A Semantics For The English Existential Construction

Author : Louise McNally
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 181 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2016-11-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781315536477

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A Semantics for the English Existential Construction by Louise McNally Pdf

First published in 1997, this book addresses the question: What is the interpretation of English there-existential construction? One of the principal goals is to develop an interpretation for the construction that will specifically address other properties of the postcopular DP. After outlining the problem, the author goes on to present a syntactic motivation for the claim that the postcopular DP is the sole complement to the existential predicate, as well as for the claim that the optional final phrase is a predictive adjunct. In chapter 3 the interpretation for the basic existential construction is developed and then compared to analyses that take the postcopular DP to denote an ordinary individual or a generalised quantifier of individuals. This analysis is then augmented to account for the contribution of the final XP and shows how the predicate restriction can be derived from a more general condition on depictive/circumstantial VP-adjuncts. The final chapter contain some speculative discussion of the broader implications of the proposal in the context of data such as "list" existential and "presentational-there" sentences.

Author : Geoffrey S. Nathan
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 142 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:1106899439

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The Syntax and Semantics of the English Existential Construction by Geoffrey S. Nathan Pdf

Author : Ileana Comorovski,Klaus von Heusinger
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2008-08-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781402061981

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Existence: Semantics and Syntax by Ileana Comorovski,Klaus von Heusinger Pdf

This collection of essays grew out of the workshop ‘Existence: Semantics and Syntax’, which was held at the University of Nancy 2 in September 2002. The workshop, organized by Ileana Comorovski and Claire Gardent, was supported by a grant from the Reseau ́ de Sciences Cognitives du Grand Est (‘Cognitive Science Network of the Greater East’), which is gratefully acknowledged. The ?rst e- tor wishes to thank Claire Gardent, Fred Landman, and Georges Rebuschi for encouraging her to pursue the publication of a volume based on papers presented at the workshop. Among those who participated in the workshop was Klaus von Heusinger, who joined Ileana Comorovski in editing this volume. Besides papers that developed out of presentations at the workshop, the volume contains invited contributions. We are grateful to Wayles Browne, Fred Landman, Paul Portner, and Georges Rebuschi for their help with reviewing some of the papers. Our thanks go also to a Springer reviewer for the careful reading of the book manuscript. We wish to thank all the participants in the workshop, not only those whose contributions appear in this volume, for making the workshop an int- active and constructive event. Ileana Comorovski Klaus von Heusinger vii ILEANA COMOROVSKI AND KLAUS VON HEUSINGER INTRODUCTION The notion of ‘existence’, which we take to have solid intuitive grounding, plays a central role in the interpretation of at least three types of linguistic constructions: copular clauses, existential sentences, and (in)de?nite noun phrases.

Author : Michael Lumsden
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2014-02-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781317933717

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Existential Sentences (RLE Linguistics B: Grammar) by Michael Lumsden Pdf

What is the relationship between the structure of existential sentences and their meaning? How do hearers interpret existential sentences using pragmatic assumptions? This study attempts to account for the relationship between the structure of existential sentences (ES) and their meaning. The study of ES has received a great deal of attention because the construction has complex syntactic properties, is associated with restrictions of a semantic nature, and provides an interesting area for investigation at a pragmatic level.

Author : Kim Yookyung
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 414 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Electronic
ISBN : STANFORD:36105019784052

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A Situation Semantic Account of Existential Sentences by Kim Yookyung Pdf

Author : Simone E. Pfenninger
Publisher : Peter Lang
Page : 386 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : English language
ISBN : 3034300212

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Grammaticalization Paths of English and High German Existential Constructions by Simone E. Pfenninger Pdf

Existential constructions are a fundamental feature of many Indo-European languages, and constructions with non-referential subjects have developed in all of the latter, albeit at different stages in their histories. High German does not feature a prototypical existential construction that is equivalent in syntactic and pragmatic function and semantic meaning to the English existential there-construction. How did a prototypical existential structure originate in English? Why is it that High German has never developed such a construction? Has it ever shown a tendency towards developing one? How did two closely related languages such as English and High German come to differ so much with respect to these constructions? By means of investigating a variety of historical and contemporary data this study shows that not only semantic, pragmatic and syntactic factors are involved, which decide the choice of a certain construction, but also very much the more general different linguistic development that the two languages underwent in the course of time.

