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In 1912 Antoine Meillet published a paper, L’évolution des forms grammaticales, that turned out to be one of the most inspiring contributions in the entire history of linguistics. In the present paper it is suggested that some of the ideas in Meillet’s article were probably stimulated by a letter unpublished so far that was sent to him by Ernesto Rignano, one of the co-editors of Scientia. the journal in which the article was published. The present paper is divided into two parts: in the first, Meillet’s paper will be analysed carefully and the conceptually relevant points will be highlighted, whereas in the second part the text of Rignano’s letter will be briefly commented on, stressing the points that could have stimulated some of Meillet’s reflections on grammaticalization.

The article introduces a comparative analysis of the word order in the communicative structure of the sentence in Russian and Persian. The research also covered means and methods of expressing communicative structure, as well as the rules and patterns of word order on the communicative level. In both languages, the communicative aspect of the sentence is closely related to the word order, which is the main tool of expressing the semantic division of the sentence. However, the communicative word order patterns are different. In the neutral speech, both languages put the theme (background information) in front of the rheme (actual information). In expressive speech, the Russian rheme is placed at the beginning of the sentence while the theme follows it. In other words, the thought moves from the actual information to the background information. When the communicative division of the sentence changes, the word order also changes. Based on the analysis of the word order in neutral and expressive speech, direct and inverted word orders are associated with the function that these components perform in the theme-rheme relationship. Persian, however, has a fixed word order, and allows for no inversion: the theme and the rheme are fixed, and the background information always precedes the new one. In the Russian language, any part of the sentence can be the theme or the rheme. In Persian, the function of the theme or the rheme belongs to particular sentence components.

This paper reports on the effectiveness of teaching grammar explicitly, with a focus on form, function, and rules. The study tested the hypothesis that explicit instruction of grammar leads to increased accuracy in the grammaticality judgment, using a sample of 32 Macedonian learners of English at levels B and C. The structures selected for the task included subject-verb inversion, subject-verb inversion and it-insertion, omission of expletive and anticipatory it and omission of a referential subject, which are typical in the interlanguage of Macedonian learners of English due to cross-linguistic influence from their mother tongue and developmental factors. The study involved a pre-test, explicit instruction and controlled practice activities, and a post-test. The pre-test and post-test assessed the accuracy of a series of sentences, while the instruction involved contrastive analysis of examples in Macedonian and English, eliciting differences between the two languages. Results showed improved accuracy in the assessment of the grammaticality of the target structure at the post-test, but an experimental study with a control group is required to verify whether the improvement can be solely attributed to explicit instruction.

The research aims at providing a comparative study of the impersonal constructions (NPLOC ^ VP ^ NP) by using data from Chinese, English, Hungarian, Burmese and Persian and analyzing the constructions from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. A typological approach is used for the cross-linguistic study. Results show that when translating the impersonal constructions from Chinese into the other four languages, the construction can be best corresponded to Hungarian and Burmese. However, the English and Persian equivalents of the certain Chinese impersonals are in the passive voice. I conclude that grammatical structures are closely related to the speakers’ perception of the world, which might explain the similarities between languages within different genealogical background.

The research aims at providing a comparative study of the impersonal constructions (NPLOC ^ VP ^ NP) by using data from Chinese, English, Hungarian, Burmese and Persian and analyzing the constructions from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. A typological approach is used for the cross-linguistic study. Results show that when translating the impersonal constructions from Chinese into the other four languages, the construction can be best corresponded to Hungarian and Burmese. However, the English and Persian equivalents of the certain Chinese impersonals are in the passive voice. I conclude that grammatical structures are closely related to the speakers’ perception of the world, which might explain the similarities between languages within different genealogical background.

This paper examines the grammatical structure of Romanian/ English codeswitching in the speech of a ten-year-old bilingual child. The analyzed data set consists of single-word switches and phrases, the main focus of the paper being the morphological integration of these English elements in Romanian and the relations they establish with their larger syntactic environment. Using the principles of the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton (2002, 2006), we show that the structural integrity of Romanian is maintained during codeswitching, and that the English material is used according to the rules imposed by the Romanian grammar. Although Romanian inflectional morphology is often absent on switched words and phrases, the placement of these elements in the grammatical frame of the sentence follows matrix language specifications and word order; moreover, function words in mixed constituents, such as determiners and prepositions, tend to come from Romanian.

