1,721,023 research outputs found
Bare plurals and the number affix in DP
No full textThe empirical scope of this article is defined by the so-called 'existential' reading of bare plurals in some Romance and Germanic languages. The hypothesis is that the typological differences with respect to the distribution of bare plurals can be reduced to universal principles of grammar, plus independently motivated morphological difference
New views on reflexivity: delay effects in acquisition, cross-modular Principle B and reflexive clitics in Romance
No full textIn this contribution, the authors intend to offer an interesting exemplification of the kind of positive interaction that may arise between acquisition studies and linguistic theory. Starting from a full range of comparative studies showing the presence of a delay in the acquisition of the interpretive properties of non-reflexive pronominals and the absence of such a delay in languages where clitic pronominals are involved, the authors argue that this range of effects is elegantly derived from a general constraint on extra-lexical operations of valency reduction, turning relations into one-place predicates. The analysis leads to a sort of cross-modular (re)interpretation of Principle B of Binding Theory and to a radically new analysis of the relation between (semantic) binding and coreferenc
Where syntax meets pragmatics: varieties of de se and control structures
No full textIn this contribution, we offer an original analysis of the relation between control structures, de se readings and Immunity to Error through Misidentification. We propose that control structures are the result of an operation of Thematic Overwriting (TO), which conflates two thematic roles into one and delivers a logical representation whereby two properties are predicated of a unique argument. The account we propose explains a number of facts concerning control structures: (i) The fact that control structures are bound to the expression of de se attitudes; (ii) that fact that some control structures – more precisely, those control structures involving an Experiencer subject – are bound to the expression of implicit de se attitudes, that is, de se propositional attitudes that are immune to error through misidentification; (iii) the contrast between optional and non-optional control; (iv) the contrast between partial and exhaustive control. The account we propose also predicts a diachronic constraint on the emergence of control structures, whereby TO first emerges in the context of implicit de se attitudes and only later is extended to other de se contexts. This prediction is supported by the attested development of control structures from Old English (OE) through early Modern English (ENE) and Middle English (ME) to Modern Englis
How free is ‘free inversion’?
No full textThe basic claim of this contribution is that 'free' inversion is a far more constrained phenomen than generally aknowledged in the literature. In particular, the Definiteness Effect (DE) showing up in inversion structures is not limited to unaccusative constructions, but is far more widespread, involving transitive and the majority of intransitive verb
De se readings as a window on the nature of control
No full textThis contribution offers a new interpretation of the so-called control phenomena in natural languages such as English and Italian on the grounds of new original hypotheses on the syntax/semantics interface and of the interpretive effects linked to the so-called 'immunity to error through misidentification
Inside names
No full textIn this contribution, we offer a contextualist analysis of names whereby a name N is used as a felicitous referential term in all and only those contexts of utterance in which N is intended to refer to a unique referent by all cognitive agents that are relevant in the context. This analysis has important across-the-board virtues. It reduces the distance between common nouns and names, under the insight that names are a highly specific case of a more general phenomenon consisting in the pragmatic modulation of the meaning of common nouns. It successfully ties to an important body of syntactic evidence, and contributes to elucidate, in an original and productive manner, many of the unsolved issues concerning the syntactic structure of (complex) names. Finally, it makes a number of philosophical puzzles virtually dissolve without giving up rigid reference for names, but crucially suggesting that the causal theory of reference becomes far-fetched once the linguistic structure of names and their actual use in language and cognition have been carefully evaluated
On the syntax of null possessive anaphors
No full textThis contribution examines the syntactic properties of possessive anaphors and, more specifically, of null possessive anaphors, as they are found in the so-called 'constructions of inalienable possession', which are typical of Romance and are virtually absent in Germanic language
New perspectives in applied linguistics: grammatical competence between psycholinguistics and neuroscience
No full textThe papers collected and discussed offer an interesting illustration of the increasing degree of interaction between theoretical linguistics and other distinct but related domains of inquiry: cognitive science, neurolinguistics, clinical linguistics, psycholinguistics and, even more specifically, first and second language acquisitio
Feature primitives and the syntax of specificity
No full textThis contribution discusses the interpretive import of cliticization phenomena in Romance and Germanic and scrambling phenomena in Germanic, arguing for the relevance of 'specificity' as a trigger of syntactic operation
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