› › Syntactic Focus Movement And Ellipsis

Ellipsis and Focus in Generative Grammar

Author : Susanne Winkler

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter

Page : 309 pages

File Size : 10,63 MB

Release : 2011-12-22

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 3110890429

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Book Description

Covering linguistic research on empty categories over more than three decades, this monograph presents the result of an in-depth syntactic and focus-theoretical investigation of ellipsis in generative grammar. The phenomenon of ellipsis most generally refers to the omission of linguistic material, structure and sound. The central aim of this book is to explain on the basis of linguistic theorizing of how it is possible that we understand more than we actually hear. The answer developed throughout this book is that ellipsis is an interface phenomenon which can only be explained on the basis of the complex interaction between syntax, semantics and information structure. Scholars of grammar and cognitive scientists will profit from reading this book.



Right Node Raising and Gapping

Author : Katharina Hartmann

Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing

Page : 206 pages

File Size : 21,96 MB

Release : 2001-02-01

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9027298505

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Book Description

This book investigates two elliptical coordinations in German, Right Node Raising and Gapping. Ellipsis in both constructions is claimed to be the result of a phonological process which is conditioned by prosodic and focus semantic constraints. It is convincingly argued that Right Node Raising cannot involve raising to the right periphery: The alleged movement freely violates any of the well-known restrictions on syntactic movement and it does not alter the scope relations within the coordination. Gapping in contrast is more sensitive to syntactic conditions in that its remnants must be major syntactic constituents. The author carefully examines the close connection between focus and ellipsis in the two constructions. A considered discussion of focus structure demonstrates that the conjuncts are informationally dependent on each other. This co-dependence is also reflected in their particular intonational contour which is argued to be responsible for ellipsis in coordination.



The Syntax of Silence

Author : Jason Merchant

Publisher :

Page : 288 pages

File Size : 50,79 MB

Release : 2001

Category : Extraction (Linguistics).

ISBN : 9780199243730

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Book Description

A primary goal of contemporary theoretical linguistics is to develop a theory of the correspondence between sound (or gesture) and meaning. This sound-meaning correspondence breaks down completely in the case of ellipsis, and yet various forms of ellipsis are pervasive in natural language:words and phrases which should be in the linguistic signal go missing. How this should be possible is the focus of Jason Merchant's investigation. He focuses on the form of ellipsis known as sluicing, a common feature of interrogative clauses, such as in 'Sally's out hunting - guess what!'; and'Someone called, but I can't tell you who'. It is the most frequently found cross-linguistic form of ellipsis. Dr Merchant studies the phenomenon across twenty-four languages, and attempts to explain it in linguistic and behavioural terms.



The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax

Author : Marcel den Dikken

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 1412 pages

File Size : 21,97 MB

Release : 2013-07-25

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 1107354587

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Book Description

Syntax – the study of sentence structure – has been at the centre of generative linguistics from its inception and has developed rapidly and in various directions. The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax provides a historical context for what is happening in the field of generative syntax today, a survey of the various generative approaches to syntactic structure available in the literature and an overview of the state of the art in the principal modules of the theory and the interfaces with semantics, phonology, information structure and sentence processing, as well as linguistic variation and language acquisition. This indispensable resource for advanced students, professional linguists (generative and non-generative alike) and scholars in related fields of inquiry presents a comprehensive survey of the field of generative syntactic research in all its variety, written by leading experts and providing a proper sense of the range of syntactic theories calling themselves generative.



Pseudogapping and Ellipsis

Author : Kirsten Gengel

Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA

Page : 203 pages

File Size : 25,89 MB

Release : 2013-08-29

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 0199665303

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Book Description

Kirsten Gengel investigates pseudogapping, which, she proposes, is one variety of ellipsis in natural language. At the heart of her discussion lies the interaction between focus and deletion. Her novel approach, which draws on new empirical data from many languages, has the potential of unifying several elliptical phenomena in generative grammar.



