Current Approaches to Syntax

Current Approaches to Syntax PDF Author: András Kertész
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110540258
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Even though the range of phenomena syntactic theories intend to account for is basically the same, the large number of current approaches to syntax shows how differently these phenomena can be interpreted, described, and explained. The goal of the volume is to probe into the question of how exactly these frameworks differ and what if anything they have in common. Descriptions of a sample of current approaches to syntax are presented by their major practitioners (Part I) followed by their metatheoretical underpinnings (Part II). Given that the goal is to facilitate a systematic comparison among the approaches, a checklist of issues was given to the contributors to address. The main headings are Data, Goals, Descriptive Tools, and Criteria for Evaluation. The chapters are structured uniformly allowing an item-by-item survey across the frameworks. The introduction lays out the parameters along which syntactic frameworks must be the same and how they may differ and a final paper draws some conclusions about similarities and differences. The volume is of interest to descriptive linguists, theoreticians of grammar, philosophers of science, and studies of the cognitive science of science.

Current Approaches to Syntax

Current Approaches to Syntax PDF Author: András Kertész
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110540258
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Even though the range of phenomena syntactic theories intend to account for is basically the same, the large number of current approaches to syntax shows how differently these phenomena can be interpreted, described, and explained. The goal of the volume is to probe into the question of how exactly these frameworks differ and what if anything they have in common. Descriptions of a sample of current approaches to syntax are presented by their major practitioners (Part I) followed by their metatheoretical underpinnings (Part II). Given that the goal is to facilitate a systematic comparison among the approaches, a checklist of issues was given to the contributors to address. The main headings are Data, Goals, Descriptive Tools, and Criteria for Evaluation. The chapters are structured uniformly allowing an item-by-item survey across the frameworks. The introduction lays out the parameters along which syntactic frameworks must be the same and how they may differ and a final paper draws some conclusions about similarities and differences. The volume is of interest to descriptive linguists, theoreticians of grammar, philosophers of science, and studies of the cognitive science of science.

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European PDF Author: Götz Keydana
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311063743X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 868

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Book Description
The ability to compare is fundamental to human cognition. Expressing various types of comparison is thus essential to any language. The present volume presents detailed grammatical descriptions of how comparison and gradation are expressed in ancient Indo-European languages. The detailed chapters devoted to the individual languages go far beyond standard handbook knowledge. Each chapter is structured the same way to facilitate cross-reference and (typological) comparison. The data are presented in a top-down fashion and in a format easily accessible to the linguistic community. The topics covered are similatives, equatives, comparatives, superlatives, elatives, and excessives. Each type of comparison is illustrated with glossed examples of all its attested grammatical realizations. The book is an indispensable tool for typologists, historical linguists, and students of the syntax and morphosyntax of comparison.

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax PDF Author: Guglielmo Cinque
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195136519
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 990

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Book Description
Its twenty-one commissioned chapters serve two functions: they provide a general and theoretical introduction to comparative syntax, its methodology, and its relation to other domains of linguistic inquiry; and they also provide a systematic selection of the best comparative work being done today on those language groups and families where substantial progress has been achieved." "This volume will be an essential resource for scholars and students in formal linguistics."--Jacket.

