This book presents a typology of subordination systems across the world's languages. Traditional definitions of subordination are based on morphosyntactic criteria, such as clausal embedding or non-finiteness. The book shows that these definitions are untenable in a cross-linguistic perspective, and provides a cognitively based definition of subordination.
List of tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1. Theoretical premises 2. The notion of subordination 3. The coding of subordination 4. The cross-linguistic coding of subordination 5. Complement relations 6. Adverbial relations 7. Relative relations 8. Comparison of complement, adverbial, and relative relations 9. The coding of subordination relations 10. Correlations between individual morphosyntactic phenomena 11. Conclusions and prospects Appendices Bibliography Index
Sonia Cristofaro received her Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Pavia in 1998, and is now associate professor of Linguistics at the same university. Her main research areas include syntax, semantics and typology. Her publications include various articles on the syntax and semantics of complex sentences.