Typology of Languages

About the book
Peter Kosta
The Syntax of Meaning
and the Meaning of Syntax

This book provides a summary of Radical Minimalism, putting forth a neurocognitively implementable theory of
grammar as I-language. Radical Minimalism tries to give a ‘fully explicit’ description of syntactic structures mapped
into cognitive frames of thought. It focuses on the division of labor between Narrow Syntax and Meaningful Units of
the sentence and also on the role of Mental Lexicon (understood as a selection of Roots and Labels), the Labeling
Mechanism, and the participation of the Senso-Motoric and Conceptual-Intentional Interfaces within a Crash-proof
Grammar of Human Language. The data are taken from the languages of different genetic origins and types. The book
is based on the idea that language and thought are closely connected and must be studied within the physical laws of
the Anti-Entropy and Dynamical Frustration theory.
Peter Kosta’s new book touches on an exceptional range of subjects in theoretical syntax and the philosophy of
grammar, bearing ample proof of his lifelong engagement with these vital disciplines within the humanities of the
20th/21st centuries. His acute awareness of important insights and discussions in current day minimalism is evident
from every page, informing his treatment of a wide diversity of problems in the morphosyntax of Slavic languages and
beyond.
(Jan-Wouter Zwart, University of Groningen)
This book provides a breath of fresh air in linguistic theorising by combining empirically based syntactic innovations
with original discussions of long-standing semantic puzzles and a revised architecture of the Faculty of Language.
Foundational notions in generative theory are thoroughly revised in the light of detailed comparative analyses. This
remarkable work represents the culmination of years of research on what meaning is, how it is structured, and to what
extent syntax encodes meaning.
(Diego Gabriel Krivochen, University of Verona)

In our introduction to the volume, we address the history and current developments in Uralic studies, with particular attention to the evolution of grammar-writing since the very first Uralic grammars until today, and summarize some of the most interesting Uralic phenomena from a typological point of view. In Section 2 we show that, even though Uralic studies can boast a remarkable number of linguistic studies and a rich production of descriptive grammars, the published grammars often lack in comparability (as they use different terms to describe the same phenomena), international reach and they often are not typologically informed. Therefore, we advocate for a stronger cooperation between typology and Uralic studies. In Section 3 we present the papers included in this special edition of ESUKA, a selection of typologically-informed, data-driven and terminologically consistent studies of different phenomena in a number of Uralic languages. Finally, in Section 4 we present a short overview of some typologically relevant features in Uralic languages.
    Во вступительной статье к данному тому обсуждается история и современное состояние уралистики. Основное внимание уделяется эволюции грамматических описаний от первых грамматик уральских языков до настоящего времени. В Разделе 2 показано, что уральским языкам посвящено немало лингвистических трудов и, в частности, грамматических описаний. Однако существующие грамматики в большинстве своем обнаруживают такие недостатки, как слабая сопоставимость (в том числе терминологическая), недоступность для широкого круга лингвистов (прежде всего, из-за языка грамматики) и отсутствие типологической ориентированности. Становится очевидной насущная потребность в более тесном взаимодействии типологии и уралистики. В Разделе 3 предлагается обзор статей, вошедших в данный том. Эти статьи обсуждают различные явления в уральских языках, но их объединяет типологически ориентированный подход, акцент на используемых данных и терминологическая последовательность. В Разделе 4 дается краткий обзор типологических признаков, релевантных для интрагенетической типологии уральской семьи.

The present paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the verbal aspect in general and with special  emphasis  on  the  comparison  of  Chinese  and  Slovenian  lexical  aspect.  Recognised discrepancies  between  the  conceptualisation  and  verbalisation  of  actions  in  unrelated languages indicate that deeper cognitive differences affect our perception of reality, which is something  that  should  be  more  widely  recognized  when  learning  and  teaching  foreign languages. The contribution of  this  article  is a  comparative  analysis  of  available  studies  by authoritative linguists, based on which we have formulated a new and more comprehensive proposal that will help classify verb types in unrelated languages, and can be further exploited in the field of applied linguistic research.

The present paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the verbal aspect in general and with special emphasis on the comparison of Chinese and Slovenian lexical aspect. Recognised discrepancies between the conceptualisation and verbalisation of actions in unrelated languages indicate that deeper cognitive differences affect our perception of reality, which is something that should be more widely recognized when learning and teaching foreign languages. The contribution of this article is a comparative analysis of available studies by authoritative linguists, based on which we have formulated a new and more comprehensive proposal that will help classify verb types in unrelated languages, and can be further exploited in the field of applied linguistic research.