Verbal Complexes

Verbal Complexes
Author: Hilda Judith Koopman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780262611541

The central idea of Dynamic Antisymmetry is that movement and phrase structure are not independent properties of grammar; more specifically, that movement is triggered by the geometry of phrase structure. Assuming a minimalist framework, movement is traced back to the necessity for natural language to organize words in linear order at the interface with the perceptual-articulatory module.Andrea Moro uses this innovative perspective to analyze several empirical domains, focusing on small clauses, split wh-movement, and clitic constructions. In a final speculative chapter, he examines the general consequences for the design of grammar implied by Dynamic Antisymmetry.The book is self-contained, with a synopsis of current theories of movement and a synthetic presentation of the theory of antisymmetry. An appendix presents the essentials of a unified theory of copular sentences, which plays a central role in the argument and has several important consequences for syntax, for example, for expletives and locality.Linguistic Inquiry Monograph No. 38

The Verbal Complex in Subordinate Clauses from Medieval to Modern German

The Verbal Complex in Subordinate Clauses from Medieval to Modern German
Author: Christopher D. Sapp
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2011
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027255563

This research monograph is an empirical and theoretical study of clause-final verbal complexes in the history of German. The book presents corpus studies of Middle High German and Early New High German and surveys of contemporary varieties of German. These investigations of the verbal complex address not only the frequencies of the word orders, but also the linguistic factors that influence them. On that empirical basis, the analysis adopted is the classic verb-final approach, with alternative orders derived by Verb (Projection) Raising. Verb Raising in these historical and modern varieties is subject to morphological, prosodic, and sociolinguistic restrictions, suggesting that the orders in question are not driven by narrow syntax but by their effects at the interface with phonology. This study will be of interest to students and scholars studying the diachronic syntax of German, West Germanic dialect syntax, and the relationship between prosody and word order.

Verb-Verb Complexes in Asian Languages

Verb-Verb Complexes in Asian Languages
Author: Taro Kageyama
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2021-02-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191077437

This volume is the first to present a detailed survey of the systems of verb-verb complexes in Asian languages from both a synchronic and diachronic perspective. Many Asian languages share, to a greater or lesser extent, a unique class of compound verbs consisting of a main verb and a quasi-auxiliary verb known as a 'vector' or 'explicator'. These quasi-auxiliary verbs exhibit unique grammatical behaviour that suggests that they have an intermediate status between full lexical verbs and wholly reduced auxiliaries. They are also semantically unique, in that when they are combined with main verbs, they can convey a rich variety of functional meanings beyond the traditional notions of tense, aspect, and modality, such as manner and intensity of action, benefaction for speaker or hearer, and polite or derogatory styles in speech. In this book, leading specialists in a range of Asian languages offer an in-depth analysis of the long-standing questions relating to the diachrony and geographical distribution of verb-verb complexes. The findings have implications for the general understanding of the grammaticalization of verb categories, complex predicate formation, aktionsart and event semantics, the morphology-syntax-semantics interface, areal linguistics, and typology.

Studies in West Frisian Grammar

Studies in West Frisian Grammar
Author: Germen J. de Haan
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2010-08-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027287988

In this volume, Germen de Haan gives a multi-faceted view of the syntax, sociolinguistics, and phonology of West-Frisian. The author discusses distinct aspects of the syntax of verbs in Frisian: finiteness and Verb Second, embedded root phenomena, the verbal complex, verbal complementation, and complementizer agreement. Because Frisian has minority language status and is of interest to sociolinguists, the author reviews the linguistic changes in Frisian under the influence of the dominant Dutch language and, more generally, reflects on how to deal with contact-induced change in grammar. Finally, in three phonological articles, the author discusses nasalization in Frisian, the putatively symmetrical vowel inventory of Frisian, and the variation between schwa + sonorant consonants and syllabic sonorant consonants.

