Download or read book Principles and Parameters of Syntactic Saturation written by Gert Webelhuth and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work represents the first full-scale attempt to provide a restrictive theory of parameters--the nature and limits of syntactic variation. Focusing on syntactic saturation, Webelhuth hypothesizes that in natural language these phenomena are subject to the "Saturation Condition." He explains the principles behind this condition and demonstrates how it imposes strong constraints on what counts as a possible parameter in natural language. Webelhuth goes on to test this theory against empirical evidence from seven modern Germanic languages: German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic.
Download or read book Syntax Theory and Analysis Volume 2 written by Tibor Kiss and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook represents the development of research and the current level of knowledge in the fields of syntactic theory and syntax analysis. Syntax can look back to a long tradition. Especially in the last 50 years, however, the interaction between syntactic theory and syntactic analysis has led to a rapid increase in analyses and theoretical suggestions. This second edition of the Handbook on Syntax adopts a unifying perspective and therefore does not place the division of syntactic theory into several schools to the fore, but the increase in knowledge resulting from the fruitful argumentations between syntactic analysis and syntactic theory. It uses selected phenomena of individual languages and their cross-linguistic realizations to explain what syntactic analyses can do and at the same time to show in what respects syntactic theories differ from each other. It investigates how syntax is related to neighbouring disciplines and investigate the role of the interfaces especially the relationship between syntax and phonology, morphology, compositional semantics, pragmatics, and the lexicon. The phenomena chosen bring together renowned experts in syntax, and represent the consensus reached as to what has to be considered as an important as well as illustrative syntactic phenomenon. The phenomena discuss do not only serve to show syntactic analyses, but also to compare theoretical approaches with each other.
Download or read book Possible and Probable Languages written by Frederick J. Newmeyer and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2005-10-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important and pioneering book Frederick Newmeyer takes on the question of language variety. He considers why some language types are impossible and why some grammatical features are more common than others. The task of trying to explain typological variation among languages has been mainly undertaken by functionally-oriented linguists. Generative grammarians entering the field of typology in the 1980s put forward the idea that cross-linguistic differences could be explained by linguistic parameters within Universal Grammar, whose operation might vary from language to language. Unfortunately, this way of looking at variation turned out to be much less successful than had been hoped for. Professor Newmeyer's alternative to parameters combines leading ideas from functionalist and formalist approaches which in the past have been considered incompatible. He throws fresh light on language typology and variation, and provides new insights into the principles of Universal Grammar. The book is written in a clear, readable style and will be readily understood by anyone with a couple of years' study of linguistics. It will interest a wide range of scholars and students of language, including typologists, historical linguists, and theorists of every shade.
Download or read book Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXIX written by Hamid Ouali and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume features a set of selected peer-reviewed articles, which represent research by some very prominent scholars and some promising researchers in the field. The articles cover a wide range of areas in Arabic linguistics, namely Sociolinguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and Language Acquisition. They also feature research on a number of Arabic dialects namely Egyptian Arabic, Emirati Arabic, Jordanian Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, and Syrian Arabic. Some of the contributions engage prominent issues that relate to current development in the Arabic speaking world. For example Reem Bassiouney’s paper is a significant contribution in that regard. Other contributions, such as the ones by Stuart Davis, Abdel-khalig Ali, Lababidi & Park, Ntelitheos & Idrissi, present innovative studies in Arabic Morphology, Phonetics, Phonology, and Language Acquisition respectively. How Arabic can serve as a testing ground for some theoretical constructs and approaches is exemplified by Peter Hallman, Phil Crone, and Youssef Haddad’s contributions in the area of Syntax and its interface with other fields.
Download or read book The Antisymmetry of Syntax written by Richard S. Kayne and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1994-12-14 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. This book proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. It is standardly assumed that Universal Grammar (UG) allows a given hierarchical representation to be associated with more than one linear order. For example, English and Japanese phrases consisting of a verb and its complement are thought of as symmetrical to one another, differing only in linear order. The Antisymmetry of Syntax proposes a restrictive theory of word order and phrase structure that denies this assumption. According to this theory, phrase structure always completely determines linear order, so that if two phrases differ in linear order, they must also differ in hierarchical structure. More specifically, Richard Kayne shows that asymmetric c-command invariably maps into linear precedence. From this follows, with few further hypotheses, a highly specific theory of word order in UG: that complement positions must always follow their associated head, and that specifiers and adjoined elements must always precede the phrase that they are sister to. A further result is that standard X-bar theory is not a primitive component of UG. Rather, X-bar theory expresses a set of antisymmetric properties of phrase structure. This antisymmetry is inherited from the more basic antisymmetry of linear order. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 25
Download or read book Discontinuous Syntax written by Andrew M. Devine and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interface between syntax and meaning, both semantic and pragmatic, has emerged as an area of linguistics theory. This study applies some of these ideas to hyperbaton, offering a new theory with broad applications for our understanding of Greek syntax.
