The Syntax of Silence

The Syntax of Silence PDF Author: Jason Merchant
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780199243730
Category : Extraction (Linguistics).
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A primary goal of contemporary theoretical linguistics is to develop a theory of the correspondence between sound (or gesture) and meaning. This sound-meaning correspondence breaks down completely in the case of ellipsis, and yet various forms of ellipsis are pervasive in natural language:words and phrases which should be in the linguistic signal go missing. How this should be possible is the focus of Jason Merchant's investigation. He focuses on the form of ellipsis known as sluicing, a common feature of interrogative clauses, such as in 'Sally's out hunting - guess what!'; and'Someone called, but I can't tell you who'. It is the most frequently found cross-linguistic form of ellipsis. Dr Merchant studies the phenomenon across twenty-four languages, and attempts to explain it in linguistic and behavioural terms.

The Syntax of Silence

The Syntax of Silence PDF Author: Jason Merchant
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780199243730
Category : Extraction (Linguistics).
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
A primary goal of contemporary theoretical linguistics is to develop a theory of the correspondence between sound (or gesture) and meaning. This sound-meaning correspondence breaks down completely in the case of ellipsis, and yet various forms of ellipsis are pervasive in natural language:words and phrases which should be in the linguistic signal go missing. How this should be possible is the focus of Jason Merchant's investigation. He focuses on the form of ellipsis known as sluicing, a common feature of interrogative clauses, such as in 'Sally's out hunting - guess what!'; and'Someone called, but I can't tell you who'. It is the most frequently found cross-linguistic form of ellipsis. Dr Merchant studies the phenomenon across twenty-four languages, and attempts to explain it in linguistic and behavioural terms.

The Syntax of Silence

The Syntax of Silence PDF Author: Jason Merchant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Contrastive linguistics
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description


Silently Structured Silent Argument

Silently Structured Silent Argument PDF Author: Yuta Sakamoto
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027261229
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Theoretical linguistics in the generative tradition has payed much attention to issues related to silence ? children know the syntax of silence despite the fact that they do not have direct access to it throughout their language acquisition process. One of the issues that have been hotly discussed regarding silence in natural languages is whether it involves syntactic structure or not. This book is concerned with a particular instance of silence in natural languages, what is called radical pro-drop, showing that it is silently structured on the basis of novel data from Japanese as well as Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, and Turkish. The discussion in this book also has consequences for the dichotomy between PF-deletion vs. LF-copying, shedding a new light on the proper analysis of several syntactic phenomena in Japanese, including wh-in-situ and control.

Silence as Language

Silence as Language PDF Author: Michal Ephratt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108471676
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
With examples from a variety of contexts, this book provides a linguistic analysis of the role of silence in language.

Sounds of Silence

Sounds of Silence PDF Author: Jutta Hartmann
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 0080466141
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
Offering a study of "empty elements" in language use.

The Edginess of Silence

The Edginess of Silence PDF Author: Tue Trinh
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110634589
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Natural language differs from artificial ones in having the "displacement property," allowing expressions to "move" from one position to another in the sentence. The mapping from syntax to phonology, therefore, must include rules specifying how objects created by movement are pronounced, or in technical jargon, how chains are linearized. One of these rules is Copy Deletion. The present study investigates the structural description of Copy Deletion. Specifically, it proposes a phrase geometric constraint on its application. The proposal is corroborated by empirical arguments based on distributional and interpretational facts concerning predicate clefts, NP-Splits, and head ordering patterns. The data are drawn from languages of different types and families including Chinese, English, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Swedish, and Vietnamese. The book, thus, contributes to our understanding of a crucial property of natural language and should be of relevance to readers who are interested in the cross-linguistic approach to Universal Grammar research.

The Syntax of Nonsententials

The Syntax of Nonsententials PDF Author: Ljiljana Progovac
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027233578
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This volume brings the data that many in formal linguistics have dismissed as peripheral straight into the core of syntactic theory. By bringing together experts from syntax, semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, language acquisition, aphasia, and pidgin and creole studies, the volume makes a multidisciplinary case for the existence of nonsententials, which are analyzed in various chapters as root phrases and small clauses (Me; Me First!; Him worry?!; Class in session), and whose distinguishing property is the absence of Tense, and, with it, any syntactic phenomena that rely on Tense, including structural Nominative Case. Arguably, the lack of Tense specification is also responsible for the dearth of indicative interpretations among nonsententials, as well as for their heavy reliance on pragmatic context. So pervasive is nonsentential speech across all groups, including normal adult speech, that a case can be made that continuity of grammar lies in nonsentential, rather than sentential speech.

Syntax and Semantics of Spatial P

Syntax and Semantics of Spatial P PDF Author: Anna Asbury
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027290741
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
The category P belongs to a less studied area in theoretical linguistics, which has only recently attracted considerable attention. This volume brings together pioneering work on adpositions in spatial relations from different theoretical and cross-linguistic perspectives. The common theme in these contributions is the complex semantic and syntactic structure of PPs. Analyses are presented in several different frameworks and approaches, including generative syntax, optimality theoretic semantics and syntax, formal semantics, mathematical modeling, lexical syntax, and pragmatics. Among the languages featured in detail are English, German, Hebrew, Igbo, Italian, Japanese, and Persian. This volume will be of interest to students and researchers of formal semantics, syntax and language typology, as well as scholars with a more general interest in spatial cognition.

Burdened Virtues

Burdened Virtues PDF Author: Lisa Tessman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


Movement and Silence

Movement and Silence PDF Author: Richard S. Kayne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
This volume collects recent articles by Richard Kayne which illustrate the power of the comparative approach & state his argument that syntax is generally more complex than it first appears.