Phrase Structure and Grammatical Relations in Tagalog (Center for the Study of Language and Information - Lecture Notes) - Softcover

Kroeger, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0937073865 ISBN 13: 9780937073865

Publisher: Center for the Study of Language and Inf, 1992

Synopsis

Over the last twenty years or so, most of the work on the syntax of Philippine languages has been focused on the question of whether or not these languages can be said to have grammatical subjects, and if so which argument of a basic transitive clause should be analysed as being the subject. Paul Kroeger's contribution to this debate asserts that grammatical relations such as subject and object are syntactic notions, and must be identified on the basis of syntactic properties, rather than by semantic roles or discourse functions. A large number of syntactic processes in Tagalog uniquely select the argument which bears the nominative case. On the other hand, the data which have been used in the debate to assert the ambiguity of subjecthood are best analysed in terms of semantic rather than syntactic constraints. Together these facts support an analysis that takes the nominative argument as the subject. Kroeger examines the history of the subjecthood debate and uses data from Tagalog to test the theories that have been put forth. His conclusions entail consequences for certain linguistic concepts and theories, and lead Kroeger to assert that grammatical relations are not defined in terms of surface phrase structure configurations, contrary to the assumptions of many approaches to syntax including the Government-Binding theory. Paul Kroeger is presently doing fieldwork in Austronesian languages and teaching linguistics to fieldworkers from around the world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Center for the Study of Language and Inf
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0937073865
• ISBN 13: 9780937073865
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258