Author : Gary L. Milsark
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2014-01-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781317931577

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Existential Sentences in English (RLE Linguistics D: English Linguistics) by Gary L. Milsark Pdf

In order to bring some minimal amount of order to the chaos that almost inevitably attends the use of the word ‘existential’ in a linguistic investigation, the author reserved the term existential sentence (ES) to designate all and only those English sentences in which there appears an occurrence of the unstressed, non-deictic, ‘existential’ there. Thus the term will be used as a characterisation of a class of syntactic objects, not as a semantic description. With ES sentences including formations such as ‘There were several people talking’ and ‘There ensued a riot’, perhaps nowhere else do we find so clearly displayed the complexity and subtlety of the syntactic and semantic interactions which determine the nature of human language.

Author : Laure Sarda,Ludovica Lena
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 364 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2023-07-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027252883

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Existential Constructions across Languages by Laure Sarda,Ludovica Lena Pdf

This volume reflects the centrality of the existential construction in current linguistic research and offers studies that both consolidate and challenge established research agendas. It addresses (i) a variety of constructions related to ‘prototypical’ existentials (including the have-possessive construction), and investigates (ii) the relationships between locative, existential, and information structure, (iii) the quantification of the pivot and (iv) the issue of negative existentials. It brings together different and complementary approaches (functional, cognitive, pragmatic, typological, comparative, diachronic, philosophical) based on a wide variety of data sources. The contributions illustrate how the so-called existential construction can take a variety of forms – more or less grammaticalized – and functions – ranging from the expression of literal existence to that of localization and discursive focus – in a wide range of languages. The book will be valuable for linguists, researchers or students, interested in the cross-linguistic manifestations of existential constructions at the interface between syntax, semantics and information structure.

Author : Lyle Jenkins
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2012-10-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783111357188

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The English existential by Lyle Jenkins Pdf

Over the past few decades, the book series Linguistische Arbeiten [Linguistic Studies], comprising over 500 volumes, has made a significant contribution to the development of linguistic theory both in Germany and internationally. The series will continue to deliver new impulses for research and maintain the central insight of linguistics that progress can only be made in acquiring new knowledge about human languages both synchronically and diachronically by closely combining empirical and theoretical analyses. To this end, we invite submission of high-quality linguistic studies from all the central areas of general linguistics and the linguistics of individual languages which address topical questions, discuss new data and advance the development of linguistic theory.

Author : Susann Fischer,Tanja Kupisch,Esther Rinke
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 475 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2016-08-17
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781443898003

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Definiteness Effects by Susann Fischer,Tanja Kupisch,Esther Rinke Pdf

This volume explores in detail the empirical and conceptual content of the definiteness effect in grammar. It brings together a variety of relevant observations from a typological, diachronic and a bilingual/second language acquisition perspective, and provides a general overview of different approaches concerned with the syntactic, morphological, semantic, and pragmatic properties of the Definiteness Effect in a series of European and non-European languages.

Author : Hideki Kishimoto,Osamu Sawada,Ikumi Imani
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 472 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2023-12-18
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 9783110755121

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Polarity-Sensitive Expressions by Hideki Kishimoto,Osamu Sawada,Ikumi Imani Pdf

Polarity (positive, negative) is one of the most fundamental concepts in the system of language and there are many expressions that are sensitive to polarity. For example, any in English and wh-mo in Japanese appear in negative contexts, but not in positive contexts. While previous studies have shown that polarity-sensitive expressions are a general phenomenon in languages, it has also become clear that there are variations in polarity-sensitive expressions. This volume explores the variations in polarity-sensitive expressions through comparisons between Japanese and other languages, such as English, German, Spanish, and Old Japanese, and examines the environments and contexts in which polarity-sensitive expressions occur, as well as the types of (cross-linguistic) variation allowed. The value of the present volume lies in its inclusion of research papers inquiring into various types of polarity-sensitive expressions, such as negative-, positive-, and discourse-sensitive polarity items as well as their variations. The research indicates new directions for the study of polarity-sensitive expressions in the fields of syntax, semantics, pragmatics, historical linguistics, corpus linguistics and psycholinguistics.

