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Autolexical Syntax

A Theory of Parallel Grammatical Representations

In Autolexical Syntax, Jerrold M. Sadock argues for a radical departure from the derivational model of grammar that has prevailed in linguistics for thirty years. He offers an alternative theory in which the various components of grammar—in particular syntax, semantics, and morphology—are viewed as fully autonomous descriptive devices for various parallel dimensions of linguistic representation. The lexicon in this theory forges the connection between autonomous representations in that a typical lexeme plays a role in all three of the major components of the grammar.

Sadock’s principal innovation is the postulation of a uniform set of interface conditions that require the several orthogonal representations of a single natural language expression to match up in certain ways. Through a detailed application of his theory to the twin morphosyntactic problems of cliticization and incorporation, Sadock shows that very straightforward accounts are made possible by the nonderivational model. He demonstrates the empirical success of these accounts by examining more than two dozen morphosyntactic problems in almost as many languages.

Autolexical Syntax will be of interest to those in the fields of theoretical grammar, particularly concerned with the problems of morphology and syntax, as well as philosophers of language, logicians, lexicographers, psychologists of language, and computer scientists.

261 pages | 6 x 9 | © 1990

Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

Language and Linguistics: Syntax and Semantics

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
1.1. The Tradition of Hierarchiality in American Grammar
1.2. The Arrangement of Components
1.3. Modularity
1.4. Redundancy in Grammar
1.5. Linguistics as Anatomy
1.6. Plan of the Book
2. A Sketch of Autolexical Syntax
2.1. Autonomous Components
2.1.1. Syntax
2.1.2. Semantics
2.1.3. Morphology
2.2. Lexicon
2.3. The Interface
2.3.1. The Lexicon as Part of the Interface
2.3.2. Paradigmatic Constraints
2.3.3. Syntagmatic Constraints
2.4. Formal Power
3. Cliticization
3.1. Background
3.2. The Multimodular Nature of Clitics
3.3. Separate Cliticization Components
3.4. Improper Clitics
3.5. An Autolexical Theory of Cliticization
3.5.1. Simple Clitics
3.5.2. Anticipatory Clitics
3.5.3. Second-Position Clitics
3.5.4. The Eight-Fold Way
3.5.5. Three Missing Types
3.6. Klavan’s Theory of Clitics
3.6.1. The Dominance Parameter
3.6.2. The Phonological Liaison Parameter
3.6.3. The Precedence Parameter
4. Incorporation
4.1. Historical Background
4.2. The Nature of Noun Incorporation
4.2.1. Productivity
4.2.2. Referentiality
4.2.3. Syntax
4.2.4. Stranded Elements
4.2.5. Summary
4.3. Incorporating Incorporation
4.3.1. The Direction of Incorporation
5. A Survey of Morphosyntactic Mismatches
5.1. NP --> Det, N
5.1.1. Scandinavian Definite Articles
5.1.2. Macedonian Postpositive Articles
5.1.3. Tongan Definitive Account
5.2. VP --> V, NP
5.3. VP --> V, VP
5.3.1. Miscellaneous Cases
5.3.2. Kirundi Future Marker
5.3.3. Hungarian Verb Compounding
5.4. PP --> P, NP
5.4.1. Miscellaneous Cases
5.4.2. Hungarian Case Marking
5.4.3. Crow Complex P Incorporation
5.5. S --> Comp, S (Etc.)
5.5.1. Finnish Negative Incorporation
5.5.2. Huastec Agreement
5.5.3. Walmadjari Auxiliaries
5.5.4. West Flemish Inflected Complementizers
5.5.5. Santali Clitic Infl’s
5.5.6. Nama (Hottentot) Clitic Infl
5.6. N --> N, NP
5.6.1. Hebrew Construct State
5.7. N --> A, N
5.7.1. Spanish Diminutives
5.8. AP --> A, NP
5.8.1. Sorbian Personal Adjectives
6. Autonomous Semantics
6.1. Semantic Representation
6.2. Semantic Incorporation
6.2.1. Morphosemantic Incorporation
6.3. Semantic Clitics
6.3.1. Morphosemantic Clitics
6.3.2. Syntactosemantic Clitics
6.3.3. Anticipatory Clitics
7. Extensions of the Method
7.1. Complex Lexical Items
7.1.1. Portmanteaus
7.1.2. Idioms
7.2. Higher Categories
7.2.1. Agreements as NP
7.2.2. Other Incorporated Pronomials
7.3. Additional Modules
Appendix: Abbreviations
Notes
References
Indexes

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