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This article first gives an overview of the different uses of French apposition and then focuses on nominal appositions, a kind of supplementive clause introduced by a nominal group (NG) without an article. Only translations of initial nominal appositions are examined, i.e. those which are placed at the beginning of the sentence and where the content of the initial structure is expressed by an apposition or NG as the subject. In this context, word order and the use of commas are discussed, which are often of importance for Slovenian language users. Based on the FraSloK corpus, the following conclusions can be drawn: (a) sentence-initial position is maintained much more often in novels than in newspaper articles; (b) the expression of the content of initial structures with an apposition and an NG, which functions as a subject, is fairly evenly represented in more than half of the cases from newspaper articles, while in novels the subject function is prominent; (c) apart from the change in sentence position, Slovenian apposition corresponds to the source structure, and when its content is expressed by an NG with subject function, there are changes at different levels compared to French; (d) the (non-)use of the comma cannot be satisfactorily justified on the basis of the present corpus, but the examples suggest that it is based on translators’ personal choices and also depends on the possibilities of expression in the target language. Suggestions have already been made to change the rules and usage examples, which are not tenable in our cases, and would require further consideration.

When the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) is applied to English, the linear arrangement of clause constituents is considered the weakest of the four factors indicating the distribution of communicative dynamism over a sentence, following the contextual factor, the semantic factor and, in spoken language, the prosodic prominence. The relative weakness of linearity as an FSP factor results from the limited positional mobility of clause constituents in English, where the position of an element in the sentence primarily indicates its syntactic function. However, the linear distribution of clause constituents may sometimes override the other factors and become the principal indicator of FSP. In such cases, the importance of linearity is signalled by the choice of an arrangement that is normally dispreferred because it conflicts with the usual wordorder principles. These deviations from the usual word order include, for example, movement of a constituent from its usual position and instances of flouting the principle of end-weight. This paper explores the range of structures where linearity overrides the other FSP factors and the conditions under which it can assert itself as the leading indicator of FSP.

The purpose of this article is to show how the concepts and the methods of FSP can be applied to the diachronic study. By leaning on a corpus of Old French and Middle French texts, we observe at first the specificity of the communicative dynamism and the passage of Old French system, which gives the priority to the identification of the theme, to Middle French, which takes into account the degrees of rhematic phrases. The diverse thematic progressions and, in particular, the emergence, during Middle French are then studied, progressions with derived themes, connected to the expression of the background. Changes which affect constituent order, in particular the change of status of V2 order, are then put in connection with textual evolutions.

This paper discusses the contributions of professor Vladimír Skalička and his disciples, especially professor Petr Sgall, towards the understanding of the functional sentence perspective from the angle of Vladimír Skalička’s language typology. Based on their conclusions about the existence of an important fault line between the inflexional languages and all the other types of languages as far as the character and the interpretation of the so-called “free word order“ is concerned, the author goes on showing how sentence constructions in Vietnamese, a predominantly polysynthetique language, can function in similar ways as word order does in the inflexional languages, when expressing the opposition of the theme and the rheme in various patterns of functional sentence perspective.

A ordenação de constituintes oracionais nas variedades portuguesas é aqui tratada considerando-se três moldes de conteúdo, Tético, Apresentativo e Categorial. A linearização das estruturas oracionais refletem decisões assumidas na formulação do Nível Interpessoal e configuram predominantemente Molde de Conteúdo Categorial Tópico-orientado, com o constituinte Tópico ocupando a posição P I, a palavra verbal, a posição P M, e os outros constituintes, as posições à direita e à esquerda de P M. Em Construções Téticas, a oração toda, por ser focal, ocupa o domínio de P F, já em Construções Apresentativas a cópula vazia assume a posição absoluta P M, e o sintagma nominal Tópico/Foco posiciona-se em P F.The ordering of clausal constituents in Portuguese varieties is treated here considering three content frames recognized in FDG model, thetic, presentative and categorical. The clausal linearization reflects decisions taken in the formulation of the Interpersonal Level and predominantly represents Topic-oriented content frame in which the constituent in the Topic function occupies the position P I, the verb, the P M position, and other remaining constituents occupy the left and right positions of P M. Thetic constructions, whose whole clause performs focal and topical function, occupies the P F area, while presentative constructions have the grammatical word 'copula' taking the absolute position P M and the Topic/Focus Noun phrase taking the P F position.

