Studies in Ditransitive Constructions

This volume arose from a project and a 2007 conference and a 2006 workshop based at the linguistics department of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig. The three editors--Andrej Malchukov, Martin Haspelmath, and Bernard Comrie--are affiliated there, as are a few of the contributors; but most are based in countries outside of Germany including France, the US, The Netherlands, the Russian Federation, the UK, Argentina, Japan--truly an international group of linguistics academics. The first chapter explains ditransitive constructions, "...formulating a cross-linguistically applicable definition" and offering a typological overview of sentences with Agent, Theme, and Recipient arguments and read, in English, like this: Mary gave John a pen. The second chapter presents further discussion of exactly what is and what is not a ditransitive construction, presenting material in a question-and-answer format. Following are chapters grouped in sections pertaining to the languages of Africa (six of them: !Xun, Emai, Yoruba, Baule, Joola Banjal, and Tima); Eurasia (Telkepe, Vafsi, East Caucasian family, Tungusic, Ket, Chintang and Belhare, and Thai); New Guinea and Australia (Teiwa, Mian, Teop, Jaminjung); the Americas (Yupik, Halkomelem Salish, Athabaskan), Ojiebwe, Tlapaniec, Itonama, and Mapudungun). Each contribution includes numerous references. Indexing is by author, language, and subject. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Andrej Malchukov, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and Institute of Linguistic Studies, St. Petersburg, Russia;Martin Haspelmath, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany;Bernard Comrie, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and University of California Santa Barbara, USA.