Phases of interpretation / edited by Mara Frascarelli.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Frascarelli, Mara.

Series:

Studies in generative grammar ; 91.

Studies in generative grammar, 0167-4331 ; 91

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book investigates the concept of phase, aiming at a structural definition of the three domains that are assumed as the syntactic loci for interface interpretation, namely vP, CP and DP. In particular, three basic issues are addressed, that represent major questions of syntactic research within the Minimalist Program in the last decade. A) How is the set of minimally necessary syntactic operations to be characterised (including questions about the exact nature of copy and merge, the status of remnant movement, the role of head movement in the grammar), B) How is the set of minimally necessary functional heads to be characterised that determine the built-up and the interpretation of syntactic objects and C) How do these syntactic operations and objects interact with principles and requirements that are thought to hold at the two interfaces. The concept of phase has also implications for the research on the functional make-up of syntactic objects, implying that functional projections not only apply in a (universally given) hierarchy but split up in various phases pertaining to the head they are related to. This volume provides major contributions to this ongoing discussion, investigating these issues in a variety of languages (Berber, Dutch, English, German, Modern Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian and West Flemish) and combining the analysis of empirical data with the theoretical insights of the last years.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Phases and interpretation

Chapter 1 - Interpretation and structural conditions

Grafts follow from merge

An interpretive effect of head movement

When we do that and when we don t: A contrastive analysis of VP ellipsis and VP anaphora

Chapter 2 - Interpretation in the DP-phase

HAVE = BE + PREP(osition): New evidence for the preposition incorporation analysis of clausal possession

Northern Norwegian degree questions and the syntax of measurement

Parallels in clausal and nominal periphery

Chapter 3 - Functional projections in the vP-phase

The properties of anticausatives crosslinguistically

Number agreement and event pluralization: A case study

The Phase Condition and cyclic Spell-out: Evidence from VP-topicalization

Parallel phases: a study on the high and low left periphery of Old Italian

Chapter 4 - The CP-phase and Subject Licensing

Obviation in subjunctive argument clauses and the first-personal interpretation

Who is lui? Reference of Italian overt and covert subject pronouns

Satisfying the Subject Criterion by a non subject: English Locative Inversion and Heavy NP Shift

Informational focus in Sicilian and the left periphery

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612194092

9781282194090

1282194097

9783110197723

3110197723

OCLC:

290492663