Syntaxis -- V. 02, (1999)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10272/3197

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    Symmetry and antisymmetry in syntax
    (2010-04-28T10:53:13Z) Villalba, Xavier
    New evidence is provided that Romance Clitic Right-Dislocation cannot be the mirror image of Clitic Left-Dislocation nor its covert counterpart. It is also shown that an analysis postulating two leftward topic positions (Split-Topic Analysis) is more adequate on both conceptual and empirical grounds, since it complies with the highly restrictive view of syntax imposed by Kayne's Linear Correspondence Axiom, and offers a principled explanation of the consistent set of similarities and differences between Clitic Right-Dislocation and Clitic Left-Dislocation.
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    Scope parallelism and the resolution of ellipsis at the syntax-semantics interface
    (2010-04-28T10:43:51Z) Gutiérrez Rexach, Javier
    In this paper several scope asymmetries in VP ellipsis constructions in English and Spanish are studied. It is argued that an approach based on Fox' (1995 a,b) Ellipsis Scope Generalization faces numerous conceptual and empirical problems. Ellipsis resolution is conceived of as a phenomenon belonging to the conceptual-intentional pan of the computational system that is conditioned by the computation of the semantic features of quantifiers at LF. A semantic approach inspired in higher order unification theories of ellipsis is defended. This approach is compatible with the overall philosophy of minimalist grammar: the process of higher-order unification complies with the principle of inclusiveness (Chomsk-y. 19 or projection from the lexicon because the relevant semantic equations are set up and resolved at a discourse level, but they are determined by featuresensitive Logical Forms.
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    Nominative and ergative languages : towards a unified of case checking
    (2010-04-28T10:40:43Z) Cocchi, Gloria
    This paper offers an analysis of Nominative and Ergative Case systems in the spirit of Chomsky's (1995, 1998) Minimalist Program. In particular. Chom$ky's elimination of AGR from the inventory of admissible functional heads leads to a re-discussion of most generative analyses on Ergativity, which were crucially based on the role played by AGR-heads. In this work I will show that the two Case systems can merely be seen as the outcome of a principle of Economy which establishes that only one Case in a transitive sentence needs to be marked. In other words, the crucial point is not which Case is checked in an unaccusative clause, as traditionally assumed, but rather which of the two Cases is marked in a transitive clause. To test the validity of my proposal, I will discuss most of the phenomena commonly linked with Ergativity, while bringing together data from a wide inventory of different languages.
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    Grammatical description and corpus evidence : supposing, assuming, considering
    (2010-04-28T10:35:58Z) Luzón Marco, María José
    The use of large corpora provides abundant evidence of the actual usage of grammatical structures and function words and reveals the language behaviour of native speakers. One of the principles of corpus linguistics is that meaning is contextual: we can only identify the meaning of items by investigating the contexts in which they occur. In this paper I use data from a large corpus of English to describe the usage of three grammar words: supposing (that), assuming (that), considering (that). By analysing the regularities in the context of use of these grammar words I attempt to describe their function in discourse and to reveal what one must know in order to use and understand these words correctly. The results show that supposing (that), assuming (that) and considering (that.) convey different implications concerning the factuality of the clauses where they occur.
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    Chinese DE and the DE-construction
    (2010-04-28T10:30:16Z) Zhang, Ning
    This paper analyzes the derivations of the DE construction, showing that an antecedent-free DE construction is derived by deverbalization and an antecedent-dependent DE construction is derived by ellipsis. Semantically, the former process is substantivization and the latter defocalization. Relating the antecedent-dependent DE construction to other nominal ellipses and the verb gapping construciton, I discuss a new type of ellipsis which can take an ellipsis site as its linguistic antecedent. Furthermore, I argue that the syntactic status of the word de in a nominal is a functional category, heading an nP consistently.