The Syntax-Information Structure Interface

Timothy Gupton

ISBN 10: 161451271X / ISBN 13: 9781614512714

Published by De Gruyter Mouton, De Gruyter Mouton Okt 2014, 2014

About this Item

This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -It is quite remarkable that, after over a half-century of research in generative grammar, there is still uncertainty and debate surrounding the analysis of preverbal subjects in a number of null-subject languages. The implications of this debate are far-reaching for generative theory: if preverbal subjects are analyzed as non-arguments, it calls into question the proposed universality of the EPP (as in e.g. Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 1998), as well as its associated features and feature-strengths.Galician, spoken in the northwest of Spain, is an under-documented Romance language within the generative paradigm. In this book, the author details an experimental program for establishing clausal word order appropriateness and preferences in a variety of information structure contexts, while informing theoretical debate on preverbal subjects. The experimental methodology and information structure assumptions employed create several testable predictions. The statistical data suggest that Galician is a predominantly SVO language and that preverbal subjects behave like canonical subjects, and not CLLD constituents. The empirical data discussed inform the modified model of the preverbal field that the author proposes for Galician, which takes into account a number of recent analyses of Western Iberian Romance clausal phenomena such as the enclisis-proclisis divide, topicalization, focalization, and recomplementation.Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Genthiner Strasse 13, 10785 Berlin 308 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9781614512714

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Syntax-Information Structure Interface
• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton, De Gruyter Mouton Okt 2014
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 161451271X
• ISBN 13: 9781614512714
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 236W x 160H x 23D millimeters 236 millimeters width by 160 millimeters height by 23 millimeters depth
• Weight: 616 grams

About this title

Synopsis

It is quite remarkable that, after over a half-century of research in generative grammar, there is still uncertainty and debate surrounding the analysis of preverbal subjects in a number of null-subject languages. The implications of this debate are far-reaching for generative theory: if preverbal subjects are analyzed as non-arguments, it calls into question the proposed universality of the EPP (as in e.g. Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou 1998), as well as its associated features and feature-strengths.

Galician, spoken in the northwest of Spain, is an under-documented Romance language within the generative paradigm. In this book, the author details an experimental program for establishing clausal word order appropriateness and preferences in a variety of information structure contexts, while informing theoretical debate on preverbal subjects. The experimental methodology and information structure assumptions employed create several testable predictions. The statistical data suggest that Galician is a predominantly SVO language and that preverbal subjects behave like canonical subjects, and not CLLD constituents. The empirical data discussed inform the modified model of the preverbal field that the author proposes for Galician, which takes into account a number of recent analyses of Western Iberian Romance clausal phenomena such as the enclisis-proclisis divide, topicalization, focalization, and recomplementation.

About the Author

Timothy Gupton, University of Georgia, USA.