Symmetrical voice systems provide a major challenge for the claim that prominence universally plays a central role at the interface between syntax and semantics, because such systems always allow for at least two equally basic transitive constructions. The project investigates whether there is nevertheless evidence for the influence of prominence relations in the organization of grammatical structures in these languages. A special focus is on the interplay between episode structure and clause structure, an area where Papuan languages promise to provide important pieces of evidence.

See list of publications

Publications

To appear

• Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. & Sonja Riesberg. To appear. Expressions of directed caused accompanied motion events in Totoli, a Western Austronesian language of Indonesia. In Anna Margetts, Birgit Hellwig & Sonja Riesberg (eds.), Caused accompanied motion: Bringing and taking events in a cross-linguistic perspective. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
• Kroeger, Paul & Sonja Riesberg. To appear. Voice and transitivity. In Alexander Adelaar & Antoinette Schapper (eds.), The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of South East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Primus, Beatrice, Franziska Kretzschmar, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Klaus von Heusinger. To appear. Relating agent prominence to discourse prominece: Do-clefts in German. Linguistics.
• Riesberg, Sonja. To appear. The expression of directed CAM events in Yali, a non-Austronesian language of New Guinea. In Anna Margetts, Birgit Hellwig & Sonja Riesberg (eds.), Caused accompanied motion: Bringing and taking events in a cross-linguistic perspective. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

2021

• Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2021. Against trivializing language description (and comparison). Studies in Language.
• Riesberg, Sonja, Maria Bardají i Farré, Kurt Malcher & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2021. Predicting voice choice in symmetrical voice languages. All the things that do not work in Totoli. Studies in Language.
• Riesberg, Sonja, Kurt Malcher & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2021. The many ways of transitivization in Totoli. In Silvia Luraghi & Elisa Roma (eds.), Valency over time: Diachronic perspectives on valency patterns and valency orientation, 235–264. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

2020

• Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2020. Grammaticisation processes and reanalyses in Sulawesi languages. In Andrej Malchukov & Walter Bisang (eds.), Areal patterns of grammaticalization and cross-linguistic variation in grammaticalization scenarios, 1043–1075. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Riesberg, Sonja, Janina Kalbertodt, Stefan Baumann & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2020. Using Rapid Prosody Transcription to probe little-known prosodic systems: The case of Papuan Malay. Laboratory Phonology: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology 11(1): 8. 1–35.

2019

• Riesberg, Sonja. 2019. 'Fern leaf, so you are challenging me?' Some observations on the Lelegesan, a form of verbal combat in Totoli. In Anthony Jukes, Asako Shiohara & Yanti (eds.), Special genres in and around Indonesia, NUSA (Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages in Indonesia) 66, 83-96. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja, Kurt Malcher & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2019. How universal is agent-first? Evidence from symmetrical voice languages. Language 95(3). 523-561. pdf

2018

• García García, Marco, Beatrice Primus & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2018. Shifting from animacy to agentivity. Theoretical Linguistics 44(1-2). 25-39. pdf
• Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2018. Meeting the transcription challenge. In Bradley McDonnell, Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker & Gary Holton (eds), Reflections on Language Documentation 20 Years after Himmelmann 1998 (= Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 15), 33-40. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja. 2018. Optional ergative, agentivity and discourse prominence - evidence from Yali (TNG). Linguistic Typology 22(1). 17-50. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja. 2018. Reflections on descriptive and documentary adequacy. In Bradley McDonnell, Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker & Gary Holton (eds), Reflections on Language Documentation 20 Years after Himmelmann 1998 (= Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 15), 151-156. pdf 
• Riesberg, Sonja, Janina Kalbertodt, Stefan Baumann & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2018. On the perception of prosodic prominences and boundaries in Papuan Malay. In Sonja Riesberg, Asako Shiohara & Atsuko Utsumi (eds.), Perspectives on information structure in Austronesian languages, 389-414. Berlin: Language Science Press. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja, Asako Shiohara & Atsuko Utsumi (eds.). 2018. Perspectives on information structure in Austronesian languages. Berlin: Language Science Press. | review in Language

2017

• Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2017. Word classes. In Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. 
• Reinöhl, Uta & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. 2017. Renewal: A figure of speech or a process sui generis? Language 93(2). 381-413. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja. 2017. An introduction to the Yali-German dictionary with a short grammatical sketch. In Sonja Riesberg (ed.), Wörterbuch Yali (Angguruk) – Deutsch. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pdf
• Riesberg, Sonja. 2017. Some observations on word order in western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages. In I Nengah Sudipa et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Seminar on Austronesian and Non-Austronesian Languages and Literature in Indonesia. Denpasar: Udayana University Press. pdf