Inversion (linguistics)
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, grammatical inversion is any of a number of different distinct grammatical constructions in the languages of the world. There are three main uses in the literature which, unfortunately, have little if any overlap either formally or typologically: syntactic inversion, thematic inversion, and feature inversion.
, Mandarin Chinese, Otjiherero, Chichewa, and a number of Germanic
and Bantu languages
in which a noun
or adposition
al phrase is shifted from its default postverbal position to one before the main verb
of the clause. In English
, such syntactic inversion typically comes in two varieties: locative inversion and nonlocative inversion. For example:
Syntactic
inversion has played an important role in the history of linguistic theory because of the way it interacts with question formation and topic and focus constructions. In languages with verb-second phenomena, such as German
, inversion can function as a test for syntactic constituency, since precisely one constituent may surface preverbally: Ein Jahr nach dem Autounfall sieht er wirklich gut aus. [lit. A year after the car accident, looks he really good]. This feature also occurs in some other West Germanic languages
, like Dutch
, where the previous sentence would be Een jaar na het auto-ongeval ziet hij er werkelijk goed uit.
, but they may or may not have subject properties like the control of reflexives or triggering agreement on the verb. For example, in German
and Russian
, for verbs meaning to "please", the experiencer is usually fronted to topic position in the sentence: Mir gefällt es, Mne nrávitsya, both "I like it". In both cases, the experiencer cannot be the antecedent for the reflexive: "He likes himself" cannot be *Ihm gefällt sich or *Yemú nrávitsya sebyá. In Georgian
, on the other hand, the experiencer agrees with the object on the verb, but can control reflexivization: Me momts'ons čemi tavi.
in an agreement
context, for example, verbs agree with both subject and object: ne-wāpam-ā-w-a 1-look.at-DIR-3-3Sg 'I looked at him'. However, the person markers do not indicate subject and object status; rather, the set of morphemes called direct or inverse markers do that. When a third person acts on a first person, the person markers remain the same, but the direct marker switches to an inverse marker: ne-wāpam-ekw-w-a 1-look.at-INV-3-3Sg 'He looked at me'.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, grammatical inversion is any of a number of different distinct grammatical constructions in the languages of the world. There are three main uses in the literature which, unfortunately, have little if any overlap either formally or typologically: syntactic inversion, thematic inversion, and feature inversion.
Syntactic inversion
The first and most widely noted kind of inversion occurs in the constructions of Brazilian PortugueseBrazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by most of the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay....
, Mandarin Chinese, Otjiherero, Chichewa, and a number of Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and Bantu languages
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
in which a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
or adposition
Adposition
Prepositions are a grammatically distinct class of words whose most central members characteristically express spatial relations or serve to mark various syntactic functions and semantic roles...
al phrase is shifted from its default postverbal position to one before the main verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
of the clause. In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, such syntactic inversion typically comes in two varieties: locative inversion and nonlocative inversion. For example:
- Locative inversion: A lamp was in the corner to In the corner was a lamp
- Nonlocative inversion: The growing number of TB cases is especially worrisome to public health experts to Especially worrisome to public health experts is the growing number of TB-cases.
Syntactic
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
inversion has played an important role in the history of linguistic theory because of the way it interacts with question formation and topic and focus constructions. In languages with verb-second phenomena, such as German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, inversion can function as a test for syntactic constituency, since precisely one constituent may surface preverbally: Ein Jahr nach dem Autounfall sieht er wirklich gut aus. [lit. A year after the car accident, looks he really good]. This feature also occurs in some other West Germanic languages
West Germanic languages
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of languages and include languages such as German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish...
, like Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, where the previous sentence would be Een jaar na het auto-ongeval ziet hij er werkelijk goed uit.
Thematic inversion
The second kind of inversion occurs when the grammatical subject is not also the thematic agent of the clause. This typically takes the form of verbal arguments that are semantically experiencers but which are marked with an oblique caseOblique case
An oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
, but they may or may not have subject properties like the control of reflexives or triggering agreement on the verb. For example, in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, for verbs meaning to "please", the experiencer is usually fronted to topic position in the sentence: Mir gefällt es, Mne nrávitsya, both "I like it". In both cases, the experiencer cannot be the antecedent for the reflexive: "He likes himself" cannot be *Ihm gefällt sich or *Yemú nrávitsya sebyá. In Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, on the other hand, the experiencer agrees with the object on the verb, but can control reflexivization: Me momts'ons čemi tavi.
Feature inversion
The third and rarest kind of inversion involves constructions which are sensitive to feature hierarchies. In Algonquian languagesAlgonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
in an agreement
Agreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....
context, for example, verbs agree with both subject and object: ne-wāpam-ā-w-a 1-look.at-DIR-3-3Sg 'I looked at him'. However, the person markers do not indicate subject and object status; rather, the set of morphemes called direct or inverse markers do that. When a third person acts on a first person, the person markers remain the same, but the direct marker switches to an inverse marker: ne-wāpam-ekw-w-a 1-look.at-INV-3-3Sg 'He looked at me'.