Indefinite Objects
Indefinite Objects

Author: Luis Lopez

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2012-09-28

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0262304708

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A novel view of the syntax-semantics interface that analyzes the behavior of indefinite objects. In Indefinite Objects, Luis López presents a novel approach to the syntax-semantics interface using indefinite noun phrases as a database. Traditional approaches map structural configurations to semantic interpretations directly; López links configuration to a mode of semantic composition, with the latter yielding the interpretation. The polyvalent behavior of indefinites has long been explored by linguists who have been interested in their syntax, semantics, and case morphology, and López's contribution can be seen as a synthesis of findings from several traditions. He argues, first, that scrambled indefinite objects are composed by means of Function Application preceded by Choice Function while objects in situ are composed by means of Restrict. This difference yields the different interpretive possibilities of indefinite objects. López's more nuanced approach to the syntax-semantics interface turns out to be rich in empirical consequences. Second, he proposes that short scrambling also yields Differential Marking, provided that context conditions are fulfilled, while in situ objects remain unmarked. Thus, López contributes to the extensive literature on Differential Object Marking by showing that syntactic configuration is a crucial factor. López substantiates this approach with data from Spanish, Hindi-Urdu, Persian (Farsi), Kiswahili, Romanian, and German.

Objects and Information Structure
Objects and Information Structure

Author: Mary Dalrymple

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-06-02

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0521199859

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A cross-linguistic study of how objects are affected by information structure.

Syntax
Syntax

Author: Talmy Givón

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9781588110688

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This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised. In the previous edition (1984) the author deliberately chose to de-emphasize the more formal aspects of syntactic structure, in favor of a more comprehensive treatment of the semantic and pragmatic correlates of syntactic structure. With hindsight the author now finds the de-emphasis of the formal properties a somewhat regrettable choice, since it creates the false impression that one could somehow be a functionalist without being at the same time a structuralist. To redress the balance, explicit treatment is given to the core formal properties of syntactic constructions, such as constituency and hierarchy (phrase structure), grammatical relations and relational control, clause union, finiteness and governed constructions. At the same time, the cognitive and communicative underpinning of grammatical universals are further elucidated and underscored, and the interplay between grammar, cognition and neurology is outlined. Also the relevant typological database is expanded, now exploring in greater precision the bounds of syntactic diversity. Lastly, Syntax treats synchronic-typological diversity more explicitly as the dynamic by-product of diachronic development or grammaticalization. In so doing a parallel is drawn between linguistic diversity and diachrony on the one hand and biological diversity and evolution on the other. It is then suggested that — as in biology — synchronic universals of grammar are exercised and instantiated primarily as constraints on development, and are thus merely the apparent by-products of universal constraints on grammaticalization.

The Generic Book
The Generic Book

Author: Gregory N. Carlson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1995-08

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 0226092925

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In an attempt to address the theoretical gap between linguistics and philosophy, a group of semanticists, calling itself the Generic Group, has worked to develop a common view of genericity. Their research has resulted in this book, which consists of a substantive introduction and eleven original articles on important aspects of the interpretation of generic expressions. The introduction provides a clear overview of the issues and synthesizes the major analytical approaches to them. Taken together, the papers that follow reflect the current state of the art in the semantics of generics, and afford insight into various generic phenomena.

On the Syntax of Missing Objects
On the Syntax of Missing Objects

Author: Marta Ruda

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2017-11-15

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 902726483X

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Focusing on objects, this book aims at contributing to the on-going inquiry into modelling structures with missing arguments. In addition to offering detailed discussion and analyses of a unique combination of three very different systems (English, Polish, and Hungarian), a larger goal here is to provide a framework for deriving cross-linguistic and intra-linguistic variation in the domain of object drop. Variation of this type is hypothesised to follow, first and foremost, from the association of heads in the extended nominal projection with phonemic features and from the system of interpretation of nominal expressions in a language. The book will be of interest to both theoretically- and descriptively-oriented researchers, since, even though its focus is theoretical, a detailed discussion of the empirical facts, including some novel findings drawn from corpus studies and grammaticality judgements, is also offered.

The Acquisition of Direct Object Scrambling and Clitic Placement
The Acquisition of Direct Object Scrambling and Clitic Placement

Author: Jeannette C. Schaeffer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9789027224903

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This book offers a new contribution to the debate concerning the “real time acquisition” of grammar in First Language Acquisition Theory. It combines detailed and quantitative observations of object placement in Dutch and Italian child language with an analysis that makes use of the Modularity Hypothesis. Real time development is explained by the interaction between two different modules of language, namely syntax and pragmatics. Children need to build up knowledge of how the world works, which includes learning that in communicating with someone else, one must realize that speaker and hearer knowledge are always independent. Since the syntactic feature referentiality can only be marked if this (pragmatic) distinction is made, and assuming that certain types of object placement (such as scrambling and clitic placement) are motivated by referentiality, it follows that the relevant syntactic mechanism is dependent on the prior acquisition of a pragmatic distinction.

Author:

Publisher: IOS Press

Published:

Total Pages: 7289

ISBN-13:

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Chamorro Reference Grammar
Chamorro Reference Grammar

Author: Donald M. Topping

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2021-05-25

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0824841263

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Chamorro Reference Grammar is a detailed description of the grammatical structure of the indigenous language of the Mariana Islands. It is designed primarily as a reference work which will serve to give native speakers some insight into the complexities of their language and to encourage its use at a time when other languages are more prestigious. The book contains an introduction to Chamorro, and its developmental history and dialectal variations, and, with a minimum of technical linguistic terms, it treats phonology, morphology, and syntax. Notes to linguists and a glossary of linguistic terms are included.

The Structure of Stative Verbs
The Structure of Stative Verbs

Author: Antonia Rothmayr

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 9027255261

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This book explores the nature of stative verbs, their eventuality structure, and the patterns of argument realization. The study shows that there is no single class of stative verbs. Rather, several distinct groups of verbs are found: Verbs that undergo a systematic stative/eventive ambiguity; verbs that allow for a stative reading only; and verbs that seem to have an intermediate status (verbs of position and verbs of internal causation). The study concludes that there is a discrete boundary between stative and eventive verbs, excluding any intermediate status. Stativity arises because the aspectual operators DO and BECOME are absent in the lexical-semantic structure. Eventivity arises if one of these is present. A minimalist view on argument realization and event structure completes the book: Theta features on the arguments are checked against the aspectual heads within the verb phrase.