The Structure of CP and IP

The Structure of CP and IP PDF Author: Luigi Rizzi
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195159486
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
The study of syntactic complexity and the identification of the elementary structural units involved have always been a component of research in the field of theoretical syntax. Still, these topics have recently acquired a higher degree of prominence and autonomy, which has led to an expansion in the ways syntacticians conceptualize syntactic representations and their interactions with other research topics. The Structure of CP and IP is the second volume in the Cartography of Syntactic Structures, a subgroup within the Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax series. Funded by the Italian Ministr.

The Structure of CP and IP

The Structure of CP and IP PDF Author: Luigi Rizzi
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195159486
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Get Book Here

Book Description
The study of syntactic complexity and the identification of the elementary structural units involved have always been a component of research in the field of theoretical syntax. Still, these topics have recently acquired a higher degree of prominence and autonomy, which has led to an expansion in the ways syntacticians conceptualize syntactic representations and their interactions with other research topics. The Structure of CP and IP is the second volume in the Cartography of Syntactic Structures, a subgroup within the Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax series. Funded by the Italian Ministr.

Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English

Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English PDF Author: Andrew Radford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521477079
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
Andrew Radford's textbook is written for students with little or no background in syntax, and introduces them to key concepts of Chomsky's minimalist programme (e.g. merger and movement, checking, economy and greed, split VPs, agreement projections), as well as providing detailed analysis of the syntax of a range of different construction types (e.g. interrogatives, negatives, passives, unaccusatives, complement clauses). Illustrative material is drawn from varieties of English (Standard English, Belfast English, Shakespearean English, Jamaican Creole and Child English). There is a substantial glossary and an extensive integral workbook section at the end of each chapter with helpful hints and model answers, which aim to get students to analyse phrases and sentences for themselves within a minimalist framework.

Verb Movement

Verb Movement PDF Author: David Lightfoot
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521456616
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Work on the movement of phrase categories, mostly Noun Phrases, has been a central element of syntactic theorizing almost since the earliest work on generative grammar. Work on the movement of lexical elements, heads, has been much less central until recent years. Verb movement is now, however, the center of current research in syntax. Parallel to the theoretical interest has been the attention focused on the description of verb-second languages and on the movement operations that place the verb in its "second" position. This volume represents the latest work from many of the leading researchers in an important field, and draws on analyses from a wide range of languages. It will have a significant impact on its field.

The Structure of CP and IP

The Structure of CP and IP PDF Author: Luigi Rizzi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195159497
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
The purpose of this edited volume is to study the structure of the inflectional field and the left peripheral field of clauses, often described as the systems of IP (Inflection Phrase) and CP (Complementizer Phrase).

Logical Structure and Linguistic Structure

Logical Structure and Linguistic Structure PDF Author: C-T James Huang
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401134723
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In comparative syntax a general approach has been pursued over the past decade predicated on the notion that Universal Grammar allows of open parameters, and that part of the job of linguistic theory is to specify what values these parameters may have, and how they may be set, given primary linguistic data, to determine the grammars of particu lar languages. The papers presented in this volume are also concerned with language variation understood in this way. Their goals, however, do not strictly fall under the rubric of comparative syntax, but form part of what is more properly thought of as a comparative semantics. Semantics, in its broadest sense, is concerned with how linguistic structures are associated with their truth-conditions. A comparative semantics, therefore, is concerned with whether this association can vary from language to language, and if so, what is the cause of this variation. Taking comparative semantics in this way places certain inherent limitations on the search for the sources of variability. This is because the semantic notion of truth is universal, and does not vary from language to language: Sentences either do or do not accurately characterize what they purport to describe. ! The source of semantic variability, therefore, must be somehow located in the way a language is structured.

