Allen Buchanan
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198295358
- eISBN:
- 9780191600982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295359.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Completes the second part of the book, and relies on the conception of political legitimacy delineated in Ch. 5 to advance a justice‐based, rather than a consent‐based, account of system legitimacy: ...
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Completes the second part of the book, and relies on the conception of political legitimacy delineated in Ch. 5 to advance a justice‐based, rather than a consent‐based, account of system legitimacy: a set of criteria that the international legal system would have to meet in order to be legitimate. Building on groundwork already laid in Chs 1 and 5, it is shown why, contrary to the dominant view among international lawyers, the consent of states cannot confer legitimacy on the international legal system. In addition, it is argued that it is a mistake to assume that political equality among states is a necessary condition for system legitimacy, and that the international legal system, like any system for the exercise of political power, ought to be democratic. It is also shown that the idea of democratizing the international legal system is an ambiguous one and should not be equated with increasing state majoritarianism in the workings of the system; the charge that the international legal system has a “democratic deficit” is valid, but it is a mistake to assume that the remedy is to make the system conform more closely to the ideal of democracy as state majoritarianism. The eight sections of the chapter are: I. The Question of System Legitimacy; II. The Case for Having an International Legal System; III. A Justice‐Based Conception of System Legitimacy; IV. The Consent Theory of System Legitimacy; I. Moral Minimalism and the Consent Theory of System Legitimacy. VI. The Instrumental Argument for State Consent as a Necessary Condition for System Legitimacy; VII. Is Democracy a Necessary Condition of System Legitimacy?; and VIII. The Pursuit of Justice in an Imperfect System.Less
Completes the second part of the book, and relies on the conception of political legitimacy delineated in Ch. 5 to advance a justice‐based, rather than a consent‐based, account of system legitimacy: a set of criteria that the international legal system would have to meet in order to be legitimate. Building on groundwork already laid in Chs 1 and 5, it is shown why, contrary to the dominant view among international lawyers, the consent of states cannot confer legitimacy on the international legal system. In addition, it is argued that it is a mistake to assume that political equality among states is a necessary condition for system legitimacy, and that the international legal system, like any system for the exercise of political power, ought to be democratic. It is also shown that the idea of democratizing the international legal system is an ambiguous one and should not be equated with increasing state majoritarianism in the workings of the system; the charge that the international legal system has a “democratic deficit” is valid, but it is a mistake to assume that the remedy is to make the system conform more closely to the ideal of democracy as state majoritarianism. The eight sections of the chapter are: I. The Question of System Legitimacy; II. The Case for Having an International Legal System; III. A Justice‐Based Conception of System Legitimacy; IV. The Consent Theory of System Legitimacy; I. Moral Minimalism and the Consent Theory of System Legitimacy. VI. The Instrumental Argument for State Consent as a Necessary Condition for System Legitimacy; VII. Is Democracy a Necessary Condition of System Legitimacy?; and VIII. The Pursuit of Justice in an Imperfect System.
John E. Cort
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195385021
- eISBN:
- 9780199869770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385021.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the ...
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This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the present scholarly understanding, the Jina image emerged from the Buddha image in the region around Mathura. Jina images were in existence possibly in the second century BCE, and certainly by the early years of the first century BCE. The earliest images are of stone, and there is little convincing evidence for a pre‐stone image tradition in other media. Bronze Jina images emerge slightly later. Textual evidence comes later than archaeological evidence, and shows that by the early centuries CE the Jains had developed an elaborate ritual culture of Jina images. Art historians have often complained of the relative lack of variety in the iconography of Jina images. The chapter directly addresses this critique, and by framing an understanding of the Jina image in the twentieth‐century Minimalist style shows how geometrical and symmetrical minimalism have allowed the Jains to express the Jain ideals of perfection in plastic form. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the rituals of worship and veneration of Jina images.Less
This chapter presents a thorough overview of the scholarly evidence from archaeology (both images and inscriptions) and Jain texts concerning the earliest history of Jina images. According to the present scholarly understanding, the Jina image emerged from the Buddha image in the region around Mathura. Jina images were in existence possibly in the second century BCE, and certainly by the early years of the first century BCE. The earliest images are of stone, and there is little convincing evidence for a pre‐stone image tradition in other media. Bronze Jina images emerge slightly later. Textual evidence comes later than archaeological evidence, and shows that by the early centuries CE the Jains had developed an elaborate ritual culture of Jina images. Art historians have often complained of the relative lack of variety in the iconography of Jina images. The chapter directly addresses this critique, and by framing an understanding of the Jina image in the twentieth‐century Minimalist style shows how geometrical and symmetrical minimalism have allowed the Jains to express the Jain ideals of perfection in plastic form. The chapter concludes with a brief description of the rituals of worship and veneration of Jina images.