Download or read book A Parametric Approach to Persian Syntax written by A. Soheili and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2024-10-03 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Persian syntax has been analyzed within various theoretical models to explore language specific rules that generate various syntactic structures such as passive, relative clause, interrogative, etc. This book offers a comprehensive, updated delineation of Persian syntax with reference to the P&P approach, which posits that the language faculty incorporates a set of principles of Universal Grammar (UG) that are invariant across languages and their associated parameters that vary from one language to another. In addition to the theoretical dimension of the approach, the book also examines the significant implications of the approach in the realms of first language acquisition, second language learning, translation, and language typology.
Download or read book Functional Structure in DP and IP written by Guglielmo Cinque and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting the results of a long-term research project, funded by the Italian government, this text provides a comprehensive mapping of various functional structures in natural languages.
Download or read book Peripheries written by David Adger and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-01-14 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The syntactic periphery has become one of the most important areas of research in syntactic theory in recent years, due to the emergence of new research programmes initiated by Rizzi, Kayne and Chomsky. However research has concentrated on the empirical nature of clausal peripheries. The purpose of this volume is to explore the question of whether the notion of periphery has any real theoretical bite. An important consensus emerging from the volume is that the edges of certain syntactic expressions appear to be the locus of the connection between phrase structure, prosody, and information structure. This volume contains 16 papers by researchers in this area. The book: - contains an extensive introduction setting out the research questions addressed and setting the contributions in an overall theoretical context, - has a distinct comparative slant, - brings together work from a range of theoretical perspectives, while maintaining a unity of purpose, - could serve as the basis for a graduate course on peripheral positions, - contains papers addressing: = the question of the fine-grainedness of syntactic representations, = the relevance of syntactic edges to locality and semantic interpretation, = the nature of the dependencies connecting peripheral elements to the syntactic core. Audience: Academics and graduate students interested in syntax and its interfaces with semantics and prosody, acquisition of syntax, cross-linguistic comparison.
Download or read book The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax 8 Volume Set written by Martin Everaert and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-12-26 with total page 5254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An invaluable reference tool for students and researchers in theoretical linguistics, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition has been updated to incorporate the last 10 years of syntactic research and expanded to include a wider array of important case studies in the syntax of a broad array of languages. A revised and expanded edition of this invaluable reference tool for students and researchers in linguistics, now incorporating the last 10 years of syntactic research Contains over 120 chapters that explain, analyze, and contextualize important empirical studies within syntax over the last 50 years Charts the development and historiography of syntactic theory with coverage of the most important subdomains of syntax Brings together cutting-edge contributions from a global group of linguists under the editorship of two esteemed syntacticians Provides an essential and unparalleled collection of research within the field of syntax, available both online and across 8 print volumes This work is also available as an online resource at www.companiontosyntax.com
Download or read book Case Suspension and Binary Complement Structure in French written by Julia Herschensohn and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adopting the theoretical framework of the minimalist program, this study of syntactic limitations on complement configuration investigates the link between thematic external arguments and case. Using evidence from pronominal, psychological experiencer, and inalienable constructions, it argues that both accusative and dative are structural cases in French and that this duality is reflected in a parallel limit on argument projection. Larson's single complement hypothesis, which allows a maximum of two internal arguments, provides the theoretical justification for this proposal. The testing ground for the binary hypothesis is a group of nonthematic subject constructions involving undative as well as unaccusative verbs, linking, according to Burzio's generalization, case suspension and lack of an internal argument. The investigation of these constructions and those involving partitive case provides not only a theoretically significant contribution to our understanding of grammar, but also a motivated explanation for a number of empirical problems in French.
