Prominence and Locality in Grammar

Prominence and Locality in Grammar
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 189
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781000008661
ISBN-13 : 1000008665
Rating : 4/5 (665 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Prominence and Locality in Grammar by : Jianhua Hu

Download or read book Prominence and Locality in Grammar written by Jianhua Hu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-06 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges the current consensus on the analysis of wh-questions and reflexives from the perspective of the syntax-semantics interface. An integrated approach incorporating analyses of the interaction between different levels of linguistic knowledge is proposed. It argues that the derivation and interpretation of wh-questions and reflexives are not purely syntactic in nature but are regulated by principles operating at the syntax-semantics interface. Two general principles underlying our knowledge of language and cognition are proposed in this work. One is the Principle of Locality, and the other is the Principle of Prominence. It shows that although wh-quantification and reflexivization belong to two different domains of study in generative grammar, their derivation and interpretation are basically constrained by the complex interaction between prominence and locality in grammar. The first part of the book discusses how wh-questions are formed and interpreted in Chinese and English and shows that the formation and interpretation of wh-questions are constrained by the interaction between prominence and locality. It is shown that in wh-interpretation prominence is used to define the set generators so as to licence other wh-words in the pair-list reading in multiple wh-questions. It also discusses wh-island effects in English and Chinese, and unlike previous claims made in the literature (cf. Huang 1982a, 1982b), it argues that the so-called wh-island effects in English are also observed in Chinese. The second part of the book investigates the role that prominence and locality play in reflexive binding. It is shown that in reflexive binding, the binding domain of the reflexive is defined by prominence. It proposes a unified account for both the noncontrastive compound reflexive and the bare reflexive in Chinese and shows that they are constrained by the same reflexive binding condition proposed in this work, though they employ different definitions of the most prominent NPs to determine their binding domains. Prominence and Locality in Grammar: The Syntax and Semantics of Wh-Quesitons and Reflexives is an important theoretical contribution to the syntax-semantics interface studies and can serve as a valuable text for graduate students and scholars in the field of Chinese, linguistics, and cognitive science.


Prominence and Locality in Grammar Related Books

Prominence and Locality in Grammar
Language: en
Pages: 189
Authors: Jianhua Hu
Categories: Foreign Language Study
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-06-06 - Publisher: Routledge

GET EBOOK

This book challenges the current consensus on the analysis of wh-questions and reflexives from the perspective of the syntax-semantics interface. An integrated
Dimensions of Phonological Stress
Language: en
Pages: 345
Authors: Jeffrey Heinz
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-11-17 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

GET EBOOK

Stress and accent are central, organizing features of grammar, but their precise nature continues to be a source of mystery and wonder. These issues come to the
Aspects of the Grammar of Focus
Language: en
Pages: 404
Authors: Przemysław Tajsner
Categories: Foreign Language Study
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008 - Publisher: Peter Lang

GET EBOOK

The book examines the aspects of focus within the recent minimalist paradigm. Focus is viewed here as a grammar's response to the requirements of the systems ex
Prominence in Austronesian
Language: en
Pages: 338
Authors: Bethwyn Evans
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-01-29 - Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

GET EBOOK

The cognitive concept of prominence is increasingly seen as key to understanding the organisation of grammar. This volume explores the encoding of prominence in
Context and Coherence
Language: en
Pages: 230
Authors: Una Stojnić
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-02-25 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

GET EBOOK

Natural languages are riddled with context-sensitivity, yet how do we understand one another so effortlessly? Contrary to the dominant position, this book argue