David Adger
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577743
- eISBN:
- 9780191722844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577743.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter gives an explicit Minimalist theory of feature structure based on the ideas that (i) Merge is the sole source of structure embedding, (ii) lexical items are composed of features. It ...
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This chapter gives an explicit Minimalist theory of feature structure based on the ideas that (i) Merge is the sole source of structure embedding, (ii) lexical items are composed of features. It follows that features cannot themselves involve structure embedding, contrary to what is assumed in HPSG, LFG, FUG. This is the No Complex Values hypothesis. I show how it restricts the range of analyses available for selectional phenomena.Less
This chapter gives an explicit Minimalist theory of feature structure based on the ideas that (i) Merge is the sole source of structure embedding, (ii) lexical items are composed of features. It follows that features cannot themselves involve structure embedding, contrary to what is assumed in HPSG, LFG, FUG. This is the No Complex Values hypothesis. I show how it restricts the range of analyses available for selectional phenomena.
François Recanati
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199226993
- eISBN:
- 9780191710223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226993.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, General
Truth-Conditional Pragmatics, the theoretical framework advertised and illustrated in this book, stands in contrast to (what used to be) the traditional way of looking at the semantics/pragmatics ...
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Truth-Conditional Pragmatics, the theoretical framework advertised and illustrated in this book, stands in contrast to (what used to be) the traditional way of looking at the semantics/pragmatics distinction. This introductory chapter spells out the contrast by discussing a number of issues. Firstly, the modularity issue (is semantic competence sufficient to assign truth-conditions to arbitrary sentences of one's language, or is pragmatic competence also needed?). Secondly, the extent of context-sensitivity issue (is context-sensitivity pervasive in natural language, or it is a rather restricted phenomenon? Are all/most expressions similar to indexicals?). Thirdly, the pragmatic modulation issue (is the semantic contribution of expressions calibrated through the operation of ‘free’ pragmatic processes like metonymy, narrowing or sense-extension?).Less
Truth-Conditional Pragmatics, the theoretical framework advertised and illustrated in this book, stands in contrast to (what used to be) the traditional way of looking at the semantics/pragmatics distinction. This introductory chapter spells out the contrast by discussing a number of issues. Firstly, the modularity issue (is semantic competence sufficient to assign truth-conditions to arbitrary sentences of one's language, or is pragmatic competence also needed?). Secondly, the extent of context-sensitivity issue (is context-sensitivity pervasive in natural language, or it is a rather restricted phenomenon? Are all/most expressions similar to indexicals?). Thirdly, the pragmatic modulation issue (is the semantic contribution of expressions calibrated through the operation of ‘free’ pragmatic processes like metonymy, narrowing or sense-extension?).
Carson T. Schütze
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199553266
- eISBN:
- 9780191720833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553266.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Theoretical Linguistics
This chapter explores how a language-acquiring child might ‘not know’ agreement. Ways in which such a child could be non-adultlike include inoperability of universal principles, incorrect parameter ...
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This chapter explores how a language-acquiring child might ‘not know’ agreement. Ways in which such a child could be non-adultlike include inoperability of universal principles, incorrect parameter settings, incomplete/incorrect knowledge of inflectional forms, imperfect execution of grammatical computations, and production difficulties. Distinguishing these is illustrated with English and Swahili transcripts.Less
This chapter explores how a language-acquiring child might ‘not know’ agreement. Ways in which such a child could be non-adultlike include inoperability of universal principles, incorrect parameter settings, incomplete/incorrect knowledge of inflectional forms, imperfect execution of grammatical computations, and production difficulties. Distinguishing these is illustrated with English and Swahili transcripts.
Arsalan Kahnemuyipour
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199219230
- eISBN:
- 9780191711800
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219230.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Phonetics / Phonology
This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the theoretical assumptions of the book, namely Minimalism and Kayne's (1994) Antisymmetry. It also discusses the empirical scope of the book, ...
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This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the theoretical assumptions of the book, namely Minimalism and Kayne's (1994) Antisymmetry. It also discusses the empirical scope of the book, summarizes its main proposals, and provides an outline for the whole book.Less
This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the theoretical assumptions of the book, namely Minimalism and Kayne's (1994) Antisymmetry. It also discusses the empirical scope of the book, summarizes its main proposals, and provides an outline for the whole book.
Michael Greve
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199764013
- eISBN:
- 9780199897186
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764013.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter inventories the accomplishments and defeats of the conservative legal movement. It argues that the conservative legal movement has a high degree of professionalism, financial stability ...