Verb Clusters

Verb Clusters
Author: Katalin É. Kiss
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2004-05-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902729559X

Many languages have constructions in which verbs cluster. But few languages have verb clusters as rich and complex as Continental West Germanic and Hungarian. Furthermore the precise ordering properties and the variation in the cluster patterns are remarkably similar in Hungarian and Germanic. This similarity is, of course, unexpected since Hungarian is not an Indo-European language like the Germanic language group. Instead it appears that the clustering, inversion and roll-up patterns found may constitute an areal feature. This book presents the relevant language data in considerable detail, taking into account also the variation observed, for example, among dialects. But it also discusses the various analytical approaches that can be brought to bear on this set of phenomena. In particular, there are various hypotheses as to what is the underlying driving force behind cluster formation: stress patterns, aspectual features, morpho- syntactic constraints? And the analytical approaches are closely linked to a number of questions that are at the core of current syntactic theorizing: does head movement exist or should all apparent verb displacement be reduced to remnant movement, are morphology and syntax really just different sides of the same coin?

Constraints on Pulaar Phonology

Constraints on Pulaar Phonology
Author: Mamadou Ousmane Niang
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 172
Release: 1996
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780761806110

Constraints in Pulaar Phonology provides clear and convincing analyses and solutions to linguistic phenomena whose treatment in the literature remained unsatisfactory until now. An analysis of the metrical structure and other morphological and phonological processes in Pulaar shows the need for further distinctions beyond the generally admitted binary ones. The argument is supported by various processes that obtain in Pulaar, a dialect of Fula, a language of the West Atlantic Branch of the Niger Congo Language Family. The analyses adopted show Pulaar not only breaks this binary distinction but also makes a four way weight distinction in contrast to other views according to which only a two way weight distinction prevails in languages. The analysis of the metrical system of Pulaar shows that stress assignment is sensitive to the "sonority" hierarchy of the syllables in the word. Four sonority levels (CV

Complex Predicates in Nonderivational Syntax

Complex Predicates in Nonderivational Syntax
Author: Erhard Hinrichs
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2020-06-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0585492220

Complex Predicates in Nonderivational Syntax collects recent research in complex predicates within a variety of languages, such as German, Dutch, Italian, French, Korean, and Urdu. Recognizing that complex predicates is one of the most active research areas in nonderivational theories of grammar, contributors focus on diverse aspects of complex predicate phenomena, including order variation, constituency relations, interactions with other construction types, argument relations, and the syntax morphology interface. Their concentration on issues of linguistically adequate description open these articles to those interested in syntax, semantics, morphology, computational linguistics, and natural language processing. It includes essays written by the leading researchers in the field, including Ivan Sag. It makes the clearest and most advanced statement to date about complex predicates.

The Clause-Typing System of Plains Cree

The Clause-Typing System of Plains Cree
Author: Clare Cook
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2014-02-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191625914

This book offers detailed empirical coverage of the syntax and semantics of Plains Cree, an Algonquian language of western Canada. It combines careful elicitation with corpus studies to provide the first systematic investigation of the two distinct verbal inflectional paradigms - independent and conjunct - in the language. The book argues that the independent order denotes an indexical clause type with familiar deictic properties, while the conjunct order is an anaphoric clause type whose reference is determined by rules of anaphoric dependence. Both syntactic and semantic considerations are examined: on the syntactic side, indexical clauses are shown to be restricted to a subset of matrix environments, and to exclude proforms that have clause-external antecedents or induce cross-clausal dependencies. Anaphoric clauses have an elsewhere distribution: they occur in both matrix and dependent contexts, and freely host and participate in cross-clausal dependencies. The semantic discussion focusses primarily on the context in which a proposition is evaluated: it shows that indexical clauses have absolute tense and a speaker origo, consistent with deixis on a speech act; anaphoric clauses, by contrast, use anaphoric dependencies to establish the evaluation context. Data from Plains Cree is compared to the matrix/subordinate system found in English, to the clause-chaining system of the Amele language of Papua New Guinea, and to Romance subjunctive clauses. The book also provides the first micro-typology of pronominal marking and initial change in Algonquian languages.