholinguistics) on a narrowly limited, central domain of language resulting this way is essentially new, and unique.
As shown by the results obtained in the first year of funding of the Research Unit, this approach brings with it clear synergy effects; open questions arising under one perspective can often be answered by taking into account evidence from another perspective. The success of such an enterprise can only be ensured by an approach that is genuinely interdisciplinary. The basis for this is provided by the special circumstances for linguistics in Leipzig: The Research Unit is jointly supported by Leipzig University, by the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and by the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Neuro Sciences.
DFG Programme
Research Units
International Connection
Switzerland
Projects
- Argumentkodierung in Morphologie und Syntax (Applicant Müller, Gereon )
- Die interne Struktur von Personen-Portmanteaus (Applicants Cysouw, Michael ; Trommer, Jochen )
- Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Feinstruktur argumentkodierender Flexionsmarker (Applicants Friederici, Angela ; Müller, Gereon )
- Marked Absolutive and Marked Nominative Case Systems in Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective (Applicant Cysouw, Michael )
- Mikrotypologische Variation in Argumentrealisierung und Morphosyntax (Applicant Junghanns, Uwe )
- Präfixe und verbale Argumente (Applicant Zybatow, Gerhild )
- Typologische Varianz bei der Verarbeitung grammatischer Relationen (Applicants Bickel, Balthasar ; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina )
- Valenzklassen in den Sprachen der Welt: Eine Untersuchung der Argumentstrukturen von Verbklassen in lexikalisch-typologischer und areal-historischer Perspektive (Applicant Comrie, Bernard )
- Zentralprojekt (Applicant Müller, Gereon )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Gereon Müller
