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Meaning Change in Grammaticalization: An Enquiry into Semantic Reanalysis

Regine Eckardt

This book investigates meaning change in grammaticalization in terms of truth conditional semantics and a well-explicated syntax-semantics interface. Following a survey of earlier theories of ... More

This book investigates meaning change in grammaticalization in terms of truth conditional semantics and a well-explicated syntax-semantics interface. Following a survey of earlier theories of grammaticalization, particularly those that focus on the meaning side, four major case studies of meaning change in grammaticalization probe the hypothesis that this type of change is best viewed as a restructuring at the syntax-semantics interface. The case studies cover the emergence of going to future in English, the negation particles in French, the emergence of the scalar particle selbst (even) in German as well as the quasi determiner lauter (many/only) in German. Each study starts with a presentation of data that illustrates the change in question, and lists open issues about these data that could not be answered (or even formulated) in earlier theoretical frameworks. A careful investigation of the neat interplay of syntax and semantics in the phase of change demonstrates that speakers ingenuously exploit the structures of language in order to adjust it to new needs, while at the same time keeping it a well-defined tool of communication.Less

The Logic of Pronominal Resumption

Ash Asudeh

This book is a cross-linguistic investigation of resumptive pronouns and related phenomena. Pronominal resumption is the realization of the base of a syntactic dependency as a bound pronoun. ... More

This book is a cross-linguistic investigation of resumptive pronouns and related phenomena. Pronominal resumption is the realization of the base of a syntactic dependency as a bound pronoun. Resumption occurs in unbounded dependencies, such as relative clauses and questions, and in the variety of raising known as copy raising. Processing factors may also give rise to resumption, even in environments where it does not normally occur in a given language. A new theory of resumption is proposed that is based on two key assumptions, one theoretical and one empirical/typological. The first assumption is that natural language is resource-sensitive (the Resource Sensitivity Hypothesis); this is captured through the use of a resource logic for semantic composition. The second assumption is that resumptive pronouns are ordinary pronouns in their morphological and lexical properties, based on typologically robust observations (McCloskey's Generalization). The theory is formalized in terms of Glue Semantics for semantic composition, with a Lexical-Functional Grammar syntax. The theory achieves a novel unification of hitherto heterogeneous resumption phenomena. It unifies two kinds of resumptive pronouns that are found in unbounded dependencies --- one kind behaves syntactically like a gap, whereas the other kind does not. It also unifies resumptive pronouns in unbounded dependencies with the obligatory pronouns in copy raising. The theory also provides the basis for a new understanding of processing-based resumption, both in production and in parsing and interpretation.Less

The Theta System: Argument Structure at the Interface

Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni (eds)

Taking the unique perspective of Reinhart's Theta system (Reinhart 1991, 1996, 2000, 2002 et seq.) as its anchor, this book contributes to the understanding of the interface between the system of ... More

Taking the unique perspective of Reinhart's Theta system (Reinhart 1991, 1996, 2000, 2002 et seq.) as its anchor, this book contributes to the understanding of the interface between the system of concepts and the computational system directly, and the inference systems, indirectly. The volume presents the Theta system, evaluates its merits and shortcomings, and introduces proposals for its refinement, from both a theoretical and an experimental perspective. The fact that it nurtures an active dialogue between the competing lexicalist and syntactic approaches on a broad array of lexico-semantic issues gives this book an extra dimension. The authors are not only researchers adhering to different frameworks, but also researchers working in different fields (be it semantics, syntax, morphology, or language acquisition). In empirical terms, the volume not only examines some of the notorious puzzles from a new theoretical perspective, but also brings new data and findings to light.Less

Events, Phrases, and Questions

Robert Truswell

This book proposes a novel, interface-based analysis of patterns of wh-movement in English in which constraints are stated over both syntactic and semantic representations. Firstly, a theory is ... More

This book proposes a novel, interface-based analysis of patterns of wh-movement in English in which constraints are stated over both syntactic and semantic representations. Firstly, a theory is presented of the internal structure of events as perceptual and cognitive units. The key question concerns the circumstances in which multiple smaller events, or subevents, can be perceived as jointly forming a single macroevent. Macroevent formation is possible if the subevents in question are perceived as related by one of two contingent relations, namely direct causation and enablement, where the latter is a relation holding among events that form part of an agent's plan. There is no single phrase-structural configuration which corresponds to enablement, so cognitive and semantic representations of event structure differ from syntactic representations of phrase structure in nontrivial ways. Certain patterns of extraction from adjuncts in English are amenable to simple descriptions stated over event-structural units and relations, but exhibit substantial differences from the patterns typically described by syntactic theories of locality. However, syntactic locality theories, as elaborated over the past 50 years, remain essential to an accurate description of the distribution of movement relations. The central challenge addressed by this work is therefore to allow syntactic and nonsyntactic factors to act jointly to constrain the syntactic operation of wh-movement without vitiating necessary assumptions about the modularity of the language faculty.Less

The Grammar of Expressivity

Daniel Gutzmann

While the expressive function of natural language has received much attention in recent years, the role grammar plays in the interpretation of expressive items has mainly been neglected in the ... More

