[PDF] Negation And Clausal Structure eBook

Author : Raffaella Zanuttini
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 45,12 MB
Release : 1997-09-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 019535978X

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Every human language has some syntactic means of distinguishing a negative from a non-negative sentence; in other words, every speaker's syntactic competence provides a means to express sentential negation. This ability, however, may be expressed in different ways, as shown by the fact that individual languages employ different syntactic strategies for the expression of the same semantic function of negating a sentence. Zanuttini's goal here is to characterize the range of such variation by comparing the different syntactic means for expressing sentential negation exhibited by the members of one language family--the Romance languages--and by reducing the differences we witness to a constrained set of choices available to the particular grammars of these languages. This sort of analysis is a first step towards the ultimate goal of determining and understanding what limits there are on the syntactic options that universal grammar imposes on the expression of sentential negation.

Author : Ur Shlonsky
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 32,83 MB
Release : 1997
Category : Arabic language
ISBN : 0195108663

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Looking at the grammars of Hebrew and several varieties of Arabic, Shlonsky examines clausal architecture and verb movement and the role of agreement in natural language, using Chomsky's Government and Binding approach.

Author : Matti Miestamo
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 505 pages
File Size : 29,39 MB
Release : 2008-08-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 3110197634

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This book is the first cross-linguistic study of clausal negation based on an extensive and systematic language sample. Methodological issues, especially sampling, are discussed at length. Standard negation – the basic structural means languages have for negating declarative verbal main clauses – is typologized from a new perspective, paying attention to structural differences between affirmatives and negatives. In symmetric negation affirmative and negative structures show no differences except for the presence of the negative marker(s), whereas in asymmetric negation there are further structural differences, i.e. asymmetries. A distinction is made between constructional and paradigmatic asymmetry; in the former the addition of the negative marker(s) is accompanied by further structural differences in comparison to the corresponding affirmative, and in the latter the correspondences between the members of (verbal etc.) paradigms used in affirmatives and negatives are not one-to-one. Cross-cutting the constructional-paradigmatic distinction, asymmetric negation can be further divided into subtypes according to the nature of the asymmetry. Standard negation structures found in the 297 sample languages are exemplified and discussed in detail. The frequencies of the different types and some typological correlations are also examined. Functional motivations are proposed for the structural types – symmetric negatives are language-internally analogous to the linguistic structure of the affirmative and asymmetric negatives are language-externally analogous to different asymmetries between affirmation and negation on the functional level. Relevant diachronic issues are also discussed. The book is of interest to language typologists, descriptive linguists and to all linguists interested in negation.

Author : Raffaella Zanuttini
Publisher : Georgetown University Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 31,63 MB
Release : 2006-05-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781589013056

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Presenting cutting-edge research in syntax and semantics, this important volume furthers theoretical claims in generative linguistics and represents a significant addition to present scholarship in the field. Leading scholars present crosslinguistic studies dealing with clausal architecture, negation, and tense and aspect, and the issue of whether a statistical model can by itself capture the richness of human linguistic abilities. Taken together, these contributions elegantly show how theoretical tools can propel our understanding of language beyond pretheoretical descriptions, especially when combined with the insight and skills of linguists who can analyze difficult and complex data. Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics covers a range of topics currently at the center of lively debate in the linguistic literature, such as the structure of the left periphery of the clause, the proper treatment of negative polarity items, and the role of statistical learning in building a model of linguistic competence. The ten original contributions offer an excellent balance of novel empirical description and theoretical analysis, applied to a wide range of languages, including Dutch, German, Irish English, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, and a number of medieval Romance languages. Scholars and students of semantics, syntax, and linguistic theory will find it to be a valuable resource for ongoing scholarship and advanced study.

Author : Viviane Déprez
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 889 pages
File Size : 31,7 MB
Release : 2020-03-31
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0198830521

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In this volume, international experts in negation provide a comprehensive overview of cross-linguistic and philosophical research in the field, as well as accounts of more recent results from experimental linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience. The volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach to a range of fundamental questions ranging from why negation displays so many distinct linguistic forms to how prosody and gesture participate in the interpretation of negative utterances. Following an introduction from the editors, the chapters are arranged in eight parts that explore, respectively, the fundamentals of negation; issues in syntax; the syntax-semantics interface; semantics and pragmatics; negative dependencies; synchronic and diachronic variation; the emergence and acquisition of negation; and experimental investigations of negation. The volume will be an essential reference for students and researchers across a wide range of disciplines, and will facilitate further interdisciplinary work in the field.

Author : V. Dayal
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 11,84 MB
Release : 2007-09-28
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 1402027192

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The researchers in the field of theoretical and theoretically inclined descriptive linguistics have for a long time felt a need for detailed and clearly presented linguistic treatments of various syntactic phenomena in South Asian languages. Clause Structure in South Asian Languages: provides a comprehensive overview and covers major aspects of clause structure in a variety of South Asian languages; provides detailed analyses of several aspects of phrase structure of many prominent South Asian languages; gives theoretically up-to-date treatment of several important issues in South Asian syntax and semantics; contains papers by some of the most prominent linguists working on South Asian languages.

Author : Danielle Forget
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 17,41 MB
Release : 1997-11-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9027275890

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In the last decade, there has been a revival of interest regarding negation and polarity, with much cross-fertilization between semantic and syntactic approaches. The papers in the present volume address key issues regarding the syntax and semantics of negation and polarity, including both synchronic and diachronic perpectives. Central to the discussions are the distribution of negative markers and the structure of the clause, negative concord phenomena, licensing of polarity items, similarities between Neg-movement and wh-movement. The papers, by main contributors to the field, reflect different theoretical frameworks, including Principles and Parameters and Minimalist approaches, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Formal Semantics, or approaches interested in pragmatics. The volume is of interest to syntacticians, semanticians, historical linguists, typologists, and philosophers.

Author : Timothy Shopen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 45,53 MB
Release : 1985-07-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780521276597

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The three volumes of Language Typology and Syntactic Description offer a unique survey of syntactic and morphological structure in the languages of the world. Topics covered include parts of speech; passives; complementation; relative clauses; adverbial clauses; inflectional morphology; tense, aspect and mood; and deixis. The major ways these notions are realized in the languages of the world are explored, and the contributors provide brief sketches of relevant aspects of representative languages. Each volume is written in an accessible style with new concepts explained and exemplified as they are introduced. Although each volume can be read independently, together they provide a major work of reference that will serve as a manual for field workers and anyone interested in cross-linguistic generalizations.