On the Internal Structure of Spanish Verbless Clauses

On the Internal Structure of Spanish Verbless Clauses
Author: Melvin González-Rivera
Publisher:
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

Abstract: In this dissertation I discuss several aspects of the syntax, semantics and discourse properties of what I call Spanish verbless clauses -i.e. non-finite utterances with clausal properties: Spanish PredNP muy listo este tío 'very intelligent this guy', Spanish PP complement clause me sorprende lo caro del piso 'it amazes me how expensive this apartment is', and Spanish Qualitative Binominal Noun Phases (QBNPs): comparative QBNP el tonto del alcalde 'the idiot of the mayor' and attributive QBNP un tonto de alcalde 'an idiot of a mayor'. In each of these clauses there is a subject-predicate relationship. The analysis advanced here is that Spanish PredNP, PP complement clauses and comparative QBNP can be analyzed in terms of predicate inversion. Movement of the predicate in each case is due to a strong semantic feature [+X] that needs to be discharged in the course of the syntactic derivation. It is argued that in Spanish PredNP the strong feature evaluativity [+E] is responsible for predicate inversion, while in PP complement clauses and comparative QBNP the strong feature gradability [+G] triggers movement of the predicate over its subject. In addition, it is argued that a copula or RELATOR lies between the understood subject and predicate of the clauses under analysis. In PP complement clauses and comparative QBNP this RELATOR is the nominal copula de 'of'', which is a meaningless element whose presence in the structure is forced by syntactic constraints. In Spanish PredNP the RELATOR is not empty -i.e. it accommodates the tense feature. This proposal is based on an insight by Benmamoun (2008), who has argued that tense is universally projected even though it does not need to co-occur with a verbal head. The syntactic analysis of attributive QBNP, on the other hand, is different from the previous analysis -i.e. these clauses do not involve predicate inversion. If syntax determines semantics and syntax-semantics interface is a function from syntax (Pollard 2006), then the most natural hypothesis is to assume that the syntax of comparative and attributive QBNPs is different, given that the interpretation of both clauses is not the same. The syntactic analysis developed here is couched within a Generalized Minimalist Grammar (GMG), as developed by Gutiérrez-Rexach (1997, 1998). The rationale for a generalized minimalist grammar analysis lies on the assumption that this grammar provides logical formulation to current generativist grammar (e.g. Chomsky 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001; and other authors). In other words, GMG formalizes minimalist ideas. This is by no means a unique enterprise. Lecomte (2005, 2008), for example, seeks a categorial embodiment of Chomsky's minimalist ideas in what he calls Categorial-Minimalist Grammars (CMGs). The goal of such approaches (i.e. GMG, CMGs, etc.) is to emphasize the role played by the lexicon and by very general operations, like e.g. Merge and Move in the minimalist framework, or Application and Abstraction in Categorial Grammars (Lecomte 2005).

Current Formal Aspects of Spanish Syntax and Semantics

Current Formal Aspects of Spanish Syntax and Semantics
Author: Melvin González-Rivera
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2012-04-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 144383940X

This book is a compilation of articles on different aspects of Spanish grammar in the areas of current theoretical syntax and semantics. The issue brings together scholars working on some formal aspects of Spanish predicative complementation (e.g., dequeísmo), neuter demonstrative pronouns, the subject of Psych verbs, the nature of non-verbal predication, and the internal structure of the Determiner Phrase (DP), cf. gender variation, among other topics. Linguists and philologists with interests in Spanish and/or in other Romance languages are the main target audience. The book will appeal also to researchers and students specializing in generative grammar, semantics and in the syntax/semantics interface. It will also be of interest to historical linguists and dialectologists addressing theoretical/formal issues (cf. Afro-Bolivian Spanish). The research in this book points to a cohesiveness in Spanish linguistics that lies in the integration of up-to-date empirically-based linguistic research with current theoretical assumptions on the nature of syntax and semantics.

Language Patterns in Spanish and Beyond

Language Patterns in Spanish and Beyond
Author: Juan J. Colomina-Almiñana
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2020-10-25
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1000193128

The scholarly articles included in this volume represent significant contributions to the fields of formal and descriptive syntax, conversational analysis and speech act theory, as well as language development and bilingualism. Taken together, these studies adopt a variety of methodological techniques—ranging from grammaticality judgments to corpus-based analysis to experimental approaches—to offer rich insights into different aspects of Ibero-Romance grammar. The volume consists of three parts, organized in accordance with the topics treated in the chapters they comprise. Part I focuses on structural patterns, Part II analyzes pragmatic ones, and Part III investigates the acquisition of linguistic aspects found in the speech of L1, L2 and heritage speakers. The authors address these issues by relying on empirically rooted linguistic approaches to data collection, which are coupled with current theoretical assumptions on the nature of sentence structure, discourse dynamics and language acquisition. The volume will be of interest to anyone researching or studying Hispanic and Ibero-Romance linguistics.