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This chapter inventories the accomplishments and defeats of the conservative legal movement. It argues that the conservative legal movement has a high degree of professionalism, financial stability and intellectual capital. The question now is whether it possesses sufficient intellectual and organizational resources to adapt successfully to a changed environment of institutional and political hostility. The chapter concludes that it does, although it will be severely tested in the process. The chapter examines the conservative legal movement's record in four areas: court appointments, litigation, administration, and institutionalization. It then goes on to analyze the movement's foundational commitment—originalism—and predicts a reformulations of the concept with a keener appreciation of originalism's limitations and a greater emphasis on complementary legal values of constitutional rights, structure, and limited government.Less
This chapter inventories the accomplishments and defeats of the conservative legal movement. It argues that the conservative legal movement has a high degree of professionalism, financial stability and intellectual capital. The question now is whether it possesses sufficient intellectual and organizational resources to adapt successfully to a changed environment of institutional and political hostility. The chapter concludes that it does, although it will be severely tested in the process. The chapter examines the conservative legal movement's record in four areas: court appointments, litigation, administration, and institutionalization. It then goes on to analyze the movement's foundational commitment—originalism—and predicts a reformulations of the concept with a keener appreciation of originalism's limitations and a greater emphasis on complementary legal values of constitutional rights, structure, and limited government.
Uri McMillan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479802111
- eISBN:
- 9781479865451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479802111.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter focuses on conceptual artist Adrian Piper’s dense explorations of objecthood and her bold experiments with disorientation, self-estrangement, and becoming a confrontational art object. ...
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This chapter focuses on conceptual artist Adrian Piper’s dense explorations of objecthood and her bold experiments with disorientation, self-estrangement, and becoming a confrontational art object. Utilizing Daphne Brooks’s concept of “afro-alienation,” it argues that Piper’s complex praxis of self-observation and an aggressive non-identification with her audience is suggestive of a strategic self-alienation employed by black historical actors, albeit in the halcyon days of 1970s performance art. Building on conceptual art’s emphasis on ideas and process, and minimalism’s antipathy towards formal art objects, Piper deftly manipulates her body as artwork and as a catalytic agent for audiences. This chapter maps Piper’s unique traversal from Minimalism to Conceptualism to performance art, to reveal her agile attempts at aesthetic mobility. Following this, the chapter briefly ponders Piper’s relationship to incipient notions of “feminist art” and “black art.” It, then, focus on two sets of Piper’s lesser-known performances—the Aretha Franklin Catalysis (1972) and The Spectator Series (1973). Both lead to The Mythic Being performances (1973-75), in which Piper dressed as a third-world male avatar in blaxplotation-esque attire, before ceasing street performances and shifting to a strictly visual icon. The chapter dissects the various artistic strategies and ideological aims of The Mythic Being performances, posters, and advertisements. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of Piper’s very public withdrawal of her work from the 2013 exhibition “Radical Presence,” arguing that the tactical removal of her work is in closer dialogue with her larger corpus, than we may initially think.Less
This chapter focuses on conceptual artist Adrian Piper’s dense explorations of objecthood and her bold experiments with disorientation, self-estrangement, and becoming a confrontational art object. Utilizing Daphne Brooks’s concept of “afro-alienation,” it argues that Piper’s complex praxis of self-observation and an aggressive non-identification with her audience is suggestive of a strategic self-alienation employed by black historical actors, albeit in the halcyon days of 1970s performance art. Building on conceptual art’s emphasis on ideas and process, and minimalism’s antipathy towards formal art objects, Piper deftly manipulates her body as artwork and as a catalytic agent for audiences. This chapter maps Piper’s unique traversal from Minimalism to Conceptualism to performance art, to reveal her agile attempts at aesthetic mobility. Following this, the chapter briefly ponders Piper’s relationship to incipient notions of “feminist art” and “black art.” It, then, focus on two sets of Piper’s lesser-known performances—the Aretha Franklin Catalysis (1972) and The Spectator Series (1973). Both lead to The Mythic Being performances (1973-75), in which Piper dressed as a third-world male avatar in blaxplotation-esque attire, before ceasing street performances and shifting to a strictly visual icon. The chapter dissects the various artistic strategies and ideological aims of The Mythic Being performances, posters, and advertisements. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of Piper’s very public withdrawal of her work from the 2013 exhibition “Radical Presence,” arguing that the tactical removal of her work is in closer dialogue with her larger corpus, than we may initially think.
Anna Maria Di Sciullo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262027892
- eISBN:
- 9780262320351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027892.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Evidence from intra-sentential codeswitching brings additional support to the Asymmetry Hypothesis, according to which asymmetrical relations are core relations of the language faculty. It is ...
