Topic drop and null subjects in German / Ewa Trutkowski.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trutkowski, Ewa, 1974- author.

Series:

Linguistics & philosophy ; Volume 6.

Linguistics & Philosophy, 2198-2104 ; Volume 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

German language--Null subject.

German language.

German language--Complement.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] ; Boston [Massachusetts] : De Gruyter, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This monograph deals with argument drop in the German prefield and it presents new insights into null subjects, topic drop and the interpretation of topic dropped elements. Major issues are (inter alia) the drop of structurally vs. obliquely cased arguments and the question on which basis nominative/accusative and dative/genitive can be kept apart. Furthermore, it is shown that the (im)possibility of phi-feature mismatches concerning the antecedent and gap in topic drop dialogues allows to differentiate between coreference and "real" (quantifier) binding. Aside from topic drop, (1st/2nd vs. 3rd person) null subjects are investigated across a couple of unrelated languages, also focusing on the presence of syncretisms within verbal inflectional paradigms. It is proven that 1st/2nd person null subjects in German are not an instance of antecedent-dependent topic drop but that they are licensed by discrete verbal inflectional endings. Thus, according to this property, German can be classified as a partial pro-drop language. Next to theoretical discussions and considerations this book offers a broad (empirically covered) data basis, which makes it suitable for both theoretically and empirically interested (generative) linguists.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Foreword

Contents

1. Overview

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Verbatim and Non-verbatim Topic Drop: Two Kinds of Topic Drop in German

2.3 An Empirical Basis for the VTD/NVTD Distinction

2.4 Structural Well-Formedness Conditions on VTD and NVTD

2.5 Topic Drop and the Event Structure of Structural and Oblique Case Assigning Verbs

2.6 Topic Drop and the Representation of +/-Complex Events

2.7 Appendix: Topic Drop of Expletive Elements

3. Topic Drop in German: The Interpretation of the Gap

4. Null Subjects at the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783110437249

3110437244

9783110446173

3110446170

OCLC:

948780556