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Studies in Generative Linguistic Analysis
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Anaphora in Generative Grammar
Author(s): Thomas WasowPublication Date January 1979More LessIntuitively, it is clear why languages have anaphoric relations: anaphora reduces redundancy, thereby shortening (and hence simplifying) sentences. In order for this simplification to be possible, however, it is necessary that the speaker of a language be able to identify correctly the elements participating in an anaphoric relation and to determine correctly the meaning of the anaphor on the basis of meaning of the antecedent. If a grammar is to reflect the linguistic competence of a native speaker of a language, it must include mechanisms of associating anaphor and antecedent. In this volume the following questions will be considered: What sorts of mechanisms are best suited for representing anaphora in a grammar? What are the conditions on the rule(s) associating anaphors with antecedents? Do the various cases of anaphora form a linguistically significant class of phenomena, and, if so, how can the grammar capture this fact? And what do these answers entail for linguistic theory?
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Focus in Generative Grammar
Author(s): Michael RochemontPublication Date January 1986More LessThe topic of this book is the notion of ‘focus’ and its linguistic characterization. The main thesis is that focus has a uniform grammatical identification only as a syntactic element with – in English at least – a certain systematic phonological interpretation and – presumably universally – a range of semantic interpretations. In broad respects, the framework within this investigation is conducted is that of Chomsky & Lasnik (1977) and the subsequent Government and Binding framework. After considering defining the location of prominence in a focused phrase in terms of constituent structure, the author argues that an argument structure approach to the focus phrase/prominence relation is more promising. This is then exemplified in analyses of cleft focus and constructional focus.
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The Structure of Complementation
Author(s): Antonio Carlos QuicoliPublication Date January 1982More LessThe study of complementation has received considerable attention in generative studies. Following Rosenbaum's (1967) pioneering study of the English complement system, there are extensive studies by Lakoff (1965), Ross (1967), Perlmutter (1971) and a large number of publications. More recent detailed studies are Emonds (1970) and Bresnan (1972) . These studies have increased enormously the body of factual knowledge about the complement system of English, and about the phenomenon of complementation in general. As a consequence there are a number of empirical hypotheses about the structure of human languages which must now be tested against facts of different languages. Of these hypotheses, perhaps the most interesting is that the grammars of all languages make use of the principle of the transformational cycle. Testing this hypothesis constitutes one of the main concerns of the present book. Furthermore, these studies have also raised numerous interesting empirical issues of great importance for linguistic theory, most of which are still awaiting fresh evidence from different languages in order to be settled. This study is directed towards resolving some of these issues by adducing relevent data, primarily from Portuguese.
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The (w)hole of the doughnut
Author(s): S.-Y. KurodaPublication Date January 1979More LessFrom the author’s preface: "I once facetiously stated: 'Syntax is to semantics as the hole of the doughnut is to the whole of the doughnut.' Semantics without syntax, thus, is like a doughnut without a hole. This was in the heyday of generative semantics, and having heard that my major interest was syntax, someone was able, perhaps also facetiously, to respond: 'Does it exist?' Most of the papers collected here originated in those days and previously appeared in various linguistic journals and anthologies. The reader may note that the topics dealt with in these papers all have their roots in syntax, but in most cases relate to its boundary areas. The boundary areas are not restricted to semantics, but the above analogy of the doughnut might still apply to what syntax is to those boundary areas. Hence the title of the book."
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