The Syntax of Norwegian Passive Constructions
The Syntax of Norwegian Passive Constructions

Author: Tor A. Åfarlí

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1992-11-06

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 9027282447

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This book provides an analysis of the passive phenomenon in general and of Norwegian passive constructions in particular. Related topics such as English passive constructions and Norwegian ergative constructions are also examined. The analysis is carried out within a Government and Binding framework. Chapter 1 contains a very brief introduction to GB syntax and a description of the passive phenomenon and its manifestation in Norwegian. The “orthodox analysis” of the passive as proposed in Chomsky's Lectures on Government and Binding is contrasted with the “new analysis”, which claims that “the passive morpheme” is an argument of the verb. The book sets out to show that a version of this “new analysis” successfully explains the basic properties of Norwegian passives. Chapters 2 and 3 examine properties of Norwegian passives, notably properties related to Theta-role assignment and Case assignment. Chapter 4 compares the Norwegian with the English passive and proposes a unified analysis of the two. Chapter 5 discusses various cases of passivization failure in Norwegian , while Chapter 6 focuses on the scope of movement in passive and ergative constructions in Norwegian and proposes a syntactic level “beneath” D-structure.

The Syntax of Norwegian Passive Constructions
The Syntax of Norwegian Passive Constructions

Author: Tor A. Åfarli

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9027227276

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This book provides an analysis of the passive phenomenon in general and of Norwegian passive constructions in particular. Related topics such as English passive constructions and Norwegian ergative constructions are also examined. The analysis is carried out within a Government and Binding framework. Chapter 1 contains a very brief introduction to GB syntax and a description of the passive phenomenon and its manifestation in Norwegian. The "orthodox analysis" of the passive as proposed in Chomsky's Lectures on Government and Binding is contrasted with the "new analysis," which claims that "the passive morpheme" is an argument of the verb. The book sets out to show that a version of this "new analysis" successfully explains the basic properties of Norwegian passives. Chapters 2 and 3 examine properties of Norwegian passives, notably properties related to Theta-role assignment and Case assignment. Chapter 4 compares the Norwegian with the English passive and proposes a unified analysis of the two. Chapter 5 discusses various cases of passivization failure in Norwegian, while Chapter 6 focuses on the scope of movement in passive and ergative constructions in Norwegian and proposes a syntactic level "beneath" D-structure.

The Syntax of Mainland Scandinavian
The Syntax of Mainland Scandinavian

Author: Jan Terje Faarlund

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-03-21

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 019255008X

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This book explores the syntactic structures of Mainland Scandinavian, a term that covers the Northern Germanic languages spoken in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and parts of Finland. The continuum of mutually intelligible standard languages, regional varieties, and dialects stretching from southern Jutland to eastern Finland share many syntactic patterns and features, but also present interesting syntactic differences. In this volume, Jan Terje Faarlund discusses the main syntactic features of the national languages, alongside the most widespread or typologically interesting features of the non-standard varieties. Each topic is illustrated with examples drawn from reference grammars, research literature, corpora of various sorts, and the author's own research. The framework is current generative grammar, but the volume is descriptive in nature, with technical formalities and theoretical discussion kept to a minimum. It will hence be a valuable reference for students and researchers working on any Scandinavian language, as well as for syntacticians and typologists interested in Scandinavian facts and data without necessarily being able to read Scandinavian.

The Syntax of (Anti-)Causatives
The Syntax of (Anti-)Causatives

Author: Florian Schäfer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2008-06-26

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 9027290709

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This book develops an approach to the causative alternation that assumes syntactic event decomposition and a configurational theta theory. It is couched within the framework of the Minimalist Program and, especially, within Distributed Morphology. Central to the work is the syntax and semantics of canonical external arguments of causative verbs as well as of oblique causers and causative PPs in the context of anticausative verbs in different languages such as Germanic, Romance, Balkan, and Caucasian languages. The book also develops a new account of the origin and nature of the morphological marking which is often found on anticausatives across languages. The main claim is that this morphology is a reflex of a syntactic way to prohibit the assignment of the external theta role. Moreover, the book develops an account about the origin of the implicit agent in generic middles which often bear the same morphology as marked anticausatives.

Balkan Syntax and Semantics
Balkan Syntax and Semantics

Author: Olga Mišeska Tomi?

