Helasvuo Marja-Liisa, Campbell Lyle (ed.) Grammar from the Human Perspective. Case, Space and Person in Finnish

John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2006. — 280 p. — (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 277) — ISBN: 9789027247926.The papers of this volume investigate how grammar codes the subjective viewpoint of human language users, that is, how grammar reflects human conceptualization. Some of the articles deal with spatial relations and locations. They discuss how basic attributes of human conceptualization are encoded in the grammatical expression of spatial relations. Other articles concern embodiment in language, showing how conceptualization is mediated by one’s embodied experience of the world and ourselves. Finally, some of the articles discuss coding of person focusing on the subjectivity of conceptualization and how it is reflected in grammar.
The articles show that conceptualization reflects the speaker’s construal of the situation, and furthermore, that it is intersubjective because it reflects the speaker’s understanding of the relations between the speech act participants. The papers deal with Finnish, utilizing the rich resources of Finnish grammar to contribute to issues in contemporary linguistics and in particular to Cognitive Grammar.Introduction: Grammar from the human perspective Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Lyle Campbell
An introduction to Finnish spatial relations: Local cases and adpositions Tuomas Huumo and Krista Ojutkangas
Space and location
Spatial axes in language and conceptualization: The case of bidirectional constructions Krista Ojutkangas
“I woke up from the sofa”: Subjective directionality in Finnish expressions of a spatio-cognitive transfer Tuomas Huumo
Metonymy in locatives of state Tiina Onikki-Rantajääskö
The human perspective
Body part names and grammaticalization Toni Suutari
On distinguishing between recipient and beneficiary in Finnish Seppo Kittilä
Oblique mentions of human referents in Finnish conversation: The effects of prominence in discourse and grammar Ritva Laury
Person
Person in Finnish: Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in interaction Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Lea Laitinen
Zero person in Finnish: A grammatical resource for construing human reference Lea Laitinen
Passive — personal or impersonal? A Finnish perspective Marja-Liisa Helasvuo