Views on Phrase Structure

Views on Phrase Structure PDF Author: K. Leffel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401131961
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
O. PRELIMINARY REMARKS Initial drafts of the papers in this collection were presented in a con ference entitled 'Views on Phrase Structure', held at the University of Florida, Gainesville, in March, 1989. Eleven of the twenty-three partici pants in the conference were able to contribute to this volume. The purpose of the conference was to explore theories of phrase structure in their relation to other subsystems of grammar and/or systems of nonlinguistic knowledge. Some of the grammatical subsystems which the authors consider are theta-theory, movement, Case, and binding; a number of papers address how the conceptual system and/or aspects of language use may interact. Unifying the various approaches and perspectives is an attempt to furnish hypotheses concerning prin ciples of phrase structure with some sort of independent justification. 1. PHRASE STRUCTURE THEORY: A BRIEF HISTORY A basic outline for a theory of phrase structure theory is accepted by all of the authors here; it is known as 'X-bar theory'. The concepts of X-bar theory are expressed in some form by a number of pre-generative linguists. For example, Bloomfield (1933) contrasted endocentric struc tures such as noun phrases and verb phrases with those he considered exocentric, e. g. prepositional phrases and clauses. Jespersen (1933), while presenting a functional system of description (in terms of 'ranks', where rank one is 'nominal', for example), clarified the relations among the head of a phrase, its modifier, and a phrase which modifies the modifier.

Learnability and the Lexicon

Learnability and the Lexicon PDF Author: Alan Juffs
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027285640
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book provides a critical review of recent theories of semantics-syntax correspondences and makes new proposals for constraints on semantic structure relevant to syntax. Data from several languages are presented which suggest that semantic structure in root morphemes is subject to parametric variation which has effect across a variety of verb classes, including locatives, unaccusatives, and psych verbs.The implications for first and second language acquisition are discussed. In particular, it is suggested that different parametric settings may lead to a learnability problem if adult learners do not retain access to sensitivity to underlying semantic organization and morphological differences between languages provided by Universal Grammar. An experiment with Chinese-speaking learners of English is presented which shows that learners initially transfer L1 semantic organization to the L2, but are able to retreat from overgeneralisations and achieve native-like grammars in this area. Suggestions for further research in this rapidly developing area of theory and acquisition research are also made.

The Structure of Words at the Interfaces

The Structure of Words at the Interfaces PDF Author: Heather Newell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198778260
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
This volume takes a variety of approaches to the question 'what is a word?', with particular emphasis on where in the grammar wordhood is determined. Chapters in the book all start from the assumption that structures at, above, and below the 'word' are built in the same derivational system: there is no lexicalist grammatical subsystem dedicated to word-building. This type of framework foregrounds the difficulty in defining wordhood. Questions such as whether there are restrictions on the size of structures that distinguish words from phrases, or whether there are combinatory operations that are specific to one or the other, are central to the debate. In this respect, chapters in the volume do not all agree. Some propose wordhood to be limited to entities defined by syntactic heads, while others propose that phrasal structure can be found within words. Some propose that head-movement and adjunction (and Morphological Merger, as its mirror image) are the manner in which words are built, while others propose that phrasal movements are crucial to determining the order of morphemes word-internally. All chapters point to the conclusion that the phonological domains that we call words are read off of the morphosyntactic structure in particular ways. It is the study of this interface, between the syntactic and phonological modules of Universal Grammar, that underpins the discussion in this volume.

Phrase Structures in Competition

Phrase Structures in Competition PDF Author: Susan Pintzuk
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100052518X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
First published in 1999. This book investigates variation and change in Old English word order, with special emphasis on the position of the verb.

Grammar and Discourse Principles

Grammar and Discourse Principles PDF Author: Susumu Kuno
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226462042
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
In Grammar and Discourse Principles, Susumu Kuno and Ken-ichi Takami critically examine recent work in the Government and Binding framework developed by Chomsky, Rizzi, Lasnik and Saito, Huang, Aoun, and others. They demonstrate that this work encounters a variety of empirical and theoretical difficulties when confronted by an expanded range of data. Alternatively, the authors offer independently motivated functional explanations that account for these data and that do not require postulation of concepts like "L-marking" and "blocking category." Kuno and Takami begin by looking at extraction phenomena, including extraction from complement clauses, the overt subject requirement, and subjacency, and provide functional accounts that improve on the Barriers analysis. Next, they discuss multiple wh questions in English and Japanese, with special reference to why and naze. The authors also examine and ultimately reject the major arguments in support of Larson's "light predicate raising" analysis. Finally, Kuno and Takami discuss coreferentiality of picture noun reflexives and the relation of quantifier scope interpretations, particularly those in sentences involving psychological verbs such as bother, worry, and please. In this subtly argued book, the authors raise questions of critical importance for theoretical linguists of all persuasions.