Quantification in the Theory of Grammar

ISBN-13: 9780792306443 / Angielski / Miękka / 1990 / 240 str.

Taisuke Nishigauchi

Opis

In the past few decades, the development of theoretical linguistics has proved to be successful in shedding light on the intricate nature of language and knowledge of grammar, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the human mind. This book discusses various issues in syntax and logical structure of natural language from theoretical perspectives. The primary data on which theoretical claims are made is drawn from Japanese and Japanese-type languages, but it also contains discussion of related phenomena in English which have never been discussed from the same viewpoint in the current literature. Although the book is written in the format of a version of the Extended Standard Theory tradition, informally referred to as the Principles and Parameters Approach or 'Government and Binding (OB) Theory', it should be of interest to a much wider audience. The reader interested in other theoretical frameworks will find the discussion in this book easily translatable in the framework of his or her choice - in fact, I would like to claim that the problems posed by this book are inevitable in any theory of syntax and semantics of natural language.

Spis treści

I: Introduction.- 1. wh-phrases as quantificational expressions.- 2. Locality.- 3. Quantificational force.- II: Subjacency and Logical Form.- 1. Introduction.- 2. wh-Movement in Japanese.- 3. Subjacency.- 3.1. The wh-Island Condition effect.- 3.2. Discourse-oriented factors.- 3.2.1. Focus.- 3.2.2. D-Linking.- 3.3. The Complex NP Constraint.- 4. ECP vs. Pied-piping.- 4.1. The ECP account.- 4.2. Arguments for the pied-piping analysis.- 4.2.1. Short answers.- 4.2.2. The scope problem.- 4.2.3. Weak Crossover.- 4.2.4. Complement structure.- 4.2.5. More on Weak Crossover.- III: The Pied-Piping Mechanism.- 1. Percolation.- 2. German relative clauses.- 3. Restrictions on percolation.- 3.1. The ‘Specificity Condition’ effect.- 3.2. Why: Categorial identity.- 3.3. Arguments for categorial identity.- 4. Quantifier vs. Sentential operator.- 4.1. Overview.- 4.2. Scope of naze and dooiu-riyuu-de.- 4.3. Multiple Questions.- 4.4. Prospects.- 5. Government and unselective binding.- 6. Concluding remarks.- IV: Construing wh.- 1. ‘Indeterminate pronominals’.- 1.1. The problem.- 1.2. Some semantics.- 1.3. Non-adjacent cases.- 2. Unselective binding.- 2.1. Indefinite NPs.- 2.2. Inherent binding vs. External binding.- 2.3. Properties of the binding relations.- 2.3.1. Quantificational force.- 2.3.2. Selectiveness.- 2.3.3. Scopal interaction.- 2.3.4. Locality.- 2.4. Two types of binding.- 3. Unselective binding involving wh.- 4. The movement analysis.- 4.1. Movement and unselective binding.- 4.2. More movement.- 5. Adverbs of quantification.- 6. Scope interactions and QR.- 7. Concluding remarks.- V: The Case from English: The No Matter Concessive Clause.- 1. Problems.- 2. No Matter and wh..Ever constructions.- 3. Donkey sentences.- 4. No Matter as unselective binder.- 4.1. Government.- 4.2. The wh-Island Condition.- 4.3. ‘Connectedness’ and indirect binding.- 5. Concluding remarks.- VI: The Donkey Problem in Japanese.- 1. Weak Crossover.- 2. Donkey sentences in Japanese.- 3. Indirect binding.- 4. Restrictions on indirect binding.- 4.1. C-command.- 4.2. The wh-Island Condition effect.- 4.3. Apparent violations of Subjacency.- 4.4. Subject-object asymmetry?.- 5. Concluding remarks.