Intransitive Predication

Investigating cross-linguistic variation in the domains of all natural languages, this work views this domain as a cognitive space, the topography of which is the same for all languages. It brings together the research results in a universally applicable model, which can be read as a 'flow-chart' for the encoding of intransitive predications.

This book investigates cross-linguistic variation in one of the core domains of all natural languages. Leon Stassen views this domain as a ''cognitive space'', the topography of which is the same for all languages. It is assumed to consist of four subdomains, which correspond to a four-way distinction between the semantic classes of event predicates, property predicates, class predicates, and locational predicates. The book offers a typology of the structural manifestations of this domain, in terms of the nature and number of the formal strategies used in its encoding. The author disusses a number of abstract principles which can be employed in explaining the cross-linguistic variation emodied by the typology. In the final chapter he brings together the research results in a universally applicable model, which can be read as a ''flow-chart'' for the encoding of intransitive predications in different language types.