The Semantics of Syntax

The phenomenon of case has long been a central topic of study in linguistics. While the majority of the literature so far has been on the syntax of case, semantics also has a crucial role to play in how case operates. This book investigates the relationship between semantics and case-marking in the languages of the world, exploring a range of phenomena in which case-assignment is affected by (or affects) meaning. By bringing together data from a wide range of languages, representing different language families, a cross-linguistic picture emerges of the correlation between case and meaning. Different approaches to the phenomena are considered, including both syntactic and semantic analyses, and the question is raised as to whether case can be treated as meaningful, ultimately helping us shed light on the broader connections between grammar and meaning and, moreover, grammar and the human cognition.

This volume brings together the latest research on the semantics of nouns in both familiar and less well-documented languages, including English, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, the Papuan language Koromu,

Current developments of the Minimalist Program in generative linguistics put the procedure of labeling syntactic objects at the center of the syntax–semantics transition. This book provides a discussi

Although philosophical semantics has become both a discipline in its own right and the source of the analytic techniques used in the rest of philosophy, its foundations have themselves been problemati

Although philosophical semantics has become both a discipline in its own right and the source of the analytic techniques used in the rest of philosophy, its foundations have themselves been problemati

This book investigates the morphosyntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of language, and the interactions between them, from the perspective of Optimality Theory. It integrates optimization pro

This work examines the dialectic of desire and value, as it affects the protagonist's identity, in fiction from Dickens and George Eliot through Hardy and Conrad to Lawrence and Joyce. Philip Weinstei

The question of how to determine the meaning of compounds was prominent in early generative morphology, but lost importance after the late 1970s. In the past decade, it has been revived by the emergence of a number of frameworks that are better suited to studying this question than earlier ones. In this book, three frameworks for studying the semantics of compounding are presented by their initiators: Jackendoff's Parallel Architecture, Lieber's theory of lexical semantics, and Štekauer's onomasiological theory. Common to these presentations is a focus on English noun-noun compounds. In the following chapters, these theories are then applied to different types of compounding (phrasal, A+N, neoclassical) and other languages (French, German, Swedish, Greek). Finally, a comparison highlights how each framework offers particular insight into the meaning of compounds. An exciting new contribution to the field, this book will be of interest to morphologists, semanticists and cognitive lingui

This book investigates the nature and properties of roots, the core elements of word meaning. In particular, chapters examine the interaction of roots with syntactic structure, and the role of their s

This book focuses on the semantic phenomenon of evaluativity and its consequences across constructions. Evaluativity has traditionally been associated exclusively with the positive construction, a ter

This book focuses on the semantic phenomenon of evaluativity and its consequences across constructions. Evaluativity has traditionally been associated exclusively with the positive construction, a ter

This book investigates the nature and properties of roots, the core elements of word meaning. In particular, chapters examine the interaction of roots with syntactic structure, and the role of their s

The study of Russian is of great importance to syntactic theory, due in particular to its unusual case system and its complex word order patterns. This book provides an essential guide to Russian syntax and examines the major syntactic structures of the language. It begins with an overview of verbal and nominal constituents, followed by major clause types, including null-copular and impersonal sentences, WH-questions and their distribution, and relative and subordinate clauses. The syntax behind the rich Russian morphological case system is then described in detail, with focus on both the fairly standard instances of Nominative, Accusative and Dative case as well as the important language-specific uses of the Genitive and Instrumental cases. The book goes on to analyze the syntax of 'free' word order for which Russian is famous. It will be of interest to researchers and students of syntactic theory, of Slavic linguistics and of language typology.

This work examines the dialectic of desire and value, as it affects the protagonist's identity, in fiction from Dickens and George Eliot through Hardy and Conrad to Lawrence and Joyce. Philip Weinstei

"This book offers an introduction to the derivation of meaning that is accessible and worked out to facilitate an understanding of key issues in compositional semantics. The syntactic background offer

Dutch is a West-Germanic language closely related to English and German, but its special properties have long aroused interest and debate among students of syntax. This is an informative guide to the syntax of Dutch, offering an extensive survey of both the phenomena of Dutch syntax and their theoretical analyses over the years. In particular the book discusses those aspects of Dutch syntax that have played an important role in the development of syntactic theory in recent decades. Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an extensive bibliography, this survey will be an important tool for students and linguists of all theoretical persuasions, and for anyone working in Germanic linguistics, linguistic typology and linguistic theory.

The imperative clause is one of three major sentence types that have been found to be universal across the languages of the world. Compared to declaratives and interrogatives, the imperative type has received diverse analyses in the literature. This cutting-edge study puts forward a new linguistic theory of imperatives, arguing that categories of the speech act, specifically Speaker and Addressee, are conceptually necessary for an adequate syntactic account. The book offers compelling empirical and descriptive evidence by surveying new typological data in critical assessment of competing hypotheses towards an indexical syntax of human language. An engaging read for students and researchers interested in linguistics, philosophy and the syntax of language.