While the expressive function of natural language has received much attention in recent years, the role grammar plays in the interpretation of expressive items has mainly been neglected in the semantic and pragmatic literature. On the other hand, while there have been syntactic studies of some expressive phenomena they do not explicitly connect to recent developments in semantics. This book bridges this gap, showing that semantics and pragmatics alone cannot capture all grammatical particularities of expressive items and that expressivity has strong syntactic reflexes that interact with the semantic interpretation and account for the mismatches between the syntax and semantics of these phenomena. The main thesis he argues for—the hypothesis of expressive syntax—is that expressivity is a syntactic feature, on a par with other established syntactic features like tense or gender. Evidence for this claim is drawn from three detailed case studies of expressive phenomena: expressive adjectives, expressive intensifiers, and expressive vocatives. These expressions exhibit some puzzling properties and by developing an account of them employing minimalist approaches to syntactic features and agreement, the author shows that expressivity, as a syntactic feature, can partake in agreement operations, trigger movement, and syntactically be selected for. This not only provides indirect evidence for the hypothesis of expressive syntax and extends the usefulness of operations on syntactic features operation beyond their traditional domains, but also highlights the hidden role grammar may play for phenomena that are often considered to be solely semantic in nature.Less

The Grammar of Copulas Across Languages

María J. Arche, Antonio Fábregas, and Rafael Marín (eds)

Copular verbs and copular sentences have been for many years a central issue in the theoretical discussions about the nature of (light) verbs and other grammatical categories, the ingredients of ... More

Copular verbs and copular sentences have been for many years a central issue in the theoretical discussions about the nature of (light) verbs and other grammatical categories, the ingredients of predication structures, the properties of nominal categories, agreement, and the interaction between syntax and semantics at the level of clause structure. The current research on copulas has gone beyond the investigation of what kind of objects they are, and has implications for the nature of agreement and other formal processes in syntax and morphology, as well as proposals about the types of structure building operations available in natural languages, the types of features that lexical selection is sensitive to, and the possibility that languages have access to semantically-empty elements required for the satisfaction of purely formal properties. The twelve works included in this volume illustrate the state of the art of these discussions through the analysis of detailed patterns of data from a variety of languages.Less

Word Meaning and Syntax: Approaches to the Interface

Stephen Wechsler

The interface between word meaning and syntax is among the most controversial and elusive problems in contemporary linguistics. This book approaches the interface from both sides of the relation, and ... More

The interface between word meaning and syntax is among the most controversial and elusive problems in contemporary linguistics. This book approaches the interface from both sides of the relation, and surveys a range of views on the mapping between them, with an emphasis on lexical approaches to argument structure. The fundamental problem of word meaning is analyzed first, with discussions of vagueness and polysemy, including theories of sense extension, coercion, prototypes, probabilistic grammar, and mixed categories. This is complemented with a look at the roles of world knowledge and normative aspects of word meaning. The argument-taking properties of verbs and other predicators are surveyed, including description and analysis of subjectߝobject asymmetry, object omission and demotion, causative and inchoative alternations, other direct versus oblique alternations, unaccusativity, the representation of motion, and category conversions between verb and noun. Theories of lexical semantic structure, including thematic role types, proto-role properties, decomposition, mereologies, and measures of affectedness, are presented next. This is followed by a description of formal theories and frameworks for capturing the mapping from word meaning to syntactic structure, including LFG lexical mapping theory, HPSG, and Sign-Based Construction Grammar, as well as constructional and syntactic approaches. Arguments for lexicalist approaches to argument structure are presented in a special chapter. That chapter discusses the historical pendulum between lexical and phrasal approaches, neo-Davidsonianism, and other currently relevant aspects of the debate.Less

Situations and Syntactic Structures: Rethinking Auxiliaries and Order in English

Gillian Ramchand

Syntax has shown that there is a hierarchical ordering of projections within the verb phrase, although researchers differ with respect to how fine grained they assume the hierarchy to be). This book ... More

Syntax has shown that there is a hierarchical ordering of projections within the verb phrase, although researchers differ with respect to how fine grained they assume the hierarchy to be). This book explores the hierarchy of the verb phrase from a semantic perspective, attempting to derive it from semantically sorted zones in the compositional semantics. The empirical ground is the auxiliary ordering found in the grammar of English. A new theory of semantic zones is proposed and formalized, and explicit semantic and morphological analyses are presented of all the auxiliary constructions of English that derive their rigid order of composition without recourse to lexical item specific ordering statements.Less

Chinese Syntax in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Wei-Tien Dylan Tsai

Audrey Li and Andrew Simpson (eds)

This book focuses on the cross-linguistic comparison of Chinese with other languages. It contains 16 chapters comparing specific major phenomena in Chinese syntax with corresponding ones in at least ... More

This book focuses on the cross-linguistic comparison of Chinese with other languages. It contains 16 chapters comparing specific major phenomena in Chinese syntax with corresponding ones in at least one other language, in many cases with other languages of Asia as well as Europe, North America, and Africa. This volume presents fresh perspectives on major syntactic issues in Chinese and what the study of Chinese can offer to linguists working on other, genetically unrelated languages. The volume also serves as a Festschrift dedicated to commemorating the work of Professor C.-T. James Huang of Harvard University as he reached the age of 65. For over three decades, Jim Huang has been the most influential of generative linguists active in the study of Chinese, consistently demonstrating how aspects of the structure of Chinese reveal broader properties of Universal Grammar. Without his pioneering research and leading the development of the study of Chinese theoretical syntax, such a field would not exist in the rich way we presently know it. Jim has impacted linguistic research in important ways since the 1980’s and is still producing highly influential works. His latest significant work Syntactic Analyticity and Parametric Theory has already generated great excitement in the field and extensive reference to the paper even when circulated as an unpublished manuscript.Less