Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar

Abstract

Presents a typology of reference-tracking systems, including (1) switch functions such as voice alternations, (2) switch references such as marking or inflection, (3) lexical coding agreement and noun class, and (4) pragmatic inference. Questions whether constructs like "subject" are in fact applicable to all languages, and argues that there is no cross-linguistically consistent relationship between thematic and syntactic roles, i.e., no universal linking rules. Instead, proposes that children have to determine on the basis of linguistic experience whether agents, for example, are to be treated as subjects, as in English, as objects, as in Dyirbal, or, in more complicated scenarios, as neither.