Nonverbal Predication : Copular Sentences at the Syntax-Semantics Interface
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| Title: | Nonverbal Predication : Copular Sentences at the Syntax-Semantics Interface |
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| Description: | This book considers the syntax and semantics of non-verbal predicates (i.e., nominal, adjectival and prepositional predicates) in copular sentences. Isabelle Roy explores how a single structure for predication can account for the different interpretations of non-verbal predicates. The book departs from earlier studies by arguing in favor of a ternary distinction between defining / characterizing / situation-descriptive predicates rather than the more common stage-level/individual distinction. The distinction is based on two semantic criteria, namely maximality (i.e., whether the predicate describes an eventuality that has spatio-temporal properties or not) and density (i.e. whether the spatio-temporal properties are perceived as atomic or not). The author argues in favor of a strong correlation between the semantics properties of predicates and their internal syntactic structure. Her analysis accounts for seemingly unrelated cross-linguistic data: the indefinite article in French, the distribution of the two copulas'ser'/'estar'in Spanish, and case marking on Russian predicates. |
| Authors: | Isabelle Roy |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Grammar, Comparative and general--Copula, Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax, Semantics, Comparative |
| Categories: | LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| Abstract: | This book considers the syntax and semantics of non-verbal predicates (i.e., nominal, adjectival and prepositional predicates) in copular sentences. Isabelle Roy explores how a single structure for predication can account for the different interpretations of non-verbal predicates. The book departs from earlier studies by arguing in favor of a ternary distinction between defining / characterizing / situation-descriptive predicates rather than the more common stage-level/individual distinction. The distinction is based on two semantic criteria, namely maximality (i.e., whether the predicate describes an eventuality that has spatio-temporal properties or not) and density (i.e. whether the spatio-temporal properties are perceived as atomic or not). The author argues in favor of a strong correlation between the semantics properties of predicates and their internal syntactic structure. Her analysis accounts for seemingly unrelated cross-linguistic data: the indefinite article in French, the distribution of the two copulas'ser'/'estar'in Spanish, and case marking on Russian predicates. |
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| ISBN: | 9780199543540 9780199543557 9780191664960 |
