Linguistik-Klassifikation
Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Part of a Book (204)
- Article (29)
- Working Paper (27)
- Preprint (23)
- Conference Proceeding (17)
- Report (5)
- Book (3)
Language
- English (308) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (308)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (308)
Keywords
- Syntax (100)
- Thema-Rhema-Gliederung (36)
- Deutsch (31)
- Wortstellung (30)
- Englisch (29)
- Generative Transformationsgrammatik (29)
- Intonation <Linguistik> (25)
- Bantusprachen (22)
- Prädikat (21)
- Semantik (21)
- Relativsatz (19)
- Formale Semantik (17)
- Optimalitätstheorie (15)
- Prosodie (14)
- Phonologie (13)
- Sinotibetische Sprachen (13)
- Topikalisierung (13)
- Chinesisch (12)
- Informationsstruktur (12)
- Interrogativsatz (12)
- Referenzidentität (12)
- Russisch (12)
- Adjunkt <Linguistik> (9)
- Morphosyntax (9)
- Nungisch (9)
- Pragmatik (9)
- Spracherwerb (9)
- Tibetobirmanische Sprachen (9)
- Valenz <Linguistik> (9)
- Anapher <Syntax> (8)
- Kontrastive Linguistik (8)
- Linguistik (8)
- Oberflächenstruktur <Linguistik> (8)
- Pronomen (8)
- Tagalog (8)
- Tiefenstruktur (8)
- Extraposition (7)
- Kasus (7)
- Lexikologie (7)
- Topik (7)
- Chewa-Sprache (6)
- Grammatische Kategorie (6)
- Morphologie (6)
- Referenz <Linguistik> (6)
- Sprachverstehen (6)
- Thematische Relation (6)
- Transitivität (6)
- Adverb (5)
- Genus verbi (5)
- Griechisch (5)
- Japanisch (5)
- Kongress (5)
- Kontrastive Syntax (5)
- Lokativ (5)
- Malagassi-Sprache (5)
- Satz (5)
- Skopus (5)
- Spezifität (5)
- Sprachstatistik (5)
- Sprachtypologie (5)
- Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft (5)
- syntax (5)
- Aufsatzsammlung (4)
- Ergativ (4)
- Funktionale Kategorie (4)
- Generative Grammatik (4)
- Gradpartikel (4)
- Italienisch (4)
- Kindersprache (4)
- Klitisierung (4)
- Morphonologie (4)
- Nebensatz (4)
- Niederländisch (4)
- Personalpronomen (4)
- Prädikation (4)
- Qiang-Sprache (4)
- Satztyp (4)
- Ungarisch (4)
- Verb (4)
- Austronesische Sprachen (3)
- Bindungstheorie <Linguistik> (3)
- Bulgarisch (3)
- Definitheit (3)
- Demonstrativpronomen (3)
- Ergänzung <Linguistik> (3)
- Ergänzungsfragesatz (3)
- Französisch (3)
- Hypotaxe (3)
- Infinitkonstruktion (3)
- Kontrastive Grammatik (3)
- Koreanisch (3)
- Modalverb (3)
- Negation (3)
- Neugriechisch (3)
- Nominalphrase (3)
- Objekt (3)
- Passiv (3)
- Quantor (3)
- Referenzsemantik (3)
- Satzanalyse (3)
- Satzglied (3)
- Satzsemantik (3)
- Scrambling (3)
- Spaltsatz (3)
- Swahili (3)
- Syntaktische Kongruenz (3)
- Adjektiv (2)
- Adverbiale (2)
- Afrikanische Sprachen (2)
- Albanisch (2)
- Artikulation (2)
- Aspekt <Linguistik> (2)
- Aspiration <Linguistik> (2)
- Aufforderungssatz (2)
- Baskisch (2)
- Consecutio temporum (2)
- Diskontinuität (2)
- Diskursanalyse (2)
- Diskursrepräsentationstheorie (2)
- Distribution <Linguistik> (2)
- Drung (2)
- Experiment (2)
- Feldlinguistik (2)
- Freier Relativsatz (2)
- Ganda-Sprache (2)
- Genitiv (2)
- German (2)
- Grammatiktheorie (2)
- Hebräisch (2)
- Herausstellung (2)
- Instrumental (2)
- Inuktitut (2)
- Isländisch (2)
- Junktur (2)
- Kanuri-Sprache (2)
- Konditionalsatz (2)
- Kontrastive Phonologie (2)
- Kontrolle <Linguistik> (2)
- Korpus <Linguistik> (2)
- Makonde-Sprache (2)
- Modalität (2)
- Morphem (2)
- Nama-Sprache (2)
- Nominalisierung (2)
- Parataxe (2)
- Philippinen-Austronesisch (2)
- Phrasenstrukturgrammatik (2)
- Plural (2)
- Polarität (2)
- Portugiesisch (2)
- Pro-Form (2)
- Prädikativsatz (2)
- Präposition (2)
- Restriktiver Relativsatz (2)
- Salish-Sprache (2)
- Satzakzent (2)
- Satzteil (2)
- Sotho (2)
- Spanisch (2)
- Sprachverarbeitung <Psycholinguistik> (2)
- Spurtheorie (2)
- Subjekt (2)
- Temporalsatz (2)
- Tempus (2)
- Tharaka (2)
- Unbestimmtheit (2)
