The Syntax of Information-Structural Agreement

The Syntax of Information-Structural Agreement PDF Author: Johannes Mursell
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027259739
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In this research monograph, Johannes Mursell discusses the syntactic impact of information-structural features on agreement. So far, the syntactic contribution of this type of feature has mostly been reduced to movement of topics or foci clause-initial position. Here, the author looks at a different phenomenon, syntactic agreement, and how this process can be dependent on information-structural properties. Based partly on original fieldwork from a typologically diverse set of languages, including Tagalog, Swahili, and Lavukaleve, it is argued that for most areas for which information-structural features have been discussed, it is possible to find cases where these features influence phi-feature agreement. The analysis is then extended to cases of Association with Focus, which does not involve phi-features but can still be accounted for with agreement of information-structural features. The book achieves two main goals: first it provides a uniform analysis for different constructions in unrelated languages. Second, it also gives a new argument that information-structural features should be treated as genuine syntactic features.

The Syntax of Information-Structural Agreement

The Syntax of Information-Structural Agreement PDF Author: Johannes Mursell
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027259739
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this research monograph, Johannes Mursell discusses the syntactic impact of information-structural features on agreement. So far, the syntactic contribution of this type of feature has mostly been reduced to movement of topics or foci clause-initial position. Here, the author looks at a different phenomenon, syntactic agreement, and how this process can be dependent on information-structural properties. Based partly on original fieldwork from a typologically diverse set of languages, including Tagalog, Swahili, and Lavukaleve, it is argued that for most areas for which information-structural features have been discussed, it is possible to find cases where these features influence phi-feature agreement. The analysis is then extended to cases of Association with Focus, which does not involve phi-features but can still be accounted for with agreement of information-structural features. The book achieves two main goals: first it provides a uniform analysis for different constructions in unrelated languages. Second, it also gives a new argument that information-structural features should be treated as genuine syntactic features.

Polynesian Syntax and its Interfaces

Polynesian Syntax and its Interfaces PDF Author: Lauren Clemens
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192604856
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This volume brings together current research in theoretical syntax and its interfaces in the Polynesian language family, with chapters focusing on Hawaiian, Māori, Niuean, Samoan, and Tongan. Languages in this family present multiple characteristics of particular interest for comparative syntactic research, and in recent years, data from Polynesian languages has also contributed to advances in the fields of prosody and semantics, as well as to the study of parametric variation. The chapters in this volume offer in-depth analyses of a range of theoretical issues at the syntax-semantics and syntax-prosody interfaces, both within individual languages and from a comparative Polynesian perspective. They examine key topics including: word order variation, ergativity and case systems, causativization, negation, raising, modality and superlatives, and the left periphery of both the sentential and nominal domains. The findings not only shed light on the theoretical typology of Polynesian languages, but also have implications for linguistic theory as a whole.

The Copy Theory of Movement

The Copy Theory of Movement PDF Author: Norbert Corver
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027292302
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
This volume brings together papers which address issues regarding the copy theory of movement. According to this theory, a trace is a copy of the moved element that is deleted in the phonological component but is available for interpretation at L(ogical) F(orm). Thus far, the bulk of the research on the copy theory has mainly focused on interpretation issues at LF. The consequences of the copy theory for syntactic computation per se and for the syntax–phonology mapping, in particular, have received much less attention in the literature, despite its crucial relevance for the whole architecture of the model. As a contribution to fill this gap, this volume congregates recent work that deals with empirical and conceptual consequences of the copy theory of movement for the inner working of syntactic computations within the Minimalist Program, with special emphasis on the syntax–phonology mapping.

Parameters of Predicate Fronting

Parameters of Predicate Fronting PDF Author: Vera Lee-Schoenfeld
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197545580
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Many of the world's languages permit or require clause-initial positioning of the primary predicate, potentially alongside some or all of its dependents. While such predicate fronting (where "fronting" may or may not involve movement) is a widespread phenomenon, it is also subject to intricate and largely unexplained variation. In Parameters of Predicate Fronting, Vera Lee-Schoenfeld and Dennis Ott bring together leaders in the field of comparative syntax to explore the empirical manifestations and theoretical modelling of predicate fronting across languages. There exists by now a rich literature on predicate fronting, but few attempts have been made at synthesizing the resulting empirical observations and theoretical implementations. While individual phenomena have been described in some detail, we are currently far from a complete understanding of the uniformity and variation underlying the wider cross-linguistic picture. This volume takes steps towards this goal by showcasing the state of the art in research on predicate fronting and the parameters governing its realization in a range of diverse languages. Covering topics like prosody, VP-fronting, and predicate doubling across a wide arrange of languages, including English, German, Malagasy, Niuean, Ch'ol, Asante, Twi, Limbum, Krachi, Hebrew, and multiple sign languages, this collection enriches our understanding of the predicate fronting phenomenon.