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 9789027227904

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The book deals with some syntactic and semantic aspects of the shared Balkan Sprachbund properties. In a comprehensive introductory chapter, Tomic offers an overview of the Balkan Sprachbund properties. Sobolev, displaying the areal distribution of 65 properties, argues for dialect cartography. Friedman, on the example of the evidentials, argues for typologically informed areal explanation of the Balkan properties. The other contributions analyze specific phenomena: polidefinite DPs in Greek and Aromanian (Campos and Stavrou), Balkan constructions in which datives combine with impersonal clitics or non-active morphology (Rivero), Balkan optatives (Ammann and Auwera), imperative force in the Balkan languages (Isac and Jakab), clitic placement in Greek imperatives (Boškovic), focused constituents in Romanian and Bulgarian (Hill), synthetic and analytic tenses in Romanian (D'Hulst, Coene and Avram), "purpose-like" modification in a number of Balkan languages (Bužarovska), Balkan modal existential “wh”-constructions (Grosu), child and adult strategies in interpreting empty subjects in Serbian/Croatian (Stojanovic and Marelj), conditional sentences in Judeo-Spanish (Montoliu and Auwera).

Demoting the Agent
Demoting the Agent

Author: Benjamin Lyngfelt

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9027233608

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Passives, middles, and other voice phenomena are issues at the core of modern linguistic research. This volume brings together different perspectives on voice different theoretical viewpoints, different languages, and different kinds of voice phenomena. The eleven articles each make a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion, offering new data, new analyses, and bringing new light to long-standing issues. In combination, they present a multi-faceted and yet coherent picture of the topics at hand.

Morphology-Driven Syntax
Morphology-Driven Syntax

Author: Bernhard Wolfgang Rohrbacher

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1999-06-15

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9027299293

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This book argues that syntactic parameters are set in a principled fashion on the basis of overt functional morphology. The main focus of the book is on the different positions of the finite verb in the Germanic SVO languages. In addition, other syntactic phenomena (null subjects, transitive expletive constructions and object shift) and other language families (Romance, Semitic and Slavic) are discussed. A common explanation for all of the discussed phenomena is proposed: If and only if the features for “person” are distinctively marked by the agreement morphology, the agreement affixes are listed separately in the lexicon and project phrases of their own in syntax where they attract the verb to the head positions and allow the specifier positions to be filled by various phonologically (un)realized elements. Special attention is given to issues of historical development and child language acquisition.

The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax
The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax

Author: Marcel den Dikken

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-07-25

Total Pages: 1412

ISBN-13: 1107354587

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Syntax – the study of sentence structure – has been at the centre of generative linguistics from its inception and has developed rapidly and in various directions. The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax provides a historical context for what is happening in the field of generative syntax today, a survey of the various generative approaches to syntactic structure available in the literature and an overview of the state of the art in the principal modules of the theory and the interfaces with semantics, phonology, information structure and sentence processing, as well as linguistic variation and language acquisition. This indispensable resource for advanced students, professional linguists (generative and non-generative alike) and scholars in related fields of inquiry presents a comprehensive survey of the field of generative syntactic research in all its variety, written by leading experts and providing a proper sense of the range of syntactic theories calling themselves generative.

Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax
Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax

Author: C. Jan-Wouter Zwart

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 9789027227744

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This volume presents a collection of articles reporting on new research carried out within the theoretical framework of generative grammar on the comparative syntax of the Germanic languages. Divided in four main sections, the book focuses on issues of subordination and complementation (with emphasis on German/Dutch and Danish), displacement phenomena discussed in relation with richness of morphology (with special attention to English, German/Dutch, and Norwegian, as well as presenting more general discussion of the issue), language variation and change (studying historical English syntax and Frisian contact dialects), and the syntax-semantics interface viewed from a Germanic perspective (addressing ellipsis, reflexivity, and the behavior of quantifiers).

The Syntax of Relative Clauses
The Syntax of Relative Clauses

Author: Artemis Alexiadou

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 9789027227539

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This book presents a cross-section of recent generative research into the syntax of relative clauses constructions. Most of the papers collected here react in some way to Kayne's (1994) proposal to handle relative clauses in terms of determiner complementation and raising of the relativized nominal. The editors provide a thorough introduction of these proposals, their background and motivations, arguments for and against. There are detailed studies in the syntax and the semantics of relative clauses constructions in Latin, Ancient Greek, Romanian, Hindi, (Old) English, Old High German, (dialects of) Dutch, Turkish, Swedish, and Japanese. The book should be of interest to any linguist working within generative syntax.