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Evidence from intra-sentential codeswitching brings additional support to the Asymmetry Hypothesis, according to which asymmetrical relations are core relations of the language faculty. It is proposed that intra-sentential codeswitching is an instance of syntactic variation, which follows from feature valuation in the Minimalist framework, and that feature valuation sites are possible codeswitching sites. It is shown, on the basis of the analysis of multilingual free conversations, as well as on the basis of elicited judgements, that the complement/non complement asymmetry, relativized to the lexical/functional domains, provides the syntactic articulation of codeswithching grammars. Based on the difference between External Merge and Internal Merge, as well as on the distinction between lexical and functional domains, a typology of codeswithching grammars is proposed. Codeswitching grammars differ from one another depending on whether or not External Merge may give rise to possible head-complement switch sites in the lexical or in the functional domain, and whether or not Internal Merge may or not give rise to possible switch sites in specifier-head configurations in the lexical or in the functional domain. The parameterized theory predicts possible from impossible switch sites given the basic asymmetry of the operations of the grammar.Less
Evidence from intra-sentential codeswitching brings additional support to the Asymmetry Hypothesis, according to which asymmetrical relations are core relations of the language faculty. It is proposed that intra-sentential codeswitching is an instance of syntactic variation, which follows from feature valuation in the Minimalist framework, and that feature valuation sites are possible codeswitching sites. It is shown, on the basis of the analysis of multilingual free conversations, as well as on the basis of elicited judgements, that the complement/non complement asymmetry, relativized to the lexical/functional domains, provides the syntactic articulation of codeswithching grammars. Based on the difference between External Merge and Internal Merge, as well as on the distinction between lexical and functional domains, a typology of codeswithching grammars is proposed. Codeswitching grammars differ from one another depending on whether or not External Merge may give rise to possible head-complement switch sites in the lexical or in the functional domain, and whether or not Internal Merge may or not give rise to possible switch sites in specifier-head configurations in the lexical or in the functional domain. The parameterized theory predicts possible from impossible switch sites given the basic asymmetry of the operations of the grammar.
Sílvia Milian Hita
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262027892
- eISBN:
- 9780262320351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027892.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Following Minimalist and Lexical Semantics assumptions, this chapter will analyze the role played by uninterpreted aspectual or Aktionsart features (or internal temporal organization properties of ...
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Following Minimalist and Lexical Semantics assumptions, this chapter will analyze the role played by uninterpreted aspectual or Aktionsart features (or internal temporal organization properties of events) in constraining intrasentential Spanish/English codeswitching involving the verb and its arguments. The data analyzed comes from three different Spanish/English bilingual communities (Mexican-American, Puerto Rican and Gibraltarian). The goal of this chapter is to show that constraints on Spanish/English codeswitching are based on the grammars of these two languages. The work follows from recent proposals within the Minimalist framework regarding codeswitching grammar (MacSwan, 2000, 2013).Less
Following Minimalist and Lexical Semantics assumptions, this chapter will analyze the role played by uninterpreted aspectual or Aktionsart features (or internal temporal organization properties of events) in constraining intrasentential Spanish/English codeswitching involving the verb and its arguments. The data analyzed comes from three different Spanish/English bilingual communities (Mexican-American, Puerto Rican and Gibraltarian). The goal of this chapter is to show that constraints on Spanish/English codeswitching are based on the grammars of these two languages. The work follows from recent proposals within the Minimalist framework regarding codeswitching grammar (MacSwan, 2000, 2013).
Anne Reboul
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198747314
- eISBN:
- 9780191809729
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747314.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
The book offers a new approach to the evolution of language, arguing for a two-step process, syntax first evolving as an auto-organizational process for the human conceptual apparatus (as a Language ...