- Wortbildung (2)
- Yoruba-Sprache (2)
- Zulu-Sprache (2)
- case (2)
- dass (2)
- Ableitung <Linguistik> (1)
- Adversativsatz (1)
- Affix (1)
- Akan-Sprache (1)
- Algorithmus (1)
- Allomorph (1)
- Ambiguität (1)
- Amerikanisches Englisch (1)
- Argument <Linguistik> (1)
- Aschanti-Sprache (1)
- Aspekt (1)
- Asymmetrie (1)
- Auslassung (1)
- Ausrufesatz (1)
- Bahasa Indonesia (1)
- Bantoid (1)
- Basaa-Sprache (1)
- Baushi (1)
- Belebtheit <Grammatik> (1)
- Belhare (1)
- Bemba-Sprache (1)
- Berlin <2001> (1)
- Chinese (1)
- Chomsky (1)
- Demokratische Republik Kongo (1)
- Determinativ (1)
- Dialektologie (1)
- Disambiguierung (1)
- Dutch (1)
- Eindeutigkeit (1)
- Ellipse <Linguistik> (1)
- Epenthese (1)
- Erkenntnistheorie (1)
- Evidenz (1)
- Existentialsatz (1)
- Faktiv (1)
- Finite Verbform (1)
- Fipa (1)
- Frage (1)
- Fragebogen (1)
- Funktionsverb (1)
- Galloitalienisch (1)
- Grammatikalisation (1)
- Grammatikalität (1)
- Grammatische Relation (1)
- Hausa (1)
- Haya (1)
- Herero-Sprache (1)
- Inchoativ (1)
- Indefinitpronomen (1)
- Infix (1)
- Inkorporation <Linguistik> (1)
- Inversion <Grammatik> (1)
- Je suis Charlie (1)
- Kamerun (1)
- Kausativ (1)
- Khoisan (1)
- Kognitive Entwicklung (1)
- Komoren (1)
- Konfiguration <Linguistik> (1)
- Kongo-Sprache (1)
- Kongressbericht (1)
- Konjunktion (1)
- Konsekutivsatz (1)
- Konstruktionsgrammatik (1)
- Kontrastive Semantik (1)
- Kopula (1)
- Kopulasatz (1)
- Lerntheorie (1)
- Lexicalized Tree Adjoining Grammar (1)
- Logische Form <Linguistik> (1)
- Lokale Präposition (1)
- Makua-Sprache (1)
- Malawi (1)
- Mboshi-Sprache (1)
- Methodologie (1)
- Mittelenglisch (1)
- Modalität <Linguistik> (1)
- Morphologie <Linguistik> (1)
- Move-alpha (1)
- Mura-Sprache (1)
- Mögliche Welt (1)
- Mündlichkeit (1)
- Nicht-restriktiver Relativsatz (1)
- Niger-Kongo-Sprachen (1)
- Nilosaharanische Sprachen (1)
- Nilotische Sprachen (1)
- Niue-Sprache (1)
- Noam (1)
- Notwendigkeit (1)
- Objektsatz (1)
- Opaker Kontext (1)
- Oslo <1999> (1)
- Paiwan (1)
- Palauisch (1)
- Palaung (1)
- Parametrisierung (1)
- Parasitic gap (1)
- Partitiv (1)
- Partizip Perfekt (1)
- Perfekt (1)
- Phonetik (1)
- Phrasenkompositum (1)
- Phrasenmarker (1)
- Phrasenstruktur (1)
- Pirahã (1)
- Possessivität (1)
- Potsdam <2002> (1)
- Proto-Indo-European (1)
- Proto-Tibetobirmanisch (1)
- Präsupposition (1)
- Quantifizierung <Linguistik> (1)
- Raising (1)
- Range Concatenation Grammar (1)
- Reduktion <Linguistik> (1)
- Reduplikation (1)
- Reflexivpronomen (1)
- Relevanz <Linguistik> (1)
- Resultativ (1)
- Reziprozität (1)
- Reziprozität <Linguistik> (1)
- Rumänisch (1)
- Saharanische Sprachen (1)
- Samoanisch (1)
- Satzadverb (1)
- Schriftlichkeit (1)
- Schwedisch (1)
- Senufo (1)
- Serbian (1)
- Serbisch (1)
- Serialverb-Konstruktion (1)
- Skandinavische Sprachen (1)
- Slawische Sprachen (1)
- Sprachgeschichte (1)
- Sprachproduktion (1)
- Sprachtheorie (1)
- Sprachverarbeitung (1)
- Sprachwahrnehmung (1)
- Stativ <Grammatik> (1)
- Stochastik (1)
- Strukturelle Grammatik (1)
- Strukturelle Phonologie (1)
- Suppire (1)
- Suppire-Sprache (1)
- Taiwan-Austronesisch (1)
- Teilsatz (1)
- Temporaladverb (1)
- Thai (1)
- Theory of mind (1)
- Tibetobirmanische Sprachen ; Nungisch (1)
- Tongaisch (1)
- Tonologie (1)
- Tswana (1)
- Tukangbesi (1)
- Tumbuka-Sprache (1)
- Türkisch (1)
- Umgangssprache (1)
- Universalgrammatik (1)
- Venetisch (1)
- Verbalphrase (1)
- Vietnamese (1)
- Vokal (1)
- Vokalharmonie (1)
- Xhosa (1)
- Zentralkhoisan-Sprachen (1)
- Zulu (1)
- acceptability (1)
- agree (1)
- also (1)
- anticausatives (1)
- argument dislocation (1)
- background particles (1)
- causatives (1)
- clefts (1)
- complementation (1)
- cyclicity (1)
- epp (1)
- ergativity (1)
- features (1)
- fieldwork (1)
- focus particles (1)
- free-choice (1)
