B05 - Prominence related structures in Austronesian symmetrical voice languages
This project investigates whether there is evidence for widely attested prominence relations relevant at the syntax-semantics interface (e.g. agentive arguments tend to be more prominent than non-agentive ones) in western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages. These languages challenge the concept of prominence because they exhibit two (or more) equally marked constructions to express transitive eventualities. The project looks at the discourse factors governing these voice alternations, at linear ordering constraints, and at the alternation between the dynamic and the potentive paradigm.
Team
Prof. Dr. Nikolaus P. Himmelmann
Principal Investigator A03, B05, C09 and INF
Office: Allg. Sprachwissenschaft, Meister-Ekkehart-Straße 7 E-mail: sprachwissenschaft(at)uni-koeln.de Phone: (+49) 221 470-2323 Web: Prof. Dr. Nikolaus P. Himmelmann
Dr. Sonja Riesberg
Principal Investigator B05
Office: SFB, Luxemburger Str. 299, room 2.06 E-mail: sonja.riesberg(at)uni-koeln.de Phone: (+49) 221 470-89909 Web: Dr. Sonja Riesberg
Maria Bardají i Farré
Researcher, associated with B05
Office: SFB, Luxemburger Str. 299, room 2.10 E-mail: mbardaj1(at)uni-koeln.de Phone: (+49) 221 470-89906 Web: Maria Bardají i Farré
Katharina Gayler
Student assistant A03
Office: SFB, Luxemburger Str. 299, room 2.12 E-mail: kgayler(at)smail.uni-koeln.de Phone:
Marc Heinrich
Student assistant A03
Office: SFB, Luxemburger Str. 299, room 2.12 E-mail: marc.heinrich(at)uni-koeln.de Phone:
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.
- 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.
- Riesberg, Sonja, Kurt Malcher & Nikolaus P. Himmelmann. To appear. The many ways of transitivization in Totoli. In Michela Cennamo, Elisa Roma & Silvia Luraghi (eds.), Valency and transitivity patterns. 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