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The book offers a new approach to the evolution of language, arguing for a two-step process, syntax first evolving as an auto-organizational process for the human conceptual apparatus (as a Language of Thought), and this language of thought being then externalized for communication, due to social selection pressures. The book first argues that, despite the routine use of language in communication, current use is not a failsafe guide to adaptive history. It points out the many difficulties of accounts that see language as having evolved for communication: its uniqueness among animal communication systems and its structural properties, notably decoupling that makes a tool for deception in contradiction with all views on the evolution of communication, making it unlikely that it specifically evolved for communication. It highlights the specificity of human cognition relative to animal communication and notably the specific richness of the human conceptual apparatus. It proposes that syntax (on a minimalist view, Merge) evolved owing to a self-organizational process of the human conceptual apparatus. The last step, the externalization of language for communication, was due to the political organization of human hunter-gatherer groups, along the lines of the Argumentative Theory of Reasoning. The evolutionary processes involved are heterogeneous in keeping with the contemporary Extended Synthesis.Less
The book offers a new approach to the evolution of language, arguing for a two-step process, syntax first evolving as an auto-organizational process for the human conceptual apparatus (as a Language of Thought), and this language of thought being then externalized for communication, due to social selection pressures. The book first argues that, despite the routine use of language in communication, current use is not a failsafe guide to adaptive history. It points out the many difficulties of accounts that see language as having evolved for communication: its uniqueness among animal communication systems and its structural properties, notably decoupling that makes a tool for deception in contradiction with all views on the evolution of communication, making it unlikely that it specifically evolved for communication. It highlights the specificity of human cognition relative to animal communication and notably the specific richness of the human conceptual apparatus. It proposes that syntax (on a minimalist view, Merge) evolved owing to a self-organizational process of the human conceptual apparatus. The last step, the externalization of language for communication, was due to the political organization of human hunter-gatherer groups, along the lines of the Argumentative Theory of Reasoning. The evolutionary processes involved are heterogeneous in keeping with the contemporary Extended Synthesis.
Anne Breitbarth
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199687282
- eISBN:
- 9780191767050
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199687282.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
While the development of negation has in recent years gained an increased interest in linguistic research, as witnessed by a large number of new publications, this development has not yet been ...
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While the development of negation has in recent years gained an increased interest in linguistic research, as witnessed by a large number of new publications, this development has not yet been thoroughly and diachronically studied for historical Low German, as the historical syntax of Low German more generally is only recently coming out of the shadows. The book investigates quantitatively two empirical domains. First, the development of the expression of standard negation, or Jespersen’s Cycle, and second the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope, giving rise to different types of negative concord along the way. The entire period of attestation from Old Saxon (Old Low German) to the point when Middle Low German is replaced by High German as the written language, after the completion of Jespersen’s Cycle, is taken into consideration. It is shown that the developments in Low German form a missing link between those in High German, English, and Dutch, which are much better researched. The developments are analysed using a generative account of syntactic change combined with minimalist assumptions concerning the syntax of negation and negative concord.Less
While the development of negation has in recent years gained an increased interest in linguistic research, as witnessed by a large number of new publications, this development has not yet been thoroughly and diachronically studied for historical Low German, as the historical syntax of Low German more generally is only recently coming out of the shadows. The book investigates quantitatively two empirical domains. First, the development of the expression of standard negation, or Jespersen’s Cycle, and second the changing interaction between the expression of negation and indefinites in its scope, giving rise to different types of negative concord along the way. The entire period of attestation from Old Saxon (Old Low German) to the point when Middle Low German is replaced by High German as the written language, after the completion of Jespersen’s Cycle, is taken into consideration. It is shown that the developments in Low German form a missing link between those in High German, English, and Dutch, which are much better researched. The developments are analysed using a generative account of syntactic change combined with minimalist assumptions concerning the syntax of negation and negative concord.
Oliver Bond, Greville G. Corbett, Marina Chumakina, and Dunstan Brown (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198747291
- eISBN:
- 9780191809705
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747291.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Language Families
Imagine how the discipline of linguistics would be if expert practitioners of different theories met in a collaborative setting to tackle the same challenging data—to test the limits of their model’s ...
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Imagine how the discipline of linguistics would be if expert practitioners of different theories met in a collaborative setting to tackle the same challenging data—to test the limits of their model’s infrastructure and examine how the concrete predictions of their theories differ about the same data. This book represents the result of attempting to achieve this for syntactic theory, using data from Archi (Nakh–Daghestanian, Lezgic), an endangered language with an extremely complex agreement system. We undertake a controlled evaluation of three widely practised syntactic theories, through detailed examination of the theoretical principles underlying the mechanisms that model agreement. Our objective is to assess the tractability and predictive power of these leading models of syntax—Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), and Minimalism—using a complete set of data on an agreement system from a language that has not hitherto been analysed in these frameworks.Less
Imagine how the discipline of linguistics would be if expert practitioners of different theories met in a collaborative setting to tackle the same challenging data—to test the limits of their model’s infrastructure and examine how the concrete predictions of their theories differ about the same data. This book represents the result of attempting to achieve this for syntactic theory, using data from Archi (Nakh–Daghestanian, Lezgic), an endangered language with an extremely complex agreement system. We undertake a controlled evaluation of three widely practised syntactic theories, through detailed examination of the theoretical principles underlying the mechanisms that model agreement. Our objective is to assess the tractability and predictive power of these leading models of syntax—Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), and Minimalism—using a complete set of data on an agreement system from a language that has not hitherto been analysed in these frameworks.