The Syntax of Comparative Constructions

The Syntax of Comparative Constructions PDF Author: Julia Bacskai-Atkari
Publisher: Universitätsverlag Potsdam
ISBN: 386956301X
Category : Comparison (Grammar)
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Adopting a minimalist framework, the dissertation provides an analysis for the syntactic structure of comparatives, with special attention paid to the derivation of the subclause. The proposed account explains how the comparative subclause is connected to the matrix clause, how the subclause is formed in the syntax and what additional processes contribute to its final structure. In addition, it casts light upon these problems in cross-linguistic terms and provides a model that allows for synchronic and diachronic differences. This also enables one to give a more adequate explanation for the phenomena found in English comparatives since the properties of English structures can then be linked to general settings of the language and hence need no longer be considered as idiosyncratic features of the grammar of English. First, the dissertation provides a unified analysis of degree expressions, relating the structure of comparatives to that of other degrees. It is shown that gradable adjectives are located within a degree phrase (DegP), which in turn projects a quantifier phrase (QP) and that these two functional layers are always present, irrespectively of whether there is a phonologically visible element in these layers. Second, the dissertation presents a novel analysis of Comparative Deletion by reducing it to an overtness constraint holding on operators: in this way, it is reduced to morphological differences and cross-linguistic variation is not conditioned by way of postulating an arbitrary parameter. Cross-linguistic differences are ultimately dependent on whether a language has overt operators equipped with the relevant – [+compr] and [+rel] – features. Third, the dissertation provides an adequate explanation for the phenomenon of Attributive Comparative Deletion, as attested in English, by way of relating it to the regular mechanism of Comparative Deletion. I assume that Attributive Comparative Deletion is not a universal phenomenon, and its presence in English can be conditioned by independent, more general rules, while the absence of such restrictions leads to its absence in other languages. Fourth, the dissertation accounts for certain phenomena related to diachronic changes, examining how the changes in the status of comparative operators led to changes in whether Comparative Deletion is attested in a given language: I argue that only operators without a lexical XP can be grammaticalised. The underlying mechanisms underlying are essentially general economy principles and hence the processes are not language-specific or exceptional. Fifth, the dissertation accounts for optional ellipsis processes that play a crucial role in the derivation of typical comparative subclauses. These processes are not directly related to the structure of degree expressions and hence the elimination of the quantified expression from the subclause; nevertheless, they are shown to be in interaction with the mechanisms underlying Comparative Deletion or the absence thereof.

Comparative Constructions in Spanish and French Syntax

Comparative Constructions in Spanish and French Syntax PDF Author: Susan Price
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315518910
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
This study, first published in 1990, presents a comprehensive description of the comparative constructions of Spanish and French, and shows that the apparently numerous differences in their syntactic realisations can be accounted for by general constraints on the expression of comparison. There is also a discussion of parallel constructions in other Romance languages, showing that these languages display a range of constructions equally compatible with the suggested pattern of possibilities resulting from the general constraints proposed. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

VB.NET Language in a Nutshell

VB.NET Language in a Nutshell PDF Author: Steven Roman
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 9780596003081
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 688

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Book Description
This updated edition introduces the important aspects of the language and explains the .NET framework. The alphabetical reference covers the functions, statements, directives, objects, and object members that make up the VB .NET language.

Japanese Syntax in Comparative Perspective

Japanese Syntax in Comparative Perspective PDF Author: Mamoru Saito
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199945225
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
Japanese Syntax in Comparative Perspective seeks to fill a gap in the literature by examining Japanese in comparison with other Asian languages, including Chinese, Korean, Turkish, and Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages of India.

Projecting the Adjective

Projecting the Adjective PDF Author: Christopher Kennedy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136532390
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
First Published in 1999. The main argument presented in this volume is that gradable adjectives like bright, dense and short denote measure functions- functions from objects to abstract representations of measurement, or scales and degrees. This proposal is shown to provide a foundation for principled explanations of a wide range of syntactic and semantic properties of gradable adjectives and the constructions in which they appear, ranging from the syntactic distribution of gradable adjectives to the scopal characteristics of comparatives and the empirical effects of adjectival polarity.

A Grammar of Mursi

A Grammar of Mursi PDF Author: Firew Girma Worku
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004449914
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 684

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Book Description
This volume contains 14 descriptive chapters and a collection of 4 transcribed texts in Mursi, a highly endangered language spoken in the Lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia.

Challenges at the Syntax-Semantics-Pragmatics Interface

Challenges at the Syntax-Semantics-Pragmatics Interface PDF Author: Robert D. Van Valin Jr.
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527569691
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
This volume brings together recent scholarship addressing a number of significant issues in linguistic theory and description, including verb classification, case marking, comparative constructions, noun phrase structure, clause linkage and reference-tracking in discourse. These topics are discussed with respect to a wide range of languages, including Bamunka (Bantu), Biblical Hebrew, Japanese, Persian, Pitjantjatjara (Australia), Russian and Taiwan Sign Language. The theoretical perspective employed in these analyses is that of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG), a theory which strives to describe language structure and grammatical phenomena in terms of the interaction of syntax, semantics and discourse-pragmatics. RRG differs from other parallel-architecture, constructionally-oriented theories in important ways, particularly with respect to the ability to formulate cross-linguistic generalizations. The ability of RRG to facilitate the formulation of cross-linguistic generalizations is exemplified well in the contributions to this volume. As such, this text makes important theoretical and descriptive contributions to contemporary linguistic discussions.