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"Kayne, Richard S., author"
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Questions of syntax
\"There are far more syntactically distinct languages than we might have thought. Yet there are far fewer than there might have been. We need to understand why, in both cases. One common and relevant theme that runs through these chapters, with varying degrees of explicitness, concerns how wide a range of questions the field of syntax can reasonably attempt to ask and then answer. At issue, among other things, are the relation between syntax and (certain aspects of) semantics, the relation between syntax and what appear to be lexical questions, the relation between syntax and morphology, the relation between syntax and certain aspects of phonology (insofar as silent elements and their properties play a substantial role) and the extent to which comparative syntax can provide new and decisive evidence bearing on these different kinds of questions. More and more questions need to be asked, if we are to achieve depth of explanation. Comparative syntax provides evidence bearing on questions which are not initially comparative in nature. It is extremely fruitful to search for correlations across syntactic differences as a means of establishing a new kind of window into the language faculty. Micro-comparative syntax is an especially powerful tool that allows us to probe questions concerning the most primitive units of syntactic variation, and whose growth in recent decades is to be compared with the development of the earliest microscopes, . Comparative syntax sheds light on what might at first appear to be lexical questions, as in the case of transitive verbal need, whose cross-linguistic distribution is less arbitrary that it appears to be, when viewed in the context of a silent counterpart of have\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Parameters and universals
This is a collection of previously published essays on comparative syntax by the distinguished linguist Richard Kayne. The papers cover issues of comparative syntax as they are applied to French, Italian, and other Romance languages and dialects, together forming a strongly cohesive set that will be valuable to both scholars and students.
eBook
Comparisons and contrasts
A collection of 11 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.
eBook
The Oxford handbook of comparative syntax
Comparison across formal languages is an essential part of formal linguistics. The study of closely-related varieties has proven extremely useful in comparing differences that might otherwise appear unrelated, and has helped to identify the core principles of Universal Grammar. This comprehensive handbook serves two functions: It provides a general and theoretical introduction to comparative syntax, its methodology, and its relation to other domains of linguistic inquiry; and it provides 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 is an essential resource for scholars and students in formal linguistics.
eBook
Principles and parameters in a VSO language : a case study in Welsh
This work provides an analysis of word order and clause structure in Welsh, within the context of a minimalist version of principles and parameters theory. The central issue is the analysis of VSO order, the only unmarked clausal order in Welsh. The question is: which values of which parameters of Universal Grammar determine VSO order? Behind this basic descriptive goal, there are two theoretical questions. The first has to do with the conditions of adequacy on parameters: these must be both typologizable and learnable. The second concerns the Extended Projection Principle (EPP). Developing the conception of this principle in Chomsky (2000, 2001), it is concluded that it is a parametrized property of the C-system and/or the I-system, and that it seems to be intrinsically connected to the defective nature of certain functional heads. Successive chapters deal with the analysis of VSO orders, the Welsh Case-agreement system as it applies to both subjects and objects, the ‘verbal noun’, and the nature of the C-system. The last chapter takes up the related but distinct question of the theoretical status of head-movement, arguing that this may be construed as movement to a specifier position followed by morphological reanalysis of adjacent heads. Throughout, Welsh is compared to the other Celtic languages, and to the Romance and Germanic languages. Comparison with Romance is particularly revealing in relation to the agreement system, and comparison with Germanic in relation to C-system.
eBook
Discourse-related features and functional projections
This book examines discourse‐related features and their relevance for syntactic theory. This study adopts a cartographic approach to syntactic structures, and has two principal aims: (i) to determine the syntax of the functional projections associated with these types of features and (ii) to account for the various types of fronting phenomena observed in the Romance languages. Based primarily on data from Sicilian and Sardinian, this book sets out to show that contrary to standard assumptions, Focus Fronting in Romance is not restricted to contrastive interpretations, but is also possible with non‐contrastive (‘informational’) Focus. The synthesis of existing analyses and new empirical data from other Romance languages show that non‐contrastive Focus Fronting is a fairly widespread property of Romance, involving quantifiers and quantified expressions (QP‐Fronting) as well as constituents expressing new and unexpected information (Mirative Fronting). Drawing on this empirical evidence, and with the support of further relevant syntactic, prosodic, and interpretive differences, it is claimed that Contrastive Focus and Informational Focus constitute separate categories related to independent features and encoded in distinct focus projections. It is further proposed that a direct parallelism holds between the two focus categories and the two types of wh‐expressions identified in the literature, i.e. D‐linked wh‐phrases and non‐D‐linked wh‐phrases. The analysis of the interplay between word order and of the extension of the focus in different types of sentences reveals novel evidence for the interaction between focus and illocutionary and clause‐type operators. The focus of the clause is also sensitive to overt operators such as wh‐phrases, quantifiers, and focalizing adverbs. The association of focus with both overt and covert operators is therefore a key factor for the interface between syntax and information structure.
eBook
Infinitive constructions with specified subjects : a syntactic analysis of the Romance languages
Most Romance languages permit the overt realization of the grammatical subject in infinitive clauses in a considerable number of configurations. Mensching has the following goals: to systematically describe Romance infinitive constructions with specified subjects, taking into account diachronic and dialectical varieties; and then to interpret these facts within a generative framework, examining how over subjects in infinitive clauses are licensed and what determines their case and position. His findings call for a thorough revision of the principles that have been assumed for analyzing the Romance languages. Mensching uses eight Romance languages in his comparisons, among them, Italian, Sardinian, Romanian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
eBook
A unified theory of verbal and nominal projections
Syntactically speaking, it has long been known that noun phrases are parallel to clauses in many respects. While most syntactic theories incorporate this principle, nouns have generally been regarded as inferior to verbs in terms of their licensing abilities, and nominal projections have been regarded as less complex than verbal projections in terms of the number of functional categories that they contain. Ogawa, however, argues that clauses and noun phrases are perfectly parallel. This book provides a unified theory of clauses and noun phrases, ultimately helping to simplify numerous thorny issues in the syntax/morphology interface.
eBook
The Role of Inflection in Scandinavian Syntax
In this book, Holmberg and Platzack present a theory of the role which subject-verb agreement and case morphology play in syntax. Their theory is based mainly on a detailed comparison and inflectional properties in the various Scandinavian languages, although many other languages are discussed as well. The theoretical issues discussed include abstract vs. morphological case, functional heads, verb-second, null subjects and other empty categories, pronouns and clitics, various impersonal constructions, long distance reflexives, and the double object construction. Probably the most detailed and comprehensive study to date of the interplay of case, subject-verb agreement, and other grammatical properties in the syntax of related languages, this book offers important insights for professional linguists and students with an interest in generative grammar, typology/comparative grammar, or Scandinavian and Germanic languages.
eBook