Andrew V. Uroskie
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226842981
- eISBN:
- 9780226109022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226109022.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
Explores the 1966 New York Film Festival as the paradoxical zenith and culmination of the Expanded Cinema’s popularity within the “film art” community, and the subsequent turn away from established ...
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Explores the 1966 New York Film Festival as the paradoxical zenith and culmination of the Expanded Cinema’s popularity within the “film art” community, and the subsequent turn away from established institutions of art and film. The first section describes Warhol’s creation of the “Factory” as an alternative space in which the line between media exhibition and media production is purposely blurred. Situates Warhol’s innovative use of videotape within Outer and Inner Space (1965) in the context of his earlier practice of film and audiotape recording, and contends that this cinematic double portrait of Edie Sedgwick exemplifes the site of the Factory itself an experiment in the the social and psychological ramifications of feedback in the televisual era. The second section explores a radically different work from the same moment was similarly invested in conjoining film and video in an exploration of social feedback: Ken Dewey’s Selma Last Year (1966). Rather than creating his own alternative space, Dewey drew from his longstanding interest in context and site-specific performance to stage an intervention during the New York Film Festival that demanded his audience question their own spectatorship of the traumatic revolution that was the American civil rights movement.Less
Explores the 1966 New York Film Festival as the paradoxical zenith and culmination of the Expanded Cinema’s popularity within the “film art” community, and the subsequent turn away from established institutions of art and film. The first section describes Warhol’s creation of the “Factory” as an alternative space in which the line between media exhibition and media production is purposely blurred. Situates Warhol’s innovative use of videotape within Outer and Inner Space (1965) in the context of his earlier practice of film and audiotape recording, and contends that this cinematic double portrait of Edie Sedgwick exemplifes the site of the Factory itself an experiment in the the social and psychological ramifications of feedback in the televisual era. The second section explores a radically different work from the same moment was similarly invested in conjoining film and video in an exploration of social feedback: Ken Dewey’s Selma Last Year (1966). Rather than creating his own alternative space, Dewey drew from his longstanding interest in context and site-specific performance to stage an intervention during the New York Film Festival that demanded his audience question their own spectatorship of the traumatic revolution that was the American civil rights movement.
Norvin Richards
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034425
- eISBN:
- 9780262332330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034425.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
This chapter introduces the core claim of the book: that the construction of phonological representations begins in the narrow syntax, and that syntactic operations can be driven by phonological ...
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This chapter introduces the core claim of the book: that the construction of phonological representations begins in the narrow syntax, and that syntactic operations can be driven by phonological requirements. It sketches two kinds of arguments for this conclusion which will recur in what follows: first, that syntactic computation makes reference to some, but not all facts about the final phonological representation, suggesting that it cannot be the final representation that the computation makes reference to; and second, that careful analysis reveals many cases of derivationally induced opacity, demonstrating that the syntactic computation, at any given step of the derivation, makes reference only to properties of that particular derivational stage, and thus that the syntactic derivation must contain the phonological information to which the rules of syntax apparently refer. The chapter also introduces basic assumptions about syntax and phonology which will be important in the following chapters: on the syntax side, the basic ideas of current Minimalism, including the EPP, the notion of Probes and Goals, uninterpretable features, and a cyclic derivation with Spell-out at phase levels; on the phonological side, Match Theory and Idsardi’s approach to word-level stress.Less
This chapter introduces the core claim of the book: that the construction of phonological representations begins in the narrow syntax, and that syntactic operations can be driven by phonological requirements. It sketches two kinds of arguments for this conclusion which will recur in what follows: first, that syntactic computation makes reference to some, but not all facts about the final phonological representation, suggesting that it cannot be the final representation that the computation makes reference to; and second, that careful analysis reveals many cases of derivationally induced opacity, demonstrating that the syntactic computation, at any given step of the derivation, makes reference only to properties of that particular derivational stage, and thus that the syntactic derivation must contain the phonological information to which the rules of syntax apparently refer. The chapter also introduces basic assumptions about syntax and phonology which will be important in the following chapters: on the syntax side, the basic ideas of current Minimalism, including the EPP, the notion of Probes and Goals, uninterpretable features, and a cyclic derivation with Spell-out at phase levels; on the phonological side, Match Theory and Idsardi’s approach to word-level stress.
E. Dawn Hall
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474411127
- eISBN:
- 9781474444620
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474411127.003.0009
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter is a close reading of the film Certain Women that explores lost and isolated characters who are content to remain outsiders or on the margins. Adapted from short stories by Maile Meloy, ...
