Syntax, Lexical Semantics, and Event Structure

by Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron, Ivy Sichel

Overview

This book focuses on the linguistic representation of temporality in the verbal domain and its interaction with the syntax and semantics of verbs, arguments, and modifiers. Leading scholars explore the division of labour between syntax, compositional semantics, and lexical semantics in the encoding of event structure, encompassing event participants and the temporal properties associated with events. They examine the interface between event structure and the systems with which it interacts, including the interface between event structure and the syntactic realization of arguments and modifiers. Deploying a variety of frameworks and theoretical perspectives they consider central issues and questions in the field, among them whether argument-structure is specified in the lexical entries of verbs or syntactically constructed so that syntactic position determines thematic status; whether the hierarchical structure evidenced in argument structure find parallels in sign language; should the relation between members of an alternation pair, such as the causative-inchoative alternation, be understood lexically or derivationally; and the role of syntactic category in determining the configuration of argument structure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199544325
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/02/2010
Series:	Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Malka Rappaport Hovav teaches in the Department of Linguistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her books include Argument Realization and Unaccusativity, written along with Beth Levin.

Edit Doron teaches in the Department of Linguistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has written widely on the syntax and semantics of English and Semitic languages.

Ivy Sichel teaches in the Department of Linguistics and the Cognitive Science Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her interests include comparative syntax, the structure of noun phrases, and the syntax-semantics interface.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron, and Ivy SichelPart I Lexical Representation2. Reflections on Manner/Result Complementarity, Malka Rappaport Hovav and Beth levin3. Verbs, Constructions, and Semantic Frames, Adele E. Goldberg4. Contact and Other Results, Nomi Erteschik-Shir and Tova Rapoport5. The Lexical Encoding of Idioms, Martin EveraertPart II Argument Structure and the Compositional Construction of Predicates6. The Emergence of Argument Structure in Two New Sign Languages, Irit Meir7. Animacy in Blackfoot Implications for Event Structure and Clause Structure, Elizabeth Ritter and Sara Thomas Rosen8. Lexicon Versus Syntax Evidence From Morphological Causatives, Julia Horvath and Tal Siloni9. On the Morphosyntax of (Anti-)Causative Verbs, Artemis Alexiadou10. Saturated Adjectives, Reified Properties, Idan LandauPart III Syntactic and Semantic Composition of Event Structure11. Incremental homegeneity and the Semantics of Aspectual ifor/i-phrases, Fred Landman and Susan Rothstein12. Event Measurement and Containment, Anita Mittwoch13. Morphological Aspect and the Function and Distribution of Cognate Objects Across Languages, Geoffrey Horrocks and melita Stavrou14. Locales, Hagit Borer15. Modal and Temporal Aspects of Habituality, Nora Boneh and Edit DoronReferencesIndex