I propose an analysis of npi licensing in which three components of grammar interface. It is proposed that the linguistic system is based on semantic features that are more finegrained than thematic roles, and that selection of subject. Pdf a semantic and syntactic analysis of break and bend. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs by levin, beth, hovav. The relation between the meaning and the syntax of lexical items is among the more frustrating issues in linguistics. Scalarity and unaccusativity at the lexiconsyntax interface. Live issues at the syntax semantic interface include the following.
At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs levin, beth on. Unaccusativity is an extended investigation into a. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface, linguistic inquiry monograph 26, mit press, cambridge, ma. Unaccusativity, at the syntaxlexical semantics interface. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs 9780262620949 by levin, beth and a great selection of similar new, used and collectible books available now at great prices. This paper presents a unifying analysis of the uses of the russian marker sja in passives, anticausatives and antipassives. Evidence from auxiliary selection and implications for unaccusativity antonella sorace. In modern linguistics, an unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose grammatical subject is not a semantic agent. The investigated languages include, among others, yucatec maya, kabardian, tagalog, murikkopar, ava. The analysis is couched in terms of distributed morphology and does not assume any argument structure on roots, i. Citeseerx scientific documents that cite the following paper. Unaccusativity at the syntaxlexical semantics interface beth levin and malka rappaport hovav 1994. The role of lexical semantics in unaccusativeunergative distinction in turkish deniz zeyrek middle east technical university, ankara one of the approaches to understanding argument structure, lexical semantics, and verbal alternations is to presume that verbs belong to distinct classes.
Exploring the syntaxsemantics interface language is a system of communication in which grammatical structures function to express meaning in context. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs beth levin, malka rappaport hovav on. The relation between the meaning and the syntax of lexical items is among the more. While all languages can achieve the same basic communicative ends, they each use different means to achieve them, partic. The subject of this study is break and bend verbs in isizulu, which can be classified as verbs of change of state. Lexical semantics meaning lexical semantics definitio. Levin, beth and rappaport hovav, malka, unaccusativity. Besides providing support for david perlmutters hypothesis that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined, this book contributes to the development of a theory of lexical semantic representation and to the elucidation of the mapping from lexical semantics. Do sentences with unaccusative verbs involve syntactic. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs. Chapter 1 in unaccusativity at the syntaxlexical semantics interface. Semantically bend verbs are divided into verbs denoting the bending of body parts, e. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
It is argued that this allows for a superior analysis of split intransitivity in english than the traditional notion of unaccusativity the idea that there are two classes of intransitive verbs which differ in. Idiom storage and the lexicon 1 journal of linguistics. Coreference processing and levels of analysis in objectrelative constructions. Fba items qualify for free shipping and amazon prime. Pdf sentences without nominative subjects in japanese. A new, deductive approach to the syntax semantics interface integrates two mature and successful lines of research. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs beth levin on. A semantics for unaccusatives and its syntactic consequences. I suggest that two distinct event structures can give rise to objects. Unaccusativity is an extended investigation into a set of linguistic phenomena that have received much attention over the last fifteen years.
Unaccusativity is an extended investigation into a set of linguistic. He has published the semantics of locative prepositional phrases in english 1995, nary quantifiers and the. Besides providing extensive support for david perlmutters hypothesis that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined, this monograph contributes significantly to the development of a theory of lexical. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface, page 1 of 1 free trial content f free content information. Scalarity and unaccusativity at the lexiconsyntax interface thesis submitted for the degree doctor of philosophy by joseph potashnik.
What are the universal rules of semantic composition. If youre a seller, fulfillment by amazon can help you grow your business. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. Unaccusativity at the syntaxlexical semantics interface. Pdf theories of lexical semantics download full pdf. Towards a syntactic analysis of russian sja springerlink. Besides providing extensive support for david perlmutters hypothesis that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined, this monograph contributes significantly to the development of a theory of lexical semantic representation and to the elucidation of the mapping from lexical semantics to syntax. Semantics defines the class of npi licensors, pragmatics forces quantificational closure of npis, and syntax executes the licensing via agree between a phasal head and the npi. The abstract case system developed by the principles and parameters approach ppa is based on this assumption, using the mechanism of the nominative and accusative case checking for. Visit our help page with information for readers, librarians, distributors. Unaccusative verbs in dutch and the syntaxsemantics interface. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface, linguistic. The main proposal that is put forward is that sja is a head that fulfils two.
Pdf the phenomenon of unaccusativity is a central focus for the study. Concentrating on the lexical semantics of a verb and the syntactic. One of the problems that has to be dealt with by theorists of early language acquisition theory is the mismatch between semantic constructs, like agent, and syntactic ones, like subject. I argue that these two sources for objects shed light on some of the wellknown challenges associated with the semantic underpinnings of objecthood.
How well can we predict unaccusativity from lexical semantics. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs by levin, beth, hovav, malka rappaport 1994 paperback on. Readings mit opencourseware free online course materials. Besides providing extensive support for david perlmutters hypothesis that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined, this monograph contributes significantly to the development of a theory of lexical semantic. An unaccusative verbs subject is semantically similar to the direct object of a transitive verb or to the subject of a verb in the passive voice. Demonstration of antecedent reactivation with the crossmodal priming paradigm. The second part of the book, case studies of the syntax semantics interface, contains seven contributions whose focus is on specivc grammatical phenomena in a number of typologically diverse languages. Unaccusatives in dutch and the syntaxsemantics interface, csli report 123. Introduction it is generally assumed that in a language with the accusative case system a sentence with a finite predicate must have the subject np marked with the nominative case. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface beth levin, malka rappaport hovav this text presents an extended investigation into a set of linguistic phenomena that have received much attention over the last 15 years. The main differences between them are mostly traceable to the different conceptions of syntactic structure that they are tailored on. Standing at the intersection between syntax, lexical and clausal semantics and morphology, it has been the subject of intense research since the late 1970s and has played a role in several. This study examines the semantic as well as the syntactic analysis of these verbs of change of state in zulu.
Hyogo university of teacher education unaccusativity. At the syntaxlexical semantics interface linguistic inquiry monographs by beth levin, malka rappaport hovav and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Besides providing extensive support for david perlmutters hypothesis that. In other words, it does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for, the action of the verb.
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