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The present paper is intended as an overview of some of the major issues in, and contributions to, Cartography. First, it discusses the general framework. Next, it describes some highly influential analyses and the conclusions that have been reached in the literature of the past few decades. Then, it compares Cartography to Nano-syntax. Finally, it presents some alternatives to this research program.
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This paper deals with three phenomena specific to old Romanian: pre-head complements to adjectives (i.e. head-final adjectival structures), post-adjectival degree markers, and discontinuous adjectival and degree phrases. Following recent work by Ledge-way, we defend the hypothesis that the old Romanian adjectival phrase preserves relics of the head-final and non-configurational syntax of Latin. The fact that pre-head complements of adjectives and post-adjectival degree markers represent a genuine instance of head-finality (i.e. roll-up movement) is reinforced by the existence of discontinuous adjectival phrases (the hallmark of non-configurationality), discontinuous structures being unavailable in harmonic head-initial systems (Ledge-way forthcoming b)
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This paper examines the interaction between conversational pragmatics and syntax with a view to identifying to what extent pragmatic interpretation can be read off syntactic structure. Building on empirical data from Romanian, it argues, from a generative grammar perspective, for a speech acts component of clausal derivations. The speech act maps the pragmatic roles of speaker, hearer and the topic of their conversation (the sentience dimension) to syntactic positions.
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This article investigates the internal structure of NP's headed by the restrictive particle only in English. The working assumption is that despite the high syntactic mobility of the particle, noun phrases headed by only exhibit a uniform structure and a fairly uniform syntactic behavior. The paper investigates the merge configuration of the particle and its syntactic positions in the clause structure and it proves, in the frame of the copy theory of movement, that the structure of the only-phrase is unitary in all three configurations (only-NP, only-vP, LP only) the apparent differences being due to different spell-out options.
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The present paper argues that an Optimality Theoretic framework may better handle the order of appearance of elements inside what is traditionally termed a possessive NP in English than approaches embedded in X-bar Theory. The syntax and semantics of examples of the type book of Frank, Frank’s book, book of Frank, the man living next door’s bike and the bike of the man living next door are examined. It is concluded that the terms “possessive” or “genitive”, “possessor”, “possessed” are in fact labels used for certain contextually dependent relations, that is to say, they mark elements participating in, and the relationship itself of, what nominals may enter with each other. This “freedom of relation” also includes the actual, true possessive relation as well, and markers (different morphemes) appear at boundaries between a “possessor” and a “possessed” to indicate where one ends the other begins.
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Latin is known to have free Modifier > N / N > Modifier orders, with different frequencies according to the nature of the Modifier, which can be a determiner, a quantifier or an adjective. This variation raises a number of questions on the source of optionality, in both configurational and non-configurational approaches. In this paper, I take the configurational stance as the more restrictive and therefore the first to pursue. I evaluate two recent competing hypotheses: Cinque’s (1994, 2005, 2010) cartographic anti-symmetric hypothesis, according to which adjectives only occur as left-branching specifiers, and Abels and Neeleman’s (2010) minimalist counterproposal, according to which adjectives are adjoined to NP and stacked leftwards or rightwards. I propose a reconciliation of these two generative approaches along the lines of Giusti (2015), who distinguishes three types of feature sharing: Agreement, Concord, and Projection. The optionality of order is derived through (i) optional realization of N in the functional spine, (ii) optional realization of possessives in first-merge or remerge position, (iii) optional left/right adjunction of reduced relative clauses (or alternatively optional partial movement across a left-branching indirect modification); (iv) possible displacements of a single AP to the Left Periphery of the nominal expression. These four options interact with discourse but are constrained by the configurational right-branching structure generated by the syntactic component.
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This paper is concerned with nominalizations derived from psychological verbs in English. Based on particular properties in their realization of argument structure, which have long been noticed in the literature, I will argue that in a syntax-based approach to word formation such as Distributed Morphology these nominals must be derived from the psychological root alone and cannot include any event structure. This contrasts with non-psych nominals, which more readily include verb event structure. I will show that this difference lies in the different ontological status of the two kinds of roots. Furthermore, psychological verbs and their special roots allow us to conclude that there is no structural difference between derived nominals (based on Latinate suffixes such as -al, -ance, -ation, -ion, and -ment) and zero-derived nominals, whose suffix is covert. A clear difference, however, is posited between these nominals and those based on -ing.