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This chapter is a close reading of the film Certain Women that explores lost and isolated characters who are content to remain outsiders or on the margins. Adapted from short stories by Maile Meloy, the film is divided into three episodes, and this chapter discusses the production methods, form, and content that focuses on working women and their relationships. Laura (Laura Dern) is a lawyer wrangling a volatile client; Gina (Michelle Williams) is a successful entrepreneur struggling to find balance within her family; and Jamie, a Native American rancher (Lily Gladtone) is battling isolation and infatuation with her teacher, Beth Travis (Kristen Stewart). Reichardt’s cinematic auteur characteristics are all showcased as is her thought-provoking social commentary. The expansive Montana landscapes and barren winter setting reflect the emotional state of the characters and Reichardt’s minimalism creates an authentic portrayal of a flawed, complex, and vulnerable humanity. The chapter also explores adaptation theory arguing that Reichardt creates a “new work of art” allowing audiences to add their own interpretations.Less
This chapter is a close reading of the film Certain Women that explores lost and isolated characters who are content to remain outsiders or on the margins. Adapted from short stories by Maile Meloy, the film is divided into three episodes, and this chapter discusses the production methods, form, and content that focuses on working women and their relationships. Laura (Laura Dern) is a lawyer wrangling a volatile client; Gina (Michelle Williams) is a successful entrepreneur struggling to find balance within her family; and Jamie, a Native American rancher (Lily Gladtone) is battling isolation and infatuation with her teacher, Beth Travis (Kristen Stewart). Reichardt’s cinematic auteur characteristics are all showcased as is her thought-provoking social commentary. The expansive Montana landscapes and barren winter setting reflect the emotional state of the characters and Reichardt’s minimalism creates an authentic portrayal of a flawed, complex, and vulnerable humanity. The chapter also explores adaptation theory arguing that Reichardt creates a “new work of art” allowing audiences to add their own interpretations.
Rizzi Luigi
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013567
- eISBN:
- 9780262258586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013567.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter focuses on the nature of syntactic computations and current syntactic models, including “Principles and Parameters” and Minimalist models. It first considers the expression of the ...
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This chapter focuses on the nature of syntactic computations and current syntactic models, including “Principles and Parameters” and Minimalist models. It first considers the expression of the open-ended character of natural language syntax before turning to Minimalism, which has introduced an extremely simple structure building rule, Merge. Merge expresses a property called syntactic recursion, which allows the generation of an unlimited number of sentences, and builds hierarchical structures that may be altered by movement. After discussing the typology of movement processes, the chapter demonstrates how Merge and Move interact to determine basic word-order properties of natural languages. It also illustrates certain interplays between morphology and syntax before concluding with a discussion of invariance and variation and how the universality and variability of human language is expressed by parametric models.Less
This chapter focuses on the nature of syntactic computations and current syntactic models, including “Principles and Parameters” and Minimalist models. It first considers the expression of the open-ended character of natural language syntax before turning to Minimalism, which has introduced an extremely simple structure building rule, Merge. Merge expresses a property called syntactic recursion, which allows the generation of an unlimited number of sentences, and builds hierarchical structures that may be altered by movement. After discussing the typology of movement processes, the chapter demonstrates how Merge and Move interact to determine basic word-order properties of natural languages. It also illustrates certain interplays between morphology and syntax before concluding with a discussion of invariance and variation and how the universality and variability of human language is expressed by parametric models.
Ray Jackendoff
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199328741
- eISBN:
- 9780199369355
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199328741.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This chapter examines the question of which aspects of language are uniquely human and uniquely linguistic in light of suggestions by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch that the only such aspect is syntactic ...
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This chapter examines the question of which aspects of language are uniquely human and uniquely linguistic in light of suggestions by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch that the only such aspect is syntactic recursion. The hypothesis is problematic. It ignores the many aspects of grammar that are not recursive, such as phonology, morphology, case, agreement, and many properties of words. It is inconsistent with the anatomy and neural control of the human vocal tract. The recursion-only claim appears to be motivated by Chomsky’s approach to syntax, the Minimalist Program, which de-emphasizes the same aspects of language. The approach, however, is sufficiently problematic that it cannot be used to support claims about evolution. This chapter contests related arguments that language is not an adaptation, namely that it is “perfect,” non-redundant, unusable in any partial form, and badly designed for communication. The hypothesis that language is a complex adaptation for communication which evolved piecemeal avoids these problems.Less
This chapter examines the question of which aspects of language are uniquely human and uniquely linguistic in light of suggestions by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch that the only such aspect is syntactic recursion. The hypothesis is problematic. It ignores the many aspects of grammar that are not recursive, such as phonology, morphology, case, agreement, and many properties of words. It is inconsistent with the anatomy and neural control of the human vocal tract. The recursion-only claim appears to be motivated by Chomsky’s approach to syntax, the Minimalist Program, which de-emphasizes the same aspects of language. The approach, however, is sufficiently problematic that it cannot be used to support claims about evolution. This chapter contests related arguments that language is not an adaptation, namely that it is “perfect,” non-redundant, unusable in any partial form, and badly designed for communication. The hypothesis that language is a complex adaptation for communication which evolved piecemeal avoids these problems.
