View in EDS PDF Full Text

Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences
Description: A wide-ranging generative analysis of the typology of possession sentences, solving long-standing puzzles in their syntax and semantics.A major question for linguistic theory concerns how the structure of sentences relates to their meaning. There is broad agreement in the field that there is some regularity in the way that lexical semantics and syntax are related, so that thematic roles (the different participant roles in an event: agent, theme, goal, etc.) are predictably associated with particular syntactic positions. In this book, Neil Myler examines the syntax and semantics of possession sentences, which are infamous for appearing to diverge dramatically from this broadly regular pattern. On the one hand, Myler points out, possession sentences have too many meanings; in any given language, the construction used to express archetypal possessive meanings (such as personal ownership) is also often used to express other apparently unrelated notions (body parts, kinship relations, and many others). On the other hand, possession sentences have too many surface structures; languages differ markedly in the argument structures used to convey the same possessive meanings. Myler argues that recent work on the syntax-semantics interface in the generative tradition has developed the tools needed to solve these puzzles. Examining and synthesizing ideas from the literature and drawing on data from many languages (including some understudied Quechua dialects), Myler presents a novel way to understand the apparent irregularity of possession sentences while preserving explanations of general cross-linguistic regularities, offering a unified approach to the syntax and semantics of possession sentences that can also be integrated into a general theory of argument structure.
Authors: Neil Myler
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: Grammar, Comparative and general--Possessives, Semantics, Comparative, English language--Sentences, Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax
Categories: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
FullText Links:
  – Type: ebook-pdf
Text:
  Availability: 0
Header DbId: nlebk
DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
An: 1398253
RelevancyScore: 1070
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: eBook
PubTypeId: ebook
PreciseRelevancyScore: 1070.4580078125
IllustrationInfo
ImageInfo – Size: thumb
  Target: https://rps2images.ebscohost.com/rpsweb/othumb?id=NL$1398253$PDF&s=r
– Size: medium
  Target: https://rps2images.ebscohost.com/rpsweb/othumb?id=NL$1398253$PDF&s=d
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Description
  Group: Ab
  Data: A wide-ranging generative analysis of the typology of possession sentences, solving long-standing puzzles in their syntax and semantics.A major question for linguistic theory concerns how the structure of sentences relates to their meaning. There is broad agreement in the field that there is some regularity in the way that lexical semantics and syntax are related, so that thematic roles (the different participant roles in an event: agent, theme, goal, etc.) are predictably associated with particular syntactic positions. In this book, Neil Myler examines the syntax and semantics of possession sentences, which are infamous for appearing to diverge dramatically from this broadly regular pattern. On the one hand, Myler points out, possession sentences have too many meanings; in any given language, the construction used to express archetypal possessive meanings (such as personal ownership) is also often used to express other apparently unrelated notions (body parts, kinship relations, and many others). On the other hand, possession sentences have too many surface structures; languages differ markedly in the argument structures used to convey the same possessive meanings. Myler argues that recent work on the syntax-semantics interface in the generative tradition has developed the tools needed to solve these puzzles. Examining and synthesizing ideas from the literature and drawing on data from many languages (including some understudied Quechua dialects), Myler presents a novel way to understand the apparent irregularity of possession sentences while preserving explanations of general cross-linguistic regularities, offering a unified approach to the syntax and semantics of possession sentences that can also be integrated into a general theory of argument structure.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Neil+Myler%22">Neil Myler</searchLink>
– Name: TypePub
  Label: Resource Type
  Group: TypPub
  Data: eBook.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Grammar%2C+Comparative+and+general--Possessives%22">Grammar, Comparative and general--Possessives</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Semantics%2C+Comparative%22">Semantics, Comparative</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+language--Sentences%22">English language--Sentences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Grammar%2C+Comparative+and+general--Syntax%22">Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax</searchLink>
– Name: SubjectBISAC
  Label: Categories
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22LANGUAGE+ARTS+%26+DISCIPLINES+%2F+Linguistics+%2F+General%22">LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General</searchLink>
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=1398253
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Classifications:
      – Code: 415
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Grammar, Comparative and general--Possessives
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Semantics, Comparative
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: English language--Sentences
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Neil Myler
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Neil Myler
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2016
            – D: 25
              M: 10
              Type: profile
              Y: 2016
          Identifiers:
            – Type: isbn-print
              Value: 9780262034913
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9780262336130
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Building and Interpreting Possession Sentences
              Type: main
ResultId 1