Enciclopedia de Lingüística Hispánica

Enciclopedia de Lingüística Hispánica
Author: Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1774
Release: 2016-01-29
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 131749802X

The Enciclopedia de Linguistica Hispánica provides comprehensive coverage of the major and subsidiary fields of Spanish linguistics. Entries are extensively cross-referenced and arranged alphabetically within three main sections: Part 1 covers linguistic disciplines, approaches and methodologies. Part 2 brings together the grammar of Spanish, including subsections on phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Part 3 brings together the historical, social and geographical factors in the evolution of Spanish. Drawing on the expertise of a wide range of contributors from across the Spanish-speaking world the Enciclopedia de Linguistica Hispánica is an indispensable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Spanish, and for anyone with an academic or professional interest in the Spanish language/Spanish linguistics.

Left Sentence Peripheries in Spanish

Left Sentence Peripheries in Spanish
Author: Andreas Dufter
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027270295

Since the advent of syntactic cartography, left sentence peripheries have begun to take center stage in linguistic research. Following the lead of Rizzi (1997), much work on left peripheries has been focused on Italian, whereas other Romance languages have attracted somewhat less attention. This volume offers a well-balanced set of articles investigating left sentence peripheries in Spanish. Some articles explore the historical evolution of left dislocation and fronting operations, while others seek to assess the extent – and the limits – of variation found between different geographical varieties and registers of the contemporary language. Moreover, the volume comprises several case studies on the interfaces between syntax, semantics, and information structure, and the implications of these for pragmatic interpretation and the organization of discourse. Cross-linguistic and typological perspectives are also provided in due course in order to position the analyses developed for Spanish within a larger research context.

Syntactic and Semantic Variation in Copular Sentences

Syntactic and Semantic Variation in Copular Sentences
Author: Daniel J. Wilson
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2020-07-16
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027260966

This book presents a novel account of syntactic and semantic variation in copular and existential sentences in Classical Hebrew. Like many languages, the system of Classical Hebrew copular sentences is quite complex, containing zero, pronominal, and verbal forms as well as eventive and inchoative semantics. Approaching this subject from the framework of Distributed Morphology provides an elegant and comprehensive explanation for both the syntactic and semantic variation in these sentences. This book also presents a theoretical model for analyzing copular sentences in other languages included related phenomena– such as pseudo-copulas. It is also a demonstration of what can be gained by applying modern linguistic analyses to dead languages. Citing and building off previous studies on this topic, this book will be of interest to those interested in the theoretical examination of copular and existential sentences and to those interested in Classical Hebrew more specifically.

Spanish Verbalisations and the Internal Structure of Lexical Predicates

Spanish Verbalisations and the Internal Structure of Lexical Predicates
Author: Antonio Fábregas
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2022-07-12
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1000625265

Spanish Verbalisations and the Internal Structure of Lexical Predicates provides the first comprehensive and empirically detailed theoretical analysis of the different ways in which Spanish builds verbs from nouns and adjectives. This book poses questions about the nature of theme vowels, parasynthesis and the structural relation between the three major lexical word classes from within a Neo-Constructionist framework that highlights the correlations between the syntactic and semantic behaviour of verbs and their morphological make up. Provided within are detailed empirical descriptions of each of the nine major ways of building lexical verbs in Spanish, as well as an integral analysis of those patterns that shows the significance of the contrast between them and their uses to address some foundational questions in morphological theory. Spanish Verbalisations will be of particular interest to researchers in formal linguistics and Spanish. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Romance Perspectives on Construction Grammar

Romance Perspectives on Construction Grammar
Author: Hans C. Boas
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2014-08-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027269637

The chapters in this book show how the different flavors of Construction Grammar provide illuminating insights into the syntax, semantics, pragmatics and discourse-functional properties of specific phenomena in Romance languages such as (Castilian) Spanish, French, Romanian, and Latin from a synchronic as well as a diachronic viewpoint. The phenomena surveyed include the role of constructional meanings in novel verb-noun compounds in Spanish, the relevance of lexicalization for a constructionist analysis of complex prepositions in French, the complementariness of fragments, patterns and constructions as theoretical and explanatory constructs in verb complementation in French, Latin, and Spanish, non-constituent coordination phenomena (e.g. Right Node Raising, Argument Cluster Coordination and Gapping) in Romanian, and variable type framing in Spanish constructions of directed motion in the light of Leonard Talmy’s (2000) typological differences of lexicalization between satellite-framed and verb-framed languages.

The Clausal Structure of Spanish

The Clausal Structure of Spanish
Author: Francisco Ordonez
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1135715610

This work studies various aspects of word order and clause structure in Spanish that have proved problematic for syntactic theory. These aspects are explored theoretically in light of the antisymmetry approach of Kayne (1994) and empirically by examining parallel structures in related languages. For example, the author uses antisymmetry to critique the traditional understanding of post-verbal subjects, which have assumed a right-adjunction approach. However, he provides empirical as well as theoretical reasons to believe that a combination of leftward movements constitutes a better alternative. Likewise, the study uses a number of combined theoretical and empirical arguments to provide new and more constrained analyses of overt wh -movement and pre-verbal subjects. It shows that the obligatory post-verbal positioning of overt subjects cannot be explained by recourse to a required overt head movement of the verb. Instead, the author explains this restriction by proposing that overt subjects, which are always topicalized in Spanish, conflict with the feature specifications of wh -complementizers. Finally, the author relates the obligatory topicalized nature of pre-verbal subjects in Spanish to a proposal that person agreement morphemes on the verb should be considered arguments that receive the subject theta-role. This book will be of interest to syntacticians and comparitivists, as well as scholars of Romance languages.