Author : Henrik Høeg Müller,Alex Klinge
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2008-07-09
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027290304

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Essays on Nominal Determination by Henrik Høeg Müller,Alex Klinge Pdf

This volume brings together scholars of diverse theoretical persuasions who all share an interest in capturing the role that nominal determination and reference assignment play in the complicated interplay between thought, language and communication. The articles can be divided roughly into five main areas of concern: the conceptual level of determination; the emergence and function of articles; their semantic contribution to nominal interpretation; the morphology and syntax of determiners; and the interplay and contrasts between articles, demonstratives and possessives. Thus, linguistic and philosophical issues in the subject field of nominal determination are addressed at all interface levels between morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This volume shows that different theoretical frameworks may be brought fruitfully together in the effort to formulate new analyses of well-known problems, but also to raise new questions and point to new areas which may prove interesting topics for future research both in functional and formal paradigms.

Author : Artemis Alexiadou,Elisabeth Sophia Maria Verhoeven
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2021-11-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110757255

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The Syntax of Argument Structure by Artemis Alexiadou,Elisabeth Sophia Maria Verhoeven Pdf

Die Buchreihe Linguistische Arbeiten hat mit über 500 Bänden zur linguistischen Theoriebildung der letzten Jahrzehnte in Deutschland und international wesentlich beigetragen. Die Reihe wird auch weiterhin neue Impulse für die Forschung setzen und die zentrale Einsicht der Sprachwissenschaft präsentieren, dass Fortschritt in der Erforschung der menschlichen Sprachen nur durch die enge Verbindung von empirischen und theoretischen Analysen sowohl diachron wie synchron möglich ist. Daher laden wir hochwertige linguistische Arbeiten aus allen zentralen Teilgebieten der allgemeinen und einzelsprachlichen Linguistik ein, die aktuelle Fragestellungen bearbeiten, neue Daten diskutieren und die Theorieentwicklung vorantreiben.

Author : Weifeng Han,Chris Brebner
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2023-09-29
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781000951943

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Typical and Atypical Language Development in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity by Weifeng Han,Chris Brebner Pdf

Typical and Atypical Language Development in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity brings together state-of-the-art studies in both typical and atypical language development. Placing the topic in the context of cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD), the book offers readers serious theoretical consideration of the topic and provides implications for multilingual educational and clinical practices. The content covers a wide range of topics related to multilingual language development in CALD: typical and atypical language development in CALD, and the interface between both; the relationship between multilingual competence and academic performance in CALD; providing unbiased speech and language measures in CALD; and heritage and minority languages education in CALD. Each chapter outlines the core theoretical and practical issues and explores both theoretical and pedagogical/clinical implications in the area and possible future developments. This volume is an essential resource for all those who study, research, or are interested in multilingual development, educational linguistics, and clinical linguistics in the CALD context.

Author : Delia Bentley,Francesco Maria Ciconte,Silvio Cruschina
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 9780198745266

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Existentials and Locatives in Romance Dialects of Italy by Delia Bentley,Francesco Maria Ciconte,Silvio Cruschina Pdf

This volume provides the first ever large-scale comparative treatment of there sentences (there copula NP), reporting the results of a survey of Italo-Romance and Sardinian dialects of Italy. The volume comprises detailed discussions of focus structure, predication and argument realization, the definiteness effects, and the linking from semantics to syntax in there sentences, advancing novel proposals in each case. The testing of influential hypotheses on existential constructions against first-hand dialect evidence leads the book to argue that existential and locative there sentences differ in focus structure and semantics, although their not being predicate focus constructions and the non-canonicality of the predicate?which is typically referential'is reflected in their shared morphosyntactic features. The hypothesis that the pivot is the predicate of the existential construction is adopted in the analysis, although a distinction is drawn between referential and non-referential pivots, which explains variation in pivot behaviour in morphosyntax. The volume also provides the historical background of Romance there sentences, relying on the findings of the analysis of a substantial corpus of early Italo-Romance vernacular texts.