Frank Palmer's new book is a typological survey of grammatical roles, such as Agent, Patient, Beneficiary, and grammatical relations, such as Subject, Direct Object and Indirect Object, which are familiar concepts in traditional grammars. It describes the devices, such as the Passive, that alter or switch the identities between such roles and relations. A great wealth of examples is used to show that the grammatical systems of the familiar European languages are far from typical of many of the world's languages, for which we need to use such terms as 'Ergative' and 'Antipassive'. Professor Palmer provides an elegant and consistent framework within which grammatical roles and relations may be discussed, combining a great clarity of discussion with evidence from an enormous number of the world's languages.

A typological survey of Subject, Object and related grammatical concepts in the languages of the world.
Reviews
'A valuable source of information and examples...amply illustrated with examples of languages ... a comprehensive and systematic presentation'. International Review of Applied Linguistics



Book Information
ISBN 9780521458368
Author Frank Robert Palmer
Format Paperback
Page Count 276
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 376g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 153mm * 15mm