Contrast And Representations In Syntax

Author : Bronwyn M. Bjorkman,Daniel Currie Hall
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2020-10-05
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780192550194

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Contrast and Representations in Syntax by Bronwyn M. Bjorkman,Daniel Currie Hall Pdf

This book explores how grammatical oppositions - for instance, the contrast between present and past tense - are represented in the syntax of natural languages. The nature of syntactic contrast is tied to a fundamental question in generative syntactic theory: what is universal in syntax, and what is variable? The chapters in this volume examine the dual role of features, which both define a set of paradigmatic contrasts and act as the building blocks of syntactic structures and the drivers of syntactic operations. In both of these roles, features are increasingly considered the locus of parametric variation. This identification of parameters with features has opened up new possibilities for investigating connections between the morphological system of a language and its syntax, and suggests a new role for featural contrast in syntactic theory. The contributors to this volume address these two major questions from a range of perspectives, drawing on data from a variety of typologically diverse languages, including Blackfoot, Greek, Onondaga, and Scottish Gaelic.

Author : Richard S. Kayne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2010-08-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 019978017X

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Comparisons and Contrasts by Richard S. Kayne Pdf

Comparisons and Contrasts collects eleven of Richard Kayne's recent articles in theoretical syntax, with an emphasis on comparative syntax, which uses syntactic differences among languages to probe the properties of the human language faculty. Kayne attaches particular importance to uncovering the primitives of syntax/semantics, demonstrating the existence of silent elements that are syntactically and semantically active, and showing their distribution and limitations. He attempts to derive the very existence of the noun-verb distinction-and to account for the sharp differences between nouns and verbs and for the lack of parallelism between them-from the antisymmetric character of syntax. The common theme is an exploration of how wide a range of questions the field of syntax can reasonably attempt to ask and then answer. Comparisons and Contrasts will appeal to scholars and graduate students interested in syntax, semantics, and their effects on other areas of linguistics.

Author : Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781614511458

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The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast by Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen Pdf

This book addresses how core notions of information structure (topic, focus and contrast) are expressed in syntax. The authors propose that the syntactic effects of information structure come about as a result of mapping rules that are flexible enough to allow topics and foci to be expressed in a variety of positions, but strict enough to capture certain cross-linguistic generalisations about their distribution. In particular, the papers argue that only contrastive topics and contrastive foci undergo movement and that this is because such movement has the function of marking the scope of contrast. Several predications are derived from this proposal: such as that a focus cannot move across a topic – whether the latter is in situ or not. Syntactic and semantic evidence in support of this proposal is presented from a wide range of languages (including Dutch, English, Japanese, Korean and Russian) and theoretical consequences explored. The first chapter not only outlines its theoretical aims, but also provides an introduction to information structure. As a consequence, the book is accessible to advanced students as well as professional linguists.

Author : Denis Bouchard
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 1995-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0226067335

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The Semantics of Syntax by Denis Bouchard Pdf

During the last thirty years, most linguists and philosophers have assumed that meaning can be represented symbolically and that the mental processing of language involves the manipulation of symbols. Scholars have assembled strong evidence that there must be linguistic representations at several abstract levels—phonological, syntactic, and semantic—and that those representations are related by a describable system of rules. Because meaning is so complex, linguists often posit an equally complex relationship between semantic and other levels of grammar. The Semantics of Syntax is an elegant and powerful analysis of the relationship between syntax and semantics. Noting that meaning is underdetermined by form even in simple cases, Denis Bouchard argues that it is impossible to build knowledge of the world into grammar and still have a describable grammar. He thus proposes simple semantic representations and simple rules to relate linguistic levels. Focusing on a class of French verbs, Bouchard shows how multiple senses can be accounted for by the assumption of a single abstract core meaning along with background information about how objects behave in the world. He demonstrates that this move simplifies the syntax at no cost to the descriptive power of the semantics. In two important final chapters, he examines the consequences of his approach for standard syntactic theories.

Author : Elisabeth Rudolph
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 568 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2012-05-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110815856

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Contrast by Elisabeth Rudolph Pdf

Author : Maïté Dupont
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2021-06-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027260116

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Conjunctive Markers of Contrast in English and French by Maïté Dupont Pdf

Situated at the interface between corpus linguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, this volume focuses on conjunctive markers expressing contrast in English and French. The frequency and placement patterns of the markers are analysed using large corpora of texts from two written registers: newspaper editorials and research articles. The corpus study revisits the long-standing but largely unsubstantiated claim that French requires more explicit markers of cohesive conjunction than English and shows that the opposite is in fact the case. Novel insights into the placement preferences of English and French conjunctive markers are provided by a new approach to theme and rheme that attaches more importance to the rheme than previous studies. The study demonstrates the significant benefits of a combined corpus and Systemic Functional Linguistics approach to the cross-linguistic analysis of cohesion.

