The Null Subject Parameter

The Null Subject Parameter
Author: M. Jaeggli
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9400925409

Parametric Variation

Parametric Variation
Author: Theresa Biberauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2010
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0521886953

Parametric variation in linguistic theory refers to the systematic grammatical variation permitted by the human language faculty. This book is a defence of the parametric approach to linguistic variation, set within the framework of the Minimalist Program.

Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar

Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar
Author: Robert Freidin
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 1991
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780262061407

These essays by an outstanding group of linguists present case studies in contemporary comparative grammar, illustrating the rich and varied ways in which the principles and parameters framework of generative grammar can provide explanations for both the underlying universal properties of the world's languages and the ways in which they differ. The final essay by Noam Chomsky offers a new perspective on the principles and parameters approach to comparative grammar. In his introduction, Freidin describes the historical background of current work in comparative grammar and compares this work to the comparative studies of the nineteenth century. He notes how the current approach traces the fundamental unity of all languages to the language faculty, in contrast to that of the nineteenth century which was primarily concerned with the ancestral relations among languages. The essays that follow convey the wide scope of the interaction between current theory and crosslinguistic studies. Topics include the relevance of binding theory for crosslinguistic studies; the interaction between the syntax/lexical semantics interface and the theory of UG; the role of phrase structure and levels of representation in accounting or syntactic variation; crosslinguistic variation in word order phenomena; and the ways in which the study of comparative grammar can itself contribute to the understanding of UG. Contributors Joseph Aoun. Adriana Belletti. Noam Chomsky. Robert Freidin. Wayne Harbert. Norbert Hornstein. C.-T. James Huang. Anthony S. Kroch. Howard Lasnik. Yen-hui Audrey Li. David Lightfoot. Luigi Rizzi. Ken Safir. Beatrice Santorini. Rex A. Sprouse. Timothy Stowell. Tarald Taraldsen. Lisa deMena Travis. Edwin Williams

Null Subjects in Generative Grammar

Null Subjects in Generative Grammar
Author: Federica Cognola
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0192547887

This book considers the null-subject phenomenon, whereby some languages lack an overtly realized referential subject in specific contexts. In generative syntax-the approach adopted in this volume-the phenomenon has traditionally been explained in terms of a 'pro-drop' parameter with associated cluster properties; more recently, however, it has become clear that pro-drop phenomena do not always correlate with all the initially predicted cluster properties. This volume returns to the centre of the debate surrounding the empirical phenomena associated with null subjects. Experts in the field explore the cluster properties associated with pro-drop; the types of null category involved in null-subject phenomena and their identification; and the typology of null-subject languages, with a special focus on partial null-subject languages. Chapters include both novel empirical data and new theoretical analyses covering the major approaches to null subjects in generative grammar. A wide range of languages are examined, ranging from the most commonly studied in research into null subjects, such as Finnish and Italian, to lesser-studied languages such as Vietnamese and Polish, minority languages such as Cimbrian and Kashubian, and historical varieties such as Old French and Old High German. The research presented also contributes to the understanding of other key syntactic phenomena, such as the nature of control, the role of information structure and semantics in syntax, the mechanisms of language change, and the formalization of language variation. The breadth and depth of the volume will make it a valuable resource not only for generative syntacticians, but also for all those working in the fields of historical linguistics, typology, comparative grammar, semantics, and theoretical and descriptive linguistics more generally.

Null Subjects

Null Subjects
Author: José Camacho
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2013-04-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1107034108

This book provides an accessible and original account of null subject phenomena, and encompasses the most recent findings and developments.

Null Subjects in Generative Grammar

Null Subjects in Generative Grammar
Author: Federica Cognola
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2018
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0198815859

This book considers the null-subject phenomenon, whereby some languages lack an overtly realized referential subject in specific contexts. It explores novel empirical data and new theoretical analyses covering the major approaches to null subjects in generative grammar, and examines a wide range of languages from different families.

Diachronic and Comparative Syntax

Diachronic and Comparative Syntax
Author: Ian Roberts
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 558
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1315310562

This book brings together for the first time a series of previously published papers featuring Ian Roberts’ pioneering work on diachronic and comparative syntax over the last thirty years in one comprehensive volume. Divided into two parts, the volume engages in recent key topics in empirical studies of syntactic theory, with the eight papers on diachronic syntax addressing major changes in the history of English as well as broader aspects of syntactic change, including the introduction to the formal approach to grammaticalisation, and the eight papers on comparative syntax exploring head-movement, the nature and distribution of clitics, and the nature of parametric variation and change. This comprehensive collection of the author’s body of research on diachronic and comparative syntax is an essential resource for scholars and researchers in theoretical, comparative, and historical linguistics.

Parameters and Functional Heads : Essays in Comparative Syntax

Parameters and Functional Heads : Essays in Comparative Syntax
Author: Perugia Adriana Belletti Associate Professor of Linguistics Universita per Stanieri
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 313
Release: 1996-03-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0198024886

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.

The Limits of Syntactic Variation

The Limits of Syntactic Variation
Author: Theresa Biberauer
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027255156

Against the background of the past half century s typological and generative work on comparative syntax, this volume brings together 16 papers considering what we have learned and may still be able to learn about the nature and extent of syntactic variation. More specifically, it offers a multi-perspective critique of the Principles and Parameters approach to syntactic variation, evaluating the merits and shortcomings of the pre-Minimalist phase of this enterprise and considering and illustrating the possibilities opened up by recent empirical and theoretical advances. Contributions focus on four central topics: firstly, the question of the locus of variation, whether the attested variation may plausibly be understood in parametric terms and, if so, what form such parameters might take; secondly, the fate of one of the most prominent early parameters, the Null Subject Parameter; thirdly, the matter of parametric clusters more generally; and finally, acquisition issues.

Arguments and Agreement

Arguments and Agreement
Author: Peter Ackema
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2006-09-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 019928573X

This book explores the role of agreement morphology in the morphosyntactic realization of a verb's arguments. It examines the differences and parallels between configurational and nonconfigurational languages, languages that allow pronoun drop only in particular constructions, and languages which always require overt syntactic determiner phrases as arguments. These and related issues are explored in the context of a wide range of languages. The book will interest linguists at graduate level and above concerned with morphosyntactic theory, typology, and the interactions of syntax and morphology in different languages.