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This paper addresses deverbal nominals denoting events (Complex Event Nominals or AS-Ns, Grimshaw 1990 and Borer 1999 respectively), that have been argued to convey aspectual information. I put a particular emphasis on French -age and -ée nominals, which have been argued to encode grammatical (im)perfective Aspect (Ferret et al. 2010, Knittel 2011). The aim is to contribute to a general syntactic theory of nominalizations involving aspectual projections, and to investigate their interaction with other, in particular categorizing, layers of structure. The analysis distinguishes between n-Nominalizations which involve derivational affixes introducing categorial information, and default D-Nominalizations in which the Determiner embeds aspectual (im)perfective morphology. I demonstrate that outer Aspect (an inflectional layer selecting verbalized structure) is only expected in the latter type of nominalizations, and that in the other cases, a relevant analysis should derive effects on the aspectual calculus by entailments at the level of a Classifier projection, specified in terms of +/−bounded, +/−count.
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Drawing on Romanian examples, this article explores, in a manner which is accessible to both general scholars of the Romance languages and linguists, how the richly documented diachronic and synchronic variation exhibited by Romanian offers a wealth of linguistic data (often of a typologically exotic nature) of interest not just to comparative Romance linguists, but also to general linguists. This perennially fertile and still under-utilized testing ground will be shown to have a central role to play in challenging linguistic orthodoxies and shaping and informing new ideas and perspectives about language change, structure and variation, and should therefore be at the forefront of linguistic research and accessible to the wider linguistic community. At the same time, the discussion will also highlight how a familiarity with current key ideas and assumptions in theoretical linguistics has a significant role to play in understanding the structures and patterns of Romanian.
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The aim of the present paper is to investigate the control/raising behaviour of Romanian aspectual verbs. Following Mourounas & Williamson’s (2019) proposal for English aspectuals, I show that in Romanian these verbs enter the causative alternation, a property which distinguishes them from both raising and control verbs and which can explain their hybrid behaviour. The aspectual verbs which merge with an infinitive and a subjunctive complement evince raising-like behaviour in their anticausative variant and control-like behaviour in their causative variant. Their anticausative variant is not marked and the verb does not project any Voice Phrase. In their causative variant, they project a thematic Voice Phrase which hosts an external argument, assigned an Agent-Initiator theta-role. Some of the verbs in the termina ‘finish’ class have a marked anticausative variant which projects an expletive Voice Phrase (Schäfer 2008) which hosts the voice marker se, whose presence signals the existence of a volitional, external argument in the structure. When these verbs occur with a supine complement they can only have an unmarked form, indicative of causative status, and they behave exclusively like verbs of control.
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This article analyzes syntactic formations that have not yet received any attention, especially in the studies on Bulgarian grammar. These constructions include varieties of the appositional construction, typical mostly to written language. They are traditionally defined as parenthetical appositives, as detached or non-detached appositives, as units close to the appositive. What brings the examples illustrating this syntactic phenomenon together as elements of one type, is that in each of them, there is a binary nominative structure, and its components are referentially identical. One of the components (the head word) is a noun that is either part of the less frequently used lexis, or a foreign language lexical unit, or an alternative name for the other noun. The other component (the appositive) is separated by punctuation (most often through the use of the punctuation mark “round brackets”) that either contains a noun from the commonly used lexis, or is a transliterated variant, or is a shortened variant (abbreviation) of the full name in the first component.
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The article is devoted to the syntactic-semantic analysis of the verb przydarzyć się ‘to happen’. In the begin- ning, the contexts of use of the verb, as well as the proportional patterns in which it can be included were scrutinised. Then, after extracting the relevant language unit constituted by the verb, negative linguistic material, including test sentences containing a contradiction, was analysed. The elimination contrast test, in turn, revealed the mutual arrangement of the thematic and rhematic elements in the sentences under consideration. The aforementioned research procedures made it possible to reconstruct the semantic struc- ture of the verb przydarzyć się. The results of the analysis are presented in the form of an explication of its meaning.
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Diese Forschung wurde mit dem Ziel durchgeführt, einen spezifi schen semantischen und formalen Typ von Ergänzungssätzen aufzuzeigen. Es handelt sich dabei um Strukturen, die vom Subordinator kad(a) eingeführt werden, die aber nicht die Rolle von indirekten Fragesätzen haben, was die Unmöglichkeit solche Sätze durch andere Fragesätze umzutauschen bestätigt. Der Ergänzungs-Charakter der kad-Klausel wird durch das Vorhandensein von Korrelaten betont, wobei die kad-Klaseln auch in ihren nichtkorrelativen Realisierungen im Satz ungehindert eingeführt werden können. Obwohl dieser Beitrag einen Überblick über die Beziehungen zwischen kad-Fragesätzen.
