Synopses & Reviews
Suffixaufnahme is an unusual pattern of multiple case marking due to agreement: a nominal that is already case-marked for its own adnominal function in addition copies the case of the nominal to which it is to be related. The essays in this collection comprehensively examine this little known phenomenon in all areas where it is (or was) attested--most typically in Anatolia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasus, Aryan India, Eastern Siberia, Ethiopia, and aboriginal Australia. The definitive comparative account of Suffixaufnahme, this volume shows how an ostensibly marginal pattern of case agreement sheds light on major theoretical issues in syntax and morphology, in historical linguistics, and in typology.
Review
"Plank deserves our thanks for putting together a solid, readable reference on the topic."--Journal of Linguistics
Synopsis
The essays collected in this volume address a curious and little-known agreement pattern. It consists of a nominal that is case marked for its own grammatical relation, typically that of an attribute in a possessive construction taking another case in agreement with the nominal it is in construction withschematically "in-the-palace in-the-king's". Such double case marking, termed Suffixaufnahme when first noted, is cross-linguistically rare and intriguingly distributed. Offering in-depth descriptions of all the core cases of Suffixaufnahme and of a variety of less prototypical ones, these essays highlight the considerable significance of this pattern for linguistic theory. Ostensibly marginal, Suffixaufnahme bears on several fundamental issues in syntax and morphology. It exemplifies unusual case marking and agreement, and it throws light on the word-class distinction between nouns and adjectives, the difference between inflection and derivation, the nature of grammatical relations (especially those of attribution and apposition), and the hierarchical nature of syntax.