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Zusatztext The book is destined to remain part of the bibliography on the topic of pronouns for years to come. Informationen zum Autor D.N.S.Bhat retired in 1995 as Research Scientist, University Grants Commission, at the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. He has been Professor of Linguistics in Manipur University, Imphal and International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Tiruvananthapuram, and Reader in Tibeto-Burman linguistics in Deccan College, Pune. He was also a British Council Fellow and a Research Associate in the Language Universals Project of Stanford University. He has written several books both in English and Kannada, which include The Prominence of Tense, Aspect and Mood (John Benjamin 1999), The Adjectival Category (John Benjamin 1994), Grammatical Relations (Routledge 1991), Referents of Noun Phrases (Deccan College 1979), and The Syntax and Semantics of Kannada Sentences (in Kannada, Geetha Book House 1978). Klappentext This study of pronouns is based on more than 250 languages. It contrasts personal pronouns with pronouns such as demonstratives! interrogatives! and relatives and shows that they belong to two distinct categories. Characteristics of the two categories are introduced and examined from a cross-linguistic and functional perspective. The book is destined to remain part of the bibliography on the topic of pronouns for years to come. Kanavillil Rajagopalan, WORD Vol. 58 No. 2 Zusammenfassung On the basis of a cross-linguistic study of more than 250 languages, this book brings to light several fascinating characteristics of pronouns. Dr Bhat argues that these words do not form a single category, but rather two different categories called 'personal pronouns' and 'proforms'. He points out several differences between the two, such as the occurrence of a dual structure among proforms but not among personal pronouns. These differences are shown to derive from the distinct functions that the two categories have to perform in language. The book also shows that the so-called interrogative pronouns of familiar languages are less concerned with interrogation than with indefiniteness. The author shows that the notion of indefiniteness that can be associated with these and other pronouns is quite different from the one that can be associated with noun phrases. He goes on to postulate certain typological distinctions such as 'two-person' and 'three-person' languages and 'free-pronoun' and 'bound-pronoun' languages. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: Introduction Part I: Personal Pronouns 2: Relation with the Referent 3: Coreference and Non-Coreference 4: Association with Grammatical Categories 5: Conflicting Characteristics 6: The Position of Third Person Pronouns Part II: Proforms 7: The Structure of Proforms 8: Constituent Elements of Proforms 9: Characteristics of Proforms 10: Interrogative-Indefinite Puzzle 11: Other Related Puzzles 12: Concluding Remarks Appendix: List of 225 Languages Used as a Sample References Index of Authors Index of Languages Index of Subjects ...