Download or read book An Introduction to Syntactic Analysis and Theory written by Dominique Sportiche and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Introduction to Syntactic Analysis and Theory offers beginning students a comprehensive overview of and introduction to our current understanding of the rules and principles that govern the syntax of natural languages. Includes numerous pedagogical features such as 'practice' boxes and sidebars, designed to facilitate understanding of both the 'hows' and the 'whys' of sentence structure Guides readers through syntactic and morphological structures in a progressive manner Takes the mystery out of one of the most crucial aspects of the workings of language – the principles and processes behind the structure of sentences Ideal for students with minimal knowledge of current syntactic research, it progresses in theoretical difficulty from basic ideas and theories to more complex and advanced, up to date concepts in syntactic theory
Download or read book Parameters and Functional Heads written by Adriana Belletti and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1996 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays collected in this volume, most previously unpublished, address a number of closely interconnected issues raised by the comparative syntax of functional heads within the Principles-and-Parameters approach. The general theory of head movement, the properties of derived structures created by incorporation, and the parameterization involved are the main theoretical foci. One major empirical area which is addressed concerns head movement in configurations involving certain kinds of operator-like elements, for example, the different manifestations of Verb Second phenomena in Wh and other constructions and the syntax of negative heads and specifiers. In addition, properties of functional heads and head movement in nominal and clausal structures and the causative construction are investigated.
Download or read book Clauses Without That written by Cathal Doherty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Study investigates the syntax of complement and relative clauses in English which lack overt complementizers (clauses without that ). The central analytical claim is that these clauses differ in phrase structure from their synonymous counterparts with overt complementizers. In particular, novel evidence from adjunction facts is used to demonstrate that clauses without that are more appropriately analyzed as bare sentences of the category IP rather than CP with a phonologically null head, a proposal which has since been adopted in many economy-driven approaches to phrase structure. In addition to strong empirical support, the IP-analysis is shown to provide explanations for a variety of related syntactic phenomena, superior to those available under the previous CP-analysis. These include the restricted syntactic distribution of that -less complements, in addition to the adjacency restrictions on that -less relative clauses. The analytical task posed by the that -trace effect is also very much reduced under the IP-analysis. The work also examines the syntax of 'subject contact clauses' (e.g. There's a man wants to see you .), common in many non-standard varieties, including Hiberno-English and establishes that they have all the distinctive properties of other that -less relative clauses. This book will be of interest to a broad variety of readers: scholars working in all areas of generative syntax, specialists in English and Germanic syntax, in addition to researchers in non-standard English and Hiberno-English.
Download or read book Formal Grammar written by Terje Lohndal and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-12 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume draws together fourteen previously published papers which explore the nature of mental grammar through a formal, generative approach. The book begins by outlining the development of formal grammar in the last fifty years, with a particular focus on the work of Noam Chomsky, and moves into an examination of a diverse set of phenomena in various languages that shed light on theory and model construction. Many of the papers focus on comparisons between English and Norwegian, highlighting the importance of comparative approaches to the study of language. With a comprehensive collection of papers that demonstrate the richness of formal approaches, this volume is key reading for students and scholars interested in the study of grammar.
Download or read book Government and Binding Theory and the Minimalist Program written by Gert Webelhuth and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1995-05-03 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides an authoritative overview of Government and Binding Theory, and -- in crucial new papers by Noam Chomsky and Alec Marantz -- of the subsequent development of the Minimalist Program.
Download or read book Studies in Comparative Germanic Syntax written by Höskuldur Thräinsson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001-11-30 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: O. THE CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME AND THE FIELD OF COMPARATIVE GERMANIC SYNTAX Comparati ve synchronic and diachronic syntax has become an increasingly popular and fruitful research area over the past 10-15 years. A central reason for this is that recent developments in linguistic theory have made it possible to formulate explicit and testable hypotheses concerning syntactic universals and cross-linguistic varia- tion. Here we refer to the so-called "Principles-and-Parameters" approaches (see Chomsky 1981a, 1982, 1986a, and also Williams 1987, Freidin 1991, Chomsky and Lasnik 1993, and references cited in these works). It may even be fair to say that the Government-Binding framework (first outlined by Chomsky 1981b)-a spe- cific instantiation of the Principles-and-Parameters approach-has been more influential than any other theoretical syntactic framework. Since 1984, syntacticians investigating the formal properties of Germanic languages have, as an international effort, organized "workshops" on comparative Germanic syntax. The first was held at the University of Trondheim in Trondheim, Norway (1984), the second at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, Iceland (1985), the third at the University of Abo in Abo, Finland (1986), the fourth at McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1987), the fifth in Groningen, The Nether- lands (1988), the sixth in Lund, Sweden (1989), the seventh in Stuttgart, Germany (1991), the eighth in Troms, Norway (1992), the ninth at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA (1994), the tenth at the Catholic University in Brussels, Belgium (1995), and the eleventh at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA (1995).
