Building and interpreting possession sentences / Neil Myler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Myler, Neil, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Possessives.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

English language--Sentences.

English language.

Semantics, Comparative.

Physical Description:

xvi, 454 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2016]

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

1.1 The Domain of Inquiry 1

1.2 The Architecture of the Grammar 11

1.2.1 Syntax 13

1.2.2 PF (The Morphophonological Component) 31

1.2.3 LF (The Semantic Component) 40

1.3 Consequences and Major Claims 45

1.4 The Solution in a Nutshell 49

1.5 Excursus: Why John is a doctor ≠ John has a doctor 63

1.6 Structure of this Book 65

2 Previous Approaches to Predicative Possession 67

2.1 The Scale of the Puzzles: Typological Work 68

2.1.1 Clark (1970/1978) 68

2.1.2 Heine (1997) 73

2.1.3 Stassen (2009) 83

2.1.4 Tham (2013) 98

2.2 The Freeze/Kayne Tradition 99

2.2.1 The Foundations: Szabolcsi (1981, 1983, 1994) 100

2.2.2 The Locative Paradigm: Freeze (1992) and P Incorporation 112

2.2.3 A Modular Approach to BE vs. Have: Kayne (1993) 119

2.3 Extensions and Reactions to the Freeze/Kayne Tradition 123

2.3.1 Principles and Parameters and the Have/BE Question 124

2.3.2 Acknowledging the Multiplicity of BE Constructions 135

2.3.3 Severing have from be: Blaszczak (2007) 141

2.3.4 Relating have and be via (In)transitivity 143

2.3.5 Conclusions: The State of the Art on the Too-Many-(Surface)-Structures Puzzle 147

2.4 Approaches to the Too-Many-Meanings Puzzle 149

2.4.1 Have as Vague but Meaningful 150

2.4.2 Have as Specific but Meaningless 162

2.4.3 Section Conclusion: The State of the Art on the Too-Many-Meanings Puzzle 175

2.5 Chapter Conclusion: Approaching Predicative Possession 176

3 The Micro-Comparative Syntax of Possession in Quechua 177

3.1 Outline of the Chapter 177

3.2 Background on Quechua and a Word on the Data 178

3.3 Possession Sentences, Movement, and UTAH 182

3.3.1 Three Arguments for (51) 192

3.3.2 BE vs. BE-APPL: Against a Movement Approach 196

3.3.3 Applicative -pu Is Semantically Null 202

3.3.4 How Two Syntaxes Can Have the Same Semantic Result 219

3.3.5 Conclusions 230

3.4 BE-APPL in Cochabamba vs. Santiago del Estero Quechua 231

3.5 To HAVE and to HOLD Across the Quechua Family 239

3.5.1 Santiago del Estero Has HAVE 240

3.5.2 HAVE, BE and Parametric Variation: the View from Quechua 244

3.6 Conclusions 252

4 Building and Interpreting HAVE Sentences 253

4.1 The Syntax and Semantics of Have 256

4.1.1 Cases Where the Meaning of a Have Sentence = That of Have's Complement (If Voice = Expl) 256

4.1.2 Cases Where the Meaning of a Have Sentence = That of have's Complement + That of Voice (If Voice ≠ Expl) 277

4.2 A Loose End: Modal Have 293

4.3 A Language with Two HAVEs: Icelandic 295

4.4 Conclusions 301

5 Consequences and Comparisons 307

5.1 Comparing the Approaches 307

5.1.1 Freeze (1992) 307

5.1.2 Kayne (1993) 310

5.2 Problems for the Freeze/Kayne Approach 311

5.2.1 Problems for Freeze (1992) 311

5.2.2 Problems for Kayne (1993) 320

5.2.3 Conclusions 328

5.3 Crucial Predictive Differences 328

5.3.1 The Nature of Definiteness Effects in HAVE Sentences 329

5.3.2 Have Is Transitive, Not Unaccusative 336

5.4 Conclusion 343

6 Extending the Typology I: Predicativization 345

6.1 Introducing -yoq 347

6.2 -yoq-Marked Phrases Are Nominal (for at Least Some Speakers) 350

6.2.1 Distributional Argument #1: Nominals but Not PPs Can Stand Alone in Argument Position 351

6.2.2 Distributional Argument #2: Nominal Plural Morphology 353

6.2.3 Reassuring Distributional Facts: Modification by Numerals and Determiners 354

6.3 Against Decompositional Approaches to -yoq 354

6.4 -yoq and the Semantics of Predicativization 360

6.5 The Comparative Syntax of Predicativization 366

6.5.1 The Accidental Participle 370

6.5.2 Restrictions Against Kinship and Other Social Relations 374

6.5.3 Modification Requirements 377

6.5.4 A Typology of Predicativization 382

6.6 Conclusion 384

7 Extending the Typology II: The WITH-Possessive 385

7.1 Re-introducing WITH-Possessives 385

7.2 Levinson's (2011) Approach 386

7.3 WITH-Possessives in Icelandic and Bantu 392

7.3.1 Vera Með in Icelandic 392

7.3.2 Na in Bantu 397

7.4 Conclusion: Syntax and Semantics in WITH-Possessives 399

8 Conclusions and Prospects 403

8.1 Summary of the Proposal and Arguments 403

8.2 Areas for Extension 410

8.2.1 Prospects for an Extension to BE and HAVE as Aspectual Auxiliaries 411

8.2.2 A Sketch of an Extension to HAVE in Existential Constructions 415

8.2.3 Some Open Questions 417

8.3 General Conclusion 420.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780262034913

0262034913

OCLC:

946160196