front cover of Complex Predicates
Complex Predicates
Edited by Alex Alsina, Joan Bresnan, and Peter Sells
CSLI, 1996
Complex predicates can be defined as predicates which are composed of more than one grammatical element (either morphemes or words), each of which contributes a non-trivial part of the information of the complex predicate. The papers collected in this volume, which were presented at a workshop at Stanford in 1993, represent a variety of approaches to the question of the range and nature of complex predicates, and draw on data from a wide spectrum of languages. This collection develops a better understanding of the range of phenomena that a general theory of complex predicates would have to account for, and to see what kinds of linguistic ideas and methodologies would be necessary for such a task.
[more]

front cover of Complex Predicates and Information Spreading in LFG
Complex Predicates and Information Spreading in LFG
Avery D. Andrews and Christopher D. Manning
CSLI, 1999
This book provides a simple but precise framework for describing complex predicates and related constructions, and applies it principally to the analysis of complex predicates in Romance, and certain serial verb constructions in Tariana and Miskitu. The authors argue for replacing the projection architecture of LFG with a notion of differential information spreading within a unified feature structure. Another important feature is the use of the conception of argument-structure in Chris Manning's Ergativity to facilitate the description of how complex predicates are assembled. In both of these aspects the result is a framework that preserves the descriptive parsimony of LFG while taking on key ideas from HPSG.
[more]

front cover of Complex Predicates in Japanese
Complex Predicates in Japanese
A Syntactic and Semantic Study of the Notion 'Word'
Yo Matsumoto
CSLI, 1996
In this thoroughly revised version of 1992 Stanford dissertation, the author presents an extensive discussion of Japanese complex predicates. A broad range of constructions and predicates are discussed, which include predicative complement constructions, light verbs, causative predicates, desiderative predicates, syntactic and lexical compound verbs, and complex motion predicates. A number of new interesting facts are uncovered, and a detailed syntactic and semantic analyses are presented. On the basis of the analyses, the author argues that the notion 'word' must be relativized to at least three different senses: morphological, grammatical (functional), and semantic; and that this observation can be insightfully captured in the theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar. Previous proposals for each type of predicate that involve such mechanisms as argument transfer, incorporation, restructuring, etc. are thoroughly reviewed. Concrete proposals on the constraints on semantic wordhood are also made (an issue rarely discussed in the literature), drawing insights from cognitive linguistics.
[more]

front cover of The Structure of Complex Predicates in Urdu
The Structure of Complex Predicates in Urdu
Miriam Butt
CSLI, 1995
Complex predicates in a number of diverse languages present an interesting problem for formal linguistics as their overall semantics cannot be placed into a simple one-to-one correspondence with the syntactic or morphological pieces which form the complex predicate.  A central issue in the investigation of complex predicates thus is the interaction between syntax and semantics.

This book takes a detailed look at two differing complex predicates in the South Asian language Urdu.  The Urdu permissive in particular brings into focus the problem of the syntax-semantics mismatch.  An examination of the syntactic properties of this complex predicate shows that it is formed by the combination of two semantic heads, but that this combination is not mirrored in the syntax in terms of any kind of syntactic or lexical incorporation.
[more]


Send via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter