A Theory of Predicates (Lecture Notes)

Ackerman, Farrell, Webelhuth, Gert

ISBN 10: 1575860872 / ISBN 13: 9781575860879

Published by Center for the Study of Language and Inf, 1997

Like New. Seller Inventory # ERICA70415758608725

Synopsis:

When studying linguistics, it is commonplace to find that information packaged into a single word in one language is expressed by several independent words in another language. This observation raises an important question: how can linguistics research represent what is the same among languages while accounting for the obvious differences between them?

In this work, two linguists-Farrell Ackerman and Gert Webelhuth-from different theoretical paradigms develop a new general theory of natural language predicates. This theory is capable of addressing a broad range of issues concerning (complex) predicates, many of which remain unresolved in previous theoretical proposals. The book focuses on cross-linguistically recurring patterns of predicate formation. It also provides a detailed implementation of Ackerman and Webelhuth's theory for German tense-aspect, passive, causative, and verb-particle predicates. In addition, a discussion of the extension of these representative analyses to the same predicate construction in other languages is presented. Beyond providing a formalism for the analysis of language-particular predicates, the authors demonstrate how the basic theoretical mechanism they develop can be employed to explain universal tendencies of predicate formation.

About the Author: Farrell Ackerman is professor of linguistics and director of the Human Development Program at the University of California, San Diego.

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Theory of Predicates (Lecture Notes)
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language and Inf
Publication Date: 1997
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Like New
Book Type: book