Intransitive Predication

This book investigates cross-linguistic variation in one of the core domains of all natural languages. Leon Stassen views this domain as a 'cognitive space', the topography of which is the same for all languages. It is assumed to consist of four sub-domains, which correspond to a four-way distinction between the semantic classes of event predicates, property predicates, class predicates, and locational predicates. The book offers a typology of the structural manifestations of this domain, in terms of the nature and number of the formal strategies used in its encoding. The author discusses a number of abstract principles which can be employed in explaining the cross-linguistic variation embodied by the typology. In the final chapter he brings together the research results in a universally applicable model, which can be read as a 'flow-chart' for the encoding of intransitive predications in different language types.