Este artigo é uma compilação dos últimos cinco trabalhos de pós-graduação orientados por Lucia Lobato. Nossa meta é exemplificar dois temas recorrentes na linha de pesquisa desta lingüísta: (i) ênfase em traços lexicais e estruturais e (ii) composicionalidade. Considerando principalmente dados do português do Brasil, analisamos: efeitos de traços aspectuais em Concatenaçães dentro do VP e na (in)determinação de alternâncias causativa e psicológica; inversão do sujeito como um tipo de inversão locativa; alçamento manifesto ou não do objeto para [spec, AgroP]; controle nas orações infinitivas flexionadas e não-flexionadas.This is a compilation of the last five post-graduate research projects directed by Lucia Lobato. Our goal is to exemplify two recurring issues in Lobato's work: (i) the emphasis on lexical features and structural features and (ii) the study of compositionality. Considering data mainly from Brazilian Portuguese, we focus on the following phenomena: Effects of aspectual features on Merge within the VP and on (un)availability of causative and psych alternations, subject inversion as an instance of locative inversion, covert and overt object shift through [spec, AgroP], and control within inflected and non-inflected infinitival clauses.

This paper examines free small clauses, which, unlike dependent small clauses, exhibit peculiar properties: (a) they are restricted to occur with individual level and event adjectives, (b) they have to appear with the subject postposed. After considering several hypotheses on the nature of this inversion, it is proposed that these adjectives are of the ergative type, while the stage level adjectives are unergatives. Small clauses with ergative adjectives can be complements of a third copula distinct from the attributive 'ser' and the stative 'estar', which underlies cleft constructions. The derivation of free small clauses is parallel to canonical cleft sentences.Este artigo examina o que chamamos de mini-orações livres, que, diferentemente de mini-orações dependentes, exibem algumas propriedades peculiares: (a) é restrita a ocorrer com adjetivos de indivíduo ou de evento, (b) tem que ter o sujeito posposto. Após considerar várias hipóteses sobre a natureza dessa inversão, propôs-se que os adjetivos que nela aparecem são do tipo ergativo. Essas mini-orações podem ser complementos de um tipo especial de cópula, do tipo que aparece com construções clivadas. As derivações das mini-orações livres seriam paralelas à derivação de construções clivadas.

The syntactic rules of today's High German are generally thought to have crystallized during the 18th century. One can therefore expect that during that time the processes of grammaticalization had a particular influence on doubtful cases in the usage of language. The syntactic development varied from region to region and was accompanied by theoretical controversies. One of the controversial issues was word order. The debates focused primarily on the order in verbal complexes and on the possibility of extraposing simple components and dependent clauses. This paper is based on the assumption that the theoretical controversies in some way reflected the doubtful cases in the usage of language. In order to identify the actual variants, the theoretical controversies will be outlined first. Then the analysis will focus on whether and how these variants were used in a corpus of 18th century texts. The objective is to determine the language-internal, sociological, and geographical factors of the variants' usage and thus to model the situations in which the doubtful cases ocurred. In conclusion, the following issues will be discussed: the relationship between the doubtful cases and diachronic language developments, the language-external factors of the doubtful cases, and the approach of language theorists to doubtful cases.

Este artigo compara um conjunto de fenômenos interrelacionados cencernentes à interface sintexe/morfologia em quatro línguas indígenas brasileiras: Kuikúro (família Karib). Mbyá Guarani (família Tupi-guarani), Karajá (tronco Macro-Jê) e Tikuna (isolada). Discute-se, inicialmente a linearização da ordem SOV, predominante nessas línguas, com base em Chomsky (1993) e Kayne (1993). Examinam-se, em seguida, construções com clíticos e auxiliares e discute-se o conjunto de categorias funcionais componentes da estrutura frasal, a fim de fornecer um quadro comparativo da estrutura da oração nas quatro língüas.This paper compares a set of interrelated phenomena concerning the syntax/morphology interface in four brazilian indigenous languages: Kuikúro, Guarani, Karajá and Tikuna. The linearization of the SOV word order is discussed following Chomsky (1993) and Kayne (1993). Clitics, auxiliaries and functional categories are also examined, allowing a preliminary comparative overview on the structure of the clause in the languages.

