Abstract: Grammatical relations (GRs) are structurally defined relations between words in phrases and clauses. Common terms used to refer to particular grammatical relations are subject, direct object, indirect object, ergative, absolutive, genitive, and oblique. Sometimes the oblique relation (discussed below) is considered to be the absence of a grammatical relation. Like other structural notions, GRs are defined independently of function (such as semantics or topicality), though they clearly have communicative functions. Even as the structure of any tool is logically distinct from (though intimately connected to) its function, so GRs are logically distinct from the functions that they perform. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that GRs play a significant role in expressing meaningful distinctions, such as who is acting upon whom, what is topical, and so on.
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-01-12
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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