This book is a report of an investigation into the meanings of the modal auxiliaries in modern British English. The investigation took the form of a large-scale corpus-based project, looking at modal

This book is a collection of linguistic and philosophical papers dealing with the semantic problems of determiners. The language under investigation is mostly English, although a few papers deal with

Oltra-Massuet develops a cross-linguistic analysis of morphologically complex adjectives, which is based on the study of -ble, one of the most productive affixes. The study is cross-linguistic in two

The three volumes of The Substance of Language collectively overhaul linguistic theory from phonology to semantics and syntax to pragmatics and offer a full account of how the form/function relationsh

The study of Russian is of great importance to syntactic theory, due in particular to its unusual case system and its complex word order patterns. This book provides an essential guide to Russian syntax and examines the major syntactic structures of the language. It begins with an overview of verbal and nominal constituents, followed by major clause types, including null-copular and impersonal sentences, WH-questions and their distribution, and relative and subordinate clauses. The syntax behind the rich Russian morphological case system is then described in detail, with focus on both the fairly standard instances of Nominative, Accusative and Dative case as well as the important language-specific uses of the Genitive and Instrumental cases. The book goes on to analyze the syntax of 'free' word order for which Russian is famous. It will be of interest to researchers and students of syntactic theory, of Slavic linguistics and of language typology.

Dutch is a West-Germanic language closely related to English and German, but its special properties have long aroused interest and debate among students of syntax. This is an informative guide to the syntax of Dutch, offering an extensive survey of both the phenomena of Dutch syntax and their theoretical analyses over the years. In particular the book discusses those aspects of Dutch syntax that have played an important role in the development of syntactic theory in recent decades. Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an extensive bibliography, this survey will be an important tool for students and linguists of all theoretical persuasions, and for anyone working in Germanic linguistics, linguistic typology and linguistic theory.

This book builds a semantics for several kinds of future-referring expressions, including will sentences, be going to sentences, and futurates. While there exists previous work on future-referring exp

The nine essays of this volume offer an important addition to the scholarship, with an overview essay on the region's unparalleled linguistic riches (by George van Driem) followed by studies describin

This book is a cross-linguistic examination of the different grammatical means languages employ to represent a general set of semantic relations between clauses. The investigations focus on ways of co

Icelandic is a syntactically interesting language, with aspects of its word order, clause structure, agreement patterns and case system arousing much theoretical interest and debate in recent years. This is an informative and accessible guide to the structure of Icelandic, focusing in particular on those characteristics that have contributed greatly to syntactic research. Each chapter is divided into two main sections - providing both a descriptive overview and a discussion of the theoretical and comparative issues involved - and a wide range of topics are covered, including case, agreement, grammatical relations, thematic roles, word order, clause structure, fronting, extraposition, complement, adjuncts, pronouns, and inflection. Also explored in detail are the similarities and differences between Icelandic and other related languages. Presupposing only a basic knowledge of syntax and complete with an extensive bibliography, this comprehensive survey will be an important tool for all

The Semantics of Grammatical Dependencies argues that constraints of interaction from semantic evaluations enforce grammatical dependency patterns that recur across natural languages and within const

What do you know, if you know that a language has 'Object Verb' structure rather than 'Verb Object'? Answering this question and many others, this book provides an essential guide to the syntactic structure of German. It examines the systematic differences between German and English, which follow from this basic difference in sentence structure, and presents the main results of syntactic research on German. Topics covered include the strict word order in VO vs word order variation in OV, verb clustering, clause union effects, obligatory functional subject position, and subject-object asymmetries for extractions. Through this, a cross-model and cross-linguistic comparison evolves, highlighting the immediate implications for non-Germanic OV languages, and creating a detailed and comprehensive description of the syntactic differences that immediately follow from an OV type in contrast with a VO type like English. It will be of interest to all those interested in syntax and Germanic langua

Recent research on the syntax of Arabic has produced valuable literature on the major syntactic phenomena found in the language. This guide to Arabic syntax provides an overview of the major syntactic constructions in Arabic that have featured in recent linguistic debates, and discusses the analyses provided for them in the literature. A broad variety of topics are covered, including argument structure, negation, tense, agreement phenomena, and resumption. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. The book also contrasts Standard Arabic with other Arabic varieties spoken in the Arab world. An engaging guide to Arabic syntax, this book will be invaluable to graduate students interested in Arabic grammar, as well as syntactic theorists and typologists.

Recent research on the syntax of Arabic has produced valuable literature on the major syntactic phenomena found in the language. This guide to Arabic syntax provides an overview of the major syntactic constructions in Arabic that have featured in recent linguistic debates, and discusses the analyses provided for them in the literature. A broad variety of topics are covered, including argument structure, negation, tense, agreement phenomena, and resumption. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. The book also contrasts Standard Arabic with other Arabic varieties spoken in the Arab world. An engaging guide to Arabic syntax, this book will be invaluable to graduate students interested in Arabic grammar, as well as syntactic theorists and typologists.

The past quarter of a century has seen a surge in Chinese syntactic research that has produced a sizeable literature on the analysis of almost every construction in Mandarin Chinese. This guide to Chinese syntax analyses the majority of constructions in Chinese that have featured in theoretical linguistics in the past 25 years, using the authors' own analyses as well as existing or potential alternative treatments. A broad variety of topics are covered, including categories, argument structure, passives and anaphora. The discussion of each topic sums up the key research results and provides new points of departure for further research. This book will be invaluable both to students wanting to know more about the grammar of Chinese, and graduate students and theoretical linguists interested in the universal principles that underlie human languages.