Supported by the Functional Discourse Grammar theoretical model, as proposed by Hengeveld (2005), this paper aims to show that the order of modifiers of the Representational Level in spoken Brazilian Portuguese is determined by scope relations according to the layers of property, state-of-affairs and propositional content. This kind of distribution indicates that, far from being free-ordered as suggested by traditional grammarians, modifiers have a preferred position determined by semantic relations that may be only changed for pragmatic and structural reasons.

Agreement patterns imply that there is a stable relationship between the grammatical morphemes on the controllers (i.e. on the words marked for gender that determine or trigger the agreement) and on their targets (i.e. on the words for which gender is an inflectional category the form of which is determined by the agreement). The choice of the agreement pattern in the Croatian language is mainly influenced by the grammatical categories of the controllers (gender, number and person), but sometimes also by other factors (word order, semantic animacy) which are not reflected in the words as directly as categories and which are usually referred to as agreement conditions. Their influence is especially important in the non-canonical domains where a choice between two agreement patterns exists. Word-order as an agreement condition in the Croatian language is usually related to the issue of whether the controller precedes the target (Bijes i ljutnja obuzeli su ga čim je čuo lošu vijest) or the target precedes the controller (Čim je čuo lošu vijest, obuzeli su ga bijes i ljutnja/Čim je čuo lošu vijest, obuzeo ga je bijes i ljutnja) and whether this change causes a vacillation between the two agreement patterns. This paper will adduce the most frequent cases in which word-order has an effect on the choice of agreement patterns with special regard to the interaction of word-order and another important agreement condition in the Croatian language – the semantic animacy. The idea of whether the controller designates something animate or something inanimate often influences the choice of the target in domains where there is a choice between the syntactic and the semantic agreement pattern. The impact of these two agreement conditions can be summed up in the assertion that the choice of the semantic agreement pattern is facilitated by the controllers which refer to something animate and precede their target. All the findings will be supported by the results of a survey questionnaire with which we sought to examine the assumption that the communicative status of the semantic and the syntactic agreement is somewhat different from their descriptions in grammar books.

O objetivo deste trabalho é fornecer uma interpretação funcional para a ordem de constituintes da sentença do português falado no Brasil (PB). Segundo a metodologia aqui adotada, as generalizações de natureza sintática decorrem necessariamente de generalizações de natureza semântica e pragmática. Os dados constituem uma amostragem representativa de sentenças do português falado, extraída de inquéritos do Projeto NURC. Como enfoque funcional prevê a coexistência de diferentes padrões de ordenação de constituintes, usados em diferentes condições e para diferentes propósitos, postula-se que o PB dispõe de dois padrões igualmente relevantes: a ordem SVO e a ordem VSO, ambos pragmaticamente motivados. Argumenta-se ainda que tais motivações pragmáticas relaciona, diacronicamente, os padrões funcionais em uso a uma mudança em curso na classificação tipológica do PB de um tipo primitivo VSO para o tipo SVO atualmente predominante.The aim of this paper is to provide a functional interpretation for sentence word order of spoken Brazilian Portuguese (BP). According to the methodology adopted, generalisations of syntactic nature result necessarily from generalisations of semantic and pragmatic nature. The data constitute a representative sentence sampling of spoken Portuguese, drawn from interviews recorded by NURC Project. Since the functional approach considers the co-existence of different word order patterns, used in different conditions and for different purposes, this paper postulates that BP is endowed with two patterns, both equally relevant and pragmatically motivated: SVO and VSO order. It is also argued that such pragmatic motivations relate both patterns diachronically to a possible change in progress in BP typological classification that follows from a primitive VSO type to the actually prevailing SVO type.