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.

Manual of Grammatical Interfaces in Romance

Manual of Grammatical Interfaces in Romance
Author: Susann Fischer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 755
Release: 2016-09-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110394839

Different components of grammar interact in non-trivial ways. It has been under debate what the actual range of interaction is and how we can most appropriately represent this in grammatical theory. The volume provides a general overview of various topics in the linguistics of Romance languages by examining them through the interaction of grammatical components and functions as a state-of-the-art report, but at the same time as a manual of Romance languages.

The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Linguistics

The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Linguistics
Author: Jeffrey Lidz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1041
Release: 2016
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0199601267

In this handbook, renowned scholars from a range of backgrounds provide a state of the art review of key developmental findings in language acquisition. The book places language acquisition phenomena in a richly linguistic and comparative context, highlighting the link between linguistic theory, language development, and theories of learning. The book is divided into six parts. Parts I and II examine the acquisition of phonology and morphology respectively, with chapters covering topics such as phonotactics and syllable structure, prosodic phenomena, compound word formation, and processing continuous speech. Part III moves on to the acquisition of syntax, including argument structure, questions, mood alternations, and possessives. In Part IV, chapters consider semantic aspects of language acquisition, including the expression of genericity, quantification, and scalar implicature. Finally, Parts V and VI look at theories of learning and aspects of atypical language development respectively.

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.

Null Subjects in Englishes

Null Subjects in Englishes
Author: Verena Schröter
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2019-09-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110649268

This book presents the first systematic quantitative study of null subjects not only in British English, but also in the contact varieties Indian, Hong Kong and Singapore English. Analysing informal spoken language, it addresses issues relevant for language contact and World Englishes, corpus linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics, linguistic typology and syntax.

Topic Drop and Null Subjects in German

Topic Drop and Null Subjects in German
Author: Ewa Trutkowski
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-04-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110437244

This monograph deals with argument drop in the German prefield and it presents new insights into null subjects, topic drop and the interpretation of topic dropped elements. Major issues are (inter alia) the drop of structurally vs. obliquely cased arguments and the question on which basis nominative/accusative and dative/genitive can be kept apart. Furthermore, it is shown that the (im)possibility of phi-feature mismatches concerning the antecedent and gap in topic drop dialogues allows to differentiate between coreference and "real" (quantifier) binding. Aside from topic drop, (1st/2nd vs. 3rd person) null subjects are investigated across a couple of unrelated languages, also focusing on the presence of syncretisms within verbal inflectional paradigms. It is proven that 1st/2nd person null subjects in German are not an instance of antecedent-dependent topic drop but that they are licensed by discrete verbal inflectional endings. Thus, according to this property, German can be classified as a partial pro-drop language. Next to theoretical discussions and considerations this book offers a broad (empirically covered) data basis, which makes it suitable for both theoretically and empirically interested (generative) linguists.

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.

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.

Syntactic Change in Medieval French

Syntactic Change in Medieval French
Author: Barbara S. Vance
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9401588430

1. 0. V2 AND NULL SUBJECTS IN THE HIS TORY OF FRENCH The prototypical Romance null subject language has certain well known characteristics: verbal inflection is rich, distinguishing six per sonlnumber forms; subject pronouns are generally emphatic; and, when there is no need to emphasize the subject, the pronoun is not expressed at all. Spanish and Italian, for example, fit this description rather weIl. Modem French, however, provides a striking contrast to these lan guages; it does not allow subjects to be missing and, not unexpectedly, it has a verbal agreement system with few overt endings and subject pronouns which are not emphatic. One of the goals of the present work is to examine null subjects in two dialects of Romance that fit neither the Italian nor the French model: later Old French (12th-13th centriries) and MiddIe French (14th- 15th centuries). Old French has null subjects only in contexts where the subject would be postverbal if expressed (cf. Foulet (1928)), and Mid dIe French has null subjects in a wider range of syntactic contexts but does not freely allow a11 persons of the verb to be null. The work of Vanelli, Renzi and Beninca (1985) (along with many other works by these authors individually) shows that a number of other geographically proximate medieval dialects had similar systems, though it appears that there are significant differences in detail among them.