Quantification, Definiteness, and Nominalization

by Anastasia Giannakidou, Monika Rathert

Overview

This book addresses recent developments in the study of quantifier phrases, nominalizations, and the linking definite determiner. It reflects the intense reconsideration of the nature of quantification, and of fundamental aspects of the syntax and semantics of quantifier phrases. Leading international scholars explore novel and challenging ideas at the interfaces between syntax and morphology, syntax and semantics, morphology and the lexicon. They examine core issues in the field, such as kind reference, number marking, partitivity, context dependence and the way presuppositions are built into the meanings of quantifiers. They also consider how in this context definiteness and the definite determiner D play a central role, and the way in which D is also instrumental in nominalizations. With nominalization, the lexical semantic contribution of verbs and their arguments becomes central, and within the perspective of this book the question is asked whether syntactic nominalizations share with noun phrases the same external layer, namely the functional projection DP. If so, what exactly is the contribution of D in this case, and how much of the lexical correspondence between nouns and verbs is preserved?

This book presents the latest thinking on cross-paradigm and cross-linguistic approaches in three of the most vibrant and productive research areas in linguistics. It paves the way towards a more comprehensive understanding of how quantification, definiteness, and nominalizations are encoded in the grammar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199541089
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2009
Series:	Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics , #24
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Anastasia Giannakidou is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. She has studied philosophy of language and linguistics, and is the author of many articles in natural language semantics and syntax on topics such as negative polarity, free choice, quantification, ellipsis, focus, tense, and mood. Her previous book Polarity Sensitivity as (Non)Veridical Dependency appeared with John Benjamins in 1998.
Monika Rathert is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Cognitive Linguistics, University of Frankfurt/Main. She studied German, English and Theoretical Linguistics in Tübingen, and her research interests include morphosyntax (nominalizations, argumentlinking), semantics (tense, adverbs), and language and the law. Her PhD thesis Textures of Time was published 2004 in the Studia Grammatica series at Akademie Publishers, Berlin.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Anastasia Giannakidou and Monika RathertPart I: Quantification2. An Unfamiliar Proportional Quantifier, Lisa Matthewson3. On Every Type of Quantificational Expression in Chinese, Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng4. Contextually Restricted Quantification in Basque, Urtzi Etxeberria5. Contextual Restrictions on Indefinites: Spanish Algunos vs. Unos, Luisa Martí6. Issues in Quantification and DP/QP Structure in Dorean and Japanese, Kook-Hee Gil and George TsoulasPart II: Definiteness7. Properties, Entity Correlates of Properties, and Existentials, Louise McNally8. Stability and Variation in Article Choice: Generic and Non-Generic Contexts, Donka F. Farkas and Henriëtte de Swart9. The Temporal Degree Adjectives Früh(er)/ Spät(er) 'Early(er)'/'Late(r)' and the Semantics of the Positive, Arnim von Stechow10. On (in)animate Noun Phrases, Helen de HoopPart III: Nominalization11. On the Role of Syntactic Locality in Morphological Processes: The Case fo (Greek) Derived Nominals, Artemis Alexiadou12. Nominalization - Lexical and Syntactic Aspects, Manfred Bierwisch13. The Morphology of Nominalizations and the Syntax of vP, Heide Harley14. The Representation of Movement in -ability Nominalizations. Evidence for Covert Category Movement, Edge Phenomena, and Local LF, Thomas Roeper and Angeliek van Hout15. Nominal Voices, Tal Siloni and Omer PremingerBibliographyIndex