Ljiljana Progovac
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198736547
- eISBN:
- 9780191800276
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736547.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book makes a case for a gradualist, adaptationist (Darwinian) approach to the evolution of syntax/grammar, subject to natural selection. It provides a specific framework for studying the ...
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This book makes a case for a gradualist, adaptationist (Darwinian) approach to the evolution of syntax/grammar, subject to natural selection. It provides a specific framework for studying the evolution of syntax, with postulates that are at the right level of granularity to allow a synergy among the fields of evolutionary biology, theoretical syntax, typology, neuroscience, and genetics. This book pursues an internal reconstruction of the stages of grammar based on the syntactic theory associated with Chomskyan Minimalism, to arrive at very specific, testable hypotheses, which are corroborated by an abundance of theoretically analyzed ‘living fossils’ for each postulated stage, drawn from a variety of languages. What also distinguishes this approach is that it shows how these fossil structures do not just coexist side-by-side with more modern structures, but that they are in fact literally built into the very foundation of more complex structures, leading to quirks and complexities that best befit a gradualist evolutionary scenario. Importantly, the postulated stages clearly reveal the selection pressures that would have driven the progression through stages. By reconstructing a particular path along which syntax evolved, this approach is able to shed light on the crucial properties of language design itself, as well as on the major parameters of crosslinguistic variation. As a result, this reconstruction can be meaningfully correlated with the hominin timeline, as well as with the quickly accruing genetic evidence.Less
This book makes a case for a gradualist, adaptationist (Darwinian) approach to the evolution of syntax/grammar, subject to natural selection. It provides a specific framework for studying the evolution of syntax, with postulates that are at the right level of granularity to allow a synergy among the fields of evolutionary biology, theoretical syntax, typology, neuroscience, and genetics. This book pursues an internal reconstruction of the stages of grammar based on the syntactic theory associated with Chomskyan Minimalism, to arrive at very specific, testable hypotheses, which are corroborated by an abundance of theoretically analyzed ‘living fossils’ for each postulated stage, drawn from a variety of languages. What also distinguishes this approach is that it shows how these fossil structures do not just coexist side-by-side with more modern structures, but that they are in fact literally built into the very foundation of more complex structures, leading to quirks and complexities that best befit a gradualist evolutionary scenario. Importantly, the postulated stages clearly reveal the selection pressures that would have driven the progression through stages. By reconstructing a particular path along which syntax evolved, this approach is able to shed light on the crucial properties of language design itself, as well as on the major parameters of crosslinguistic variation. As a result, this reconstruction can be meaningfully correlated with the hominin timeline, as well as with the quickly accruing genetic evidence.
Ruth Kramer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199679935
- eISBN:
- 9780191760129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199679935.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Theoretical Linguistics
This chapter introduces the major themes of the book. It begins with some basic definitions of gender, natural gender, and arbitrary gender, and then places the book in the context of previous ...
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This chapter introduces the major themes of the book. It begins with some basic definitions of gender, natural gender, and arbitrary gender, and then places the book in the context of previous research. The main proposals of the book are laid out: gender is on the nominalizing head n, natural gender is interpretable whereas arbitrary gender is uninterpretable, and these assumptions allow for a typology of two- to three-gender systems. The chapter also provides background on the frameworks adopted in the book (Minimalism and Distributed Morphology), and limitatations in scope are clearly identified (e.g. the book does not focus on the mechanisms of gender agreement). The chapter concludes with a preview of the remaining content of the book, organized as chapter summaries.Less
This chapter introduces the major themes of the book. It begins with some basic definitions of gender, natural gender, and arbitrary gender, and then places the book in the context of previous research. The main proposals of the book are laid out: gender is on the nominalizing head n, natural gender is interpretable whereas arbitrary gender is uninterpretable, and these assumptions allow for a typology of two- to three-gender systems. The chapter also provides background on the frameworks adopted in the book (Minimalism and Distributed Morphology), and limitatations in scope are clearly identified (e.g. the book does not focus on the mechanisms of gender agreement). The chapter concludes with a preview of the remaining content of the book, organized as chapter summaries.