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The paper discusses main structural models and submodels of the clauses with the general meaning of purpose, most commonly with the conjunctions da (with the present tense or potential) and kako (with the potential), as well as complex conjunctions ne bi li, and e/da. The analysis is done mostly on the corpus of contemporary Serbian writers, and various criteria are combined for the typology, in order to provide a complete overview of their status in the system of complex sentences. Intentional clauses with the potential are marked by a greater level of uncertainty as regards achieving the goal, while the intentional clauses with the conjunction da (followed by the present tense) are unmarked in that sense, since they refer to actions which are more certain, as they are not dependent upon the will of the subject, but upon the еxpected/unexpected results of a previous event.
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The concept and term polovedlejší věta (‘semi-subordinate clause’) is theoretically anchored in the formal-semantic level description of the language system. This description has been methodologically inspired by the distinctive features of the Prague Linguistic Circle phonology. Based on three features (subordinator, parenthesis, commenting), the semi-subordinate clause, by which the speaker comments on another clause, is delimited within this descriptive framework. Semi-subordinate clauses are unambiguously identifiable using a test of reversed relationship of clauses, cf. Jak vidím, jste soukromý detektiv ‘As I see, you are a private detective’ → Vidím, že jste soukromý detektiv ‘I (can) see that you are a private detective.’ The main section of the article is formed by a classification of semi-subordinate clauses in several parts. The first part is based on the classification according to subordinators: the centre of the system of semi-subordinate clauses is formed by clauses introduced by the relative pronominal adverb jak. Clauses with the relative consequential pronoun což and clauses with the relative introducing pronoun co are on the periphery. Clauses with conjunctions (jestli and its variants, and pokud and aby) lie between the centre and the periphery. The second part differentiates between attitude and stylization clauses. In the conclusion, the term semi-subordinate clause, reflecting a specific semi-category, is explained, and defended.
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The ḥazif, iʿjāz, iḍmār, and abbreviated word structures of the Qur’ān, were was revealed by the patterns of the Arabic Language, have been among the most fundamental problems for indirect interlocutors trying to understand it. For this reason, when we take a look at the tafsīr texts in our tradition it is seen that these texts are full of efforts to identify, determine and appreciate unspoken word structures such as nouns, verbs, letters, sentences, etc. in order to reveal the correct meaning. The commentators and linguists, instead of exerting all their efforts and endeavours directly into revealing the divine intent, on the contrary, have been largely engaged in filling the gaps in the curent syntax of the Qur’ānic verses, identifying, determining and appreciating the shortcomings, and have endeavoured to reconstruct the syntax, phrases and expressions of the verses. Because the ḥazif expressions in the text are insufficient to convey the correct meaning to the indirect interlocutors’ mind in their current form. In this respect, succinct and abbreviated expressions have been seen by some linguists as flaws in the word. For this reason, ḥazif expressions of the Qur’ān, which express a lot of meaning with few words, were examined in the present study. The question “Are these ḥazif expressions related to the divine source of the Qur’ān or to the literary tastes of the Arabs of that period in their oral addresses and literary genres, and the customs and habits of speaking with conciseness and conciseness?” was examined in this study. Although the Qur’ān’s literal word structures were handled in literary, syntax and rhetoric terms, both in our tradition and in today’s academic studies, unfortunately the relationship of these word structures with the literary taste, language usage customs and habits of the 7th century Hejaz Arabs was not discussed yet. For this reason, we hope that the present study, which we believe is authentic and original, will make new contributions to the literature. The result of the study, in which the literature review method was used, showed that these ḥazif structures, were related to the Arabic tastes and language usage customs of that period.
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This study endeavors to undertake a comparative analysis of aspect in English and Moroccan Arabic, hereafter referred to as MA, adopting a cognitive linguistic approach, with special attention to the categorization of different situation types as proposed by Radden and Dirven (2007). It also aims to highlight the aspect areas that may challenge Moroccan EFL learners when acquiring this English grammatical construction. The study reveals that aspect is treated differently in English and MA. English aspect hinges on the viewing frame adopted. Therefore, the shift from one viewing frame to another results in the change from one situation type to another. By contrast, in MA, the perfective use calls for the adoption of a maximal viewing frame. However, the imperfective use calls for two interpretations: the event can be seen with either a maximal or a restricted viewing frame. In the absence of elements that co-determine the aspect in MA, general context is the only indication of the appropriate interpretation. The differences in the aspectual systems of English and MA may lead to difficulties in language acquisition. MA learners attempting to learn English, and vice versa, may face challenges in learning both the grammatical structure and its associated meanings.
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