Contiguity Theory

Contiguity Theory PDF Author: Norvin Richards
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262332345
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
An argument that the word order of a given language is largely predictable from independently observable facts about its phonology and morphology. Languages differ in the types of overt movement they display. For example, some languages (including English) require subjects to move to a preverbal position, while others (including Italian) allow subjects to remain postverbal. In its current form, Minimalism offers no real answer to the question of why these different types of movements are distributed among languages as they are. In Contiguity Theory, Norvin Richards argues that there are universal conditions on morphology and phonology, particularly in how the prosodic structures of language can be built, and that these universal structures interact with language-specific properties of phonology and morphology. He argues that the grammar begins the construction of phonological structure earlier in the derivation than previously thought, and that the distribution of overt movement operations is largely determined by the grammar's efforts to construct this structure. Rather than appealing to diacritic features, the explanations will generally be rooted in observable phenomena. Richards posits a different kind of relation between syntax and morphology than is usually found in Minimalism. According to his Contiguity Theory, if we know, for example, what inflectional morphology is attached to the verb in a given language, and what the rules are for where stress is placed in the verb, then we will know where the verb goes in the sentence. Ultimately, the goal is to construct a theory in which a complete description of the phonology and morphology of a given language is also a description of its syntax.

Formal Approaches to Romance Morphosyntax

Formal Approaches to Romance Morphosyntax PDF Author: Marc-Olivier Hinzelin
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110719282
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Recent years have witnessed a (re)surfacing of interest on the interaction of morphology and syntax. For many grammatical phenomena, it is not easy to draw a dividing line between syntactic and morphological structure. This has led to the assumption that syntax is the module responsible not only for deriving syntactically complex phrases but also for deriving morphologically complex items, both in inflection and word formation. There are however also good reasons to think that syntax is not involved in all morphological processes and that there are consistent areas of morphology that are independent from syntactic processes. This book presents a collection of papers where phenomena from Romance languages and varieties are analysed under contrasting views on how morphology and syntax interact. All the contributions follow the aim to investigate what the analysed phenomena tell us about their structural make‐up and the grammatical processes involved.

The size of things II

The size of things II PDF Author: Zheng Shen
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3985540381
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
This book focuses on the role size plays in grammar. Under the umbrella term size fall the size of syntactic projections, the size of feature content, and the size of reference sets. This Volume II discusses size effects in movement, agreement, and interpretation while the contributions in Volume I focus on size and structure building. Part I of Volume II investigates how size interacts with head movement and various phrasal movement including left branch extraction, object shift, tough movement, and multiple wh movement. Part II of this volume discusses the role size plays in agreement and morphology-related matters like allomorphy. Contributions in Part III focus on semantic-oriented issues, in particular the size of reference domains and NPI licensing. The languages covered in this volume include American Sign Language, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian and various other Slavic languages, German, Icelandic, dialects of Italian, Japanese, Nancowry, Panoan languages, and Tamil.

A Companion to Chomsky

A Companion to Chomsky PDF Author: Nicholas Allott
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119598680
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
A COMPANION TO CHOMSKY Widely considered to be one of the most important public intellectuals of our time, Noam Chomsky has revolutionized modern linguistics. His thought has had a profound impact upon the philosophy of language, mind, and science, as well as the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science which his work helped to establish. Now, in this new Companion dedicated to his substantial body of work and the range of its influence, an international assembly of prominent linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists reflect upon the interdisciplinary reach of Chomsky's intellectual contributions. Balancing theoretical rigor with accessibility to the non-specialist, the Companion is organized into eight sections—including the historical development of Chomsky's theories and the current state of the art, comparison with rival usage-based approaches, and the relation of his generative approach to work on linguistic processing, acquisition, semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language. Later chapters address Chomsky's rationalist critique of behaviorism and related empiricist approaches to psychology, as well as his insistence upon a "Galilean" methodology in cognitive science. Following a brief discussion of the relation of his work in linguistics to his work on political issues, the book concludes with an essay written by Chomsky himself, reflecting on the history and character of his work in his own words. A significant contribution to the study of Chomsky's thought, A Companion to Chomsky is an indispensable resource for philosophers, linguists, psychologists, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and general readers with interest in Noam Chomsky's intellectual legacy as one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century.

Recent Developments in Phase Theory

Recent Developments in Phase Theory PDF Author: Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501510193
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The overarching goal of this volume is to explore a number of recent developments in Phase Theory (both theoretical and empirical), thus contributing to our overall understanding of the concept of phases. The volume is divided into three parts, of which the first focuses on the traditional role played by phases in defining successive cyclicity, while at the same time examining the interaction between that traditional role and Chomsky (2013)’s proposal about labeling. The second part focuses on the question of whether only the highest projection of the clausal and nominal domain, CP and DP, are phases or whether those domains also contain an internal phase: vP and NP/NumP/QP, while the third part contains two chapters that focus on the extent to which ellipsis can be used as a reliable diagnostic for phasehood. As a whole, the volume provides a detailed and in-depth view on a number of recent developments in Phase Theory, which will likely continue to dominate the debate for several years to come.

A Criterial Approach to the Cartography of V2

A Criterial Approach to the Cartography of V2 PDF Author: Giuseppe Samo
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027261873
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
This volume provides a mechanism to uncover the extremely rich split-CP of V2 languages, in both root and embedded clauses, on the basis of theoretical arguments and empirical findings. The movement of the inflected verbal head is triggered to agree with the profiled informational value of the fronted XP. The V2 “constraint” shall thus be observed as a sum of micro-V2s, in which the inflected head creates Spec-Head configurations with the activated criterial positions in the relevant context. The “second linear” position of the verb results from the movement of the inflected verb to the highest activated criterial head. In other words, there is no “bottleneck effect”, but ordinary violations in terms of locality between fronted XPs. This monograph is aimed principally at postgraduate students and researchers interested in the description of natural languages adopting the guidelines of the Cartography of Syntactic Structures.