On Information Structure, Meaning and Form

Author : Kerstin Schwabe

Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing

Page : 584 pages

File Size : 22,19 MB

Release : 2007

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9789027233646

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Book Description

This collection of articles offers a new and compelling perspective on the interface connecting syntax, phonology, semantics and pragmatics. At the core of this volume is the hypothesis that information structure represents the common interface of these grammatical components. Information structure is investigated here from different theoretical viewpoints yielding typologically relevant information and structural generalizations. In the volume's introductory chapter, the editors identify two central approaches to information structure: the formal and the interpretive view. The remainder of the book is organized accordingly. The first part examines information structure and grammar, concentrating on generalizations across languages. The second part investigates information structure and pragmatics, concentrating on clause structure and context. Through concrete analyses of topic, focus, and related phenomena across different languages, the contributors add new and convincing evidence to the research on information structure.



The Routledge Handbook of Syntax

Author : Andrew Carnie

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 735 pages

File Size : 33,32 MB

Release : 2014-04-29

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 1317751043

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Book Description

The study of syntax over the last half century has seen a remarkable expansion of the boundaries of human knowledge about the structure of natural language. The Routledge Handbook of Syntax presents a comprehensive survey of the major theoretical and empirical advances in the dynamically evolving field of syntax from a variety of perspectives, both within the dominant generative paradigm and between syntacticians working within generative grammar and those working in functionalist and related approaches. The handbook covers key issues within the field that include: • core areas of syntactic empirical investigation, • contemporary approaches to syntactic theory, • interfaces of syntax with other components of the human language system, • experimental and computational approaches to syntax. Bringing together renowned linguistic scientists and cutting-edge scholars from across the discipline and providing a balanced yet comprehensive overview of the field, the Routledge Handbook of Syntax is essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students working in syntactic theory.



The Interfaces

Author : Kerstin Schwabe

Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing

Page : 418 pages

File Size : 30,74 MB

Release : 2003-01-01

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9789027227843

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Book Description

The Interfaces: Deriving and Interpreting Omitted Structures is a collection of never-before-published papers that explore the nature of the interfaces of syntax with semantics, phonology, and discourse. The papers investigate the various ways in which elliptical structures are related to these interfaces. As such, they not only make a valuable contribution to generative linguistic research but, more generally, help to deepen our understanding of the relation between form and meaning in natural language. In the book's introductory chapter, the editors address general issues related to current work on ellipsis and the syntax/semantics, syntax/phonology and syntax/discourse interfaces. The rest of the book is organized into three parts. The first examines PF-deletion accounts of elliptical structures; the second investigates these structures from the perspective of the syntax/semantic interface; and the third explores these from a perspective that concentrates on the relation between semantics and focus and discourse structure. Together the papers collected in this volume offer a convincing demonstration of the value of collaborative research on the 'interfaces'.



Focus Structure in Generative Grammar

Author : Carsten Breul

Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing

Page : 450 pages

File Size : 50,96 MB

Release : 2004-01-01

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 9789027227928

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Book Description

The notion of focus structure in this work refers to the distinction between categorical, thetic and identificational sentences. The central claim is that the syntactic representation of every sentence has to encode which of these types of focus structure is realized. This claim is discussed in great detail with respect to syntax, intonation and semantics within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It is shown that the incorporation of focus structure into syntax offers new perspectives for a solution of vexing problems in syntax and semantics. For example, fronting (preposing, 'topicalisation') is treated as a syntactic operation which clearly belongs to core grammar, i.e. is not optional or 'stylistic'; the semantic notion of quantifier raising is dispensed with in favour of a focus structural treatment of phenomena which gave rise to it. The book appeals to generative linguists and to functional linguists who do not believe in an unbridgeable gap between the formal and functional analysis of language.



The Oxford Handbook of Ellipsis

Author : Jeroen van Craenenbroeck

Publisher : Oxford Handbooks

Page : 1147 pages

File Size : 32,4 MB

Release : 2019

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 0198712391

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Book Description

This handbook is the first volume to provide a comprehensive, in-depth, and balanced discussion of ellipsis, a phenomena whereby expressions in natural language appear to be incomplete but are still understood. It explores fundamental questions about the workings of grammar and provides detailed case studies of inter- and intralinguistic variation.