Author : Adrienne Lehrer,Eva Feder Kittay,Richard Lehrer
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 473 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2012-11-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781136475733

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Frames, Fields, and Contrasts by Adrienne Lehrer,Eva Feder Kittay,Richard Lehrer Pdf

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in the lexicon. The demand for a fuller and more adequate understanding of lexical meaning required by developments in computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science has stimulated a refocused interest in linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. Different disciplines have studied lexical structure from their own vantage points, and because scholars have only intermittently communicated across disciplines, there has been little recognition that there is a common subject matter. The conference on which this volume is based brought together interested thinkers across the disciplines of linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and computer science to exchange ideas, discuss a range of questions and approaches to the topic, consider alternative research strategies and methodologies, and formulate interdisciplinary hypotheses concerning lexical organization. The essay subjects discussed include: * alternative and complementary conceptions of the structure of the lexicon, * the nature of semantic relations and of polysemy, * the relation between meanings, concepts, and lexical organization, * critiques of truth-semantics and referential theories of meaning, * computational accounts of lexical information and structure, and * the advantages of thinking of the lexicon as ordered.

Author : Sigrid Beck,Remus Gergel
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2014-06-23
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110346190

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Contrasting English and German Grammar by Sigrid Beck,Remus Gergel Pdf

This book offers an introduction to the derivation of meaning that is accessible and worked out to facilite an understanding of key issues in compositional semantics. The syntactic background offered is generative, the major semantic tool used is set theory. These tools are applied step-by-step to develop essential interface topics and a selection of prominent contrastive topics with material from English and German.

Author : Maria Luisa Zubizarreta
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2019-11-18
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110859928

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Levels of representation in the lexicon and in the syntax by Maria Luisa Zubizarreta Pdf

The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.

Author : Reader in Linguistics Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2013-03-08
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1614511462

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The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast by Reader in Linguistics Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen Pdf

Main description: This book addresses how core notions of information structure (topic, focus and contrast) are expressed in syntax. We propose that the syntactic effects of information structure come about as a result of mapping rules flexible enough to allow topics and foci to be expressed in a variety of positions, but strict enough to capture certain cross-linguistic generalisations about their distribution. We discuss syntactic and semantic evidence from a range of languages. This book is of interest to professional linguists as well as advanced students.

Author : John Mathieson Anderson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199608331

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The Substance of Language Volume III: Phonology-Syntax Analogies by John Mathieson Anderson Pdf

Phonology-Syntax Analogies looks at the degree to which analogies between syntax and phonology result from their being representational subsystems within the overall system of language, at why they sometimes break down, and at how far semantic and phonetic properties limit such analogies.

Author : Tibor Kiss
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 707 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2015-03-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110363685

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Syntax - Theory and Analysis by Tibor Kiss Pdf

The handbook offers an overview of syntactic theory and analysis, in terms of different theories, different languages, and different methods. The Handbook presents the state of art in syntactic analysis, also dealing with the methodology employed, and the rules of argumentation required to achieve such analyses for a wide range of phenomena.

Author : Dana McDaniel,Cecile McKee,Helen Smith Cairns
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 414 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0262631903

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Methods for Assessing Children's Syntax by Dana McDaniel,Cecile McKee,Helen Smith Cairns Pdf

Designed in part as a handbook to assist in the choice and use of methods for investigating children's grammer, this volume presents a selection of methods and pointers for designing and conducting experimental studies and for evaluating research.

Author : Robin Clark
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2016-11-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781315519876

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Thematic Theory in Syntax and Interpretation by Robin Clark Pdf

In recent years, lexical argument structure, in the guise of thematic roles, has come to play an increasingly important part in syntactic theory. The first part of this book, first published in 1990, explores the interplay between thematic role assignment and movement processes, with particular reference to the explanatory problem of nominalisation. The second part explores the relationship between thematic roles and control. Particularly close attention is paid to implicit arguments, arbitrary control and adverbs of quantification. A theory of control is presented which unifies obligatory and non-obligatory control. The theory of control, furthermore, generalises to account for the binding gaps in purposive clauses, tough movement constructions, infinitival clauses and other constructions which have typically been analysed as involving long-distance dependencies. This title will be of interest to students of linguistics.

Author : Guglielmo Cinque,Richard S. Kayne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 990 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2008-10-16
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780195136517

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The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax by Guglielmo Cinque,Richard S. Kayne Pdf

"Comparison across formal languages is an essential part of formal linguistics. The study of closely-related varieties has proven extremely useful in illuminating relations between cross-linguistic syntactic differences that might otherwise appear unrelated, and has helped to identify the core principles of Universal Grammar. Comparative studies have grown to the point where a reference work is needed to comprehensively explain the state of the field and makes its results more widely known, and this handbook fulfills that need. Its twenty-one commissioned chapters serve two functions: they provide a general and theoretical introduction to comparative syntax, its methodology, and its relation to other domains on linguistic inquiry; and they also provide a systematic selection of the best comparative work being done today on those language groups and families where substantial progress has been achieved. With top-notch editors and contributors from around the world, this volume will be an essential resource for scholars and students in formal linguistics."--