- gradience grammar (1)
- grammaticality (1)
- hierarchies (1)
- long wh-movement (1)
- passives (1)
- person splits (1)
- phi-features (1)
- phonology (1)
- pirahã (1)
- pp modification (1)
- question formation (1)
- root classes (1)
- stress patterns (1)
- subject inversion (1)
- syntactic decomposition (1)
- temporal gradation (1)
- temporal limitation (1)
- tone (1)
- tones (1)
- word order variation (1)
Institute
- Extern (12)
Predication and equation
(2001)
English is one language where equative sentences and non-equative sentences have a similar surface syntax (but see Heggie 1988 and Moro 1997 for a discussion of more subtle differences). In this paper we address the fact that many other languages appear to use radically different morphological means which seem to map to intuitive differences in the type of predication expressed. We take one such language, Scottish Gaelic, and show that the real difference is not between equative and non-equative sentences, but is rather dependent on whether the predicational head in the structure proposed above is eventive or not.
We show that the aparently odd syntax of “equatives” in this language derives from the fact that they are constructed via a non-eventive Pred head. Since Pred heads cannot combine with non-predicative categories, such as saturated DPs, “equatives” are built up indirectly from a simple predicational structure with a semantically bleached predicate. This approach not only allows us to maintain a strict one-to-one syntax/semantics mapping for predicational syntax, but also for the syntax of DPs. The argument we develop here, then, suggests that the interface between the syntactic and semantic components is maximally economical— one could say perfect.
In this paper I show that the different case marking possibilities on predicate adjectives in depictive secondary predicates in Russian constitute the uninterpretable counterpart of the interpretable tense and aspect features of the adjective. Case agreement entails that the predicate adjective is non-eventive, i.e., it occurs when the event time of the secondary predicate is identical to the event time of the primary predicate. The instrumental case, however, entails that the secondary predicate is eventive: some change of state or transition occurred prior to or during the event time of the primary predicate. I claim that case agreement occurs in conjoined tense phrases in Russian, while the instrumental case occurs in adjoined aspectual phrases. In English, secondary predication is sensitive both to the structural location of its antecedent and to the event structure of the primary predicate. I suggest that depictives with subject antecedents in English are true adjunction structures, while those with direct object antecedents occur in a conjoined aspectual phrase. This hypothesis finds support in the different movement and semantic constraints in conjunction versus adjunction phrases in both English and Russian.
It will be shown that verbs can be missing in predicative sentences by using the data from Chinese. Copula-less sentences in Chinese are subject to 'Generalized Anchoring Principle' (GAP), which requires that every clause be anchored at the interface for LF convergence. To satisfy GAP, clauses may be either tensed or focused. It is shown that copula-less sentences in Chinese are subject to focus anchoring. It will be further argued that whether a verb is needed in predication depends on the syntax of predicate nominals.
This paper discusses a variant of German V2 declaratives sharing properties with both subordinate relative clauses and main clauses. I argue that modal subordination failure helps decide between two rivaling accounts for this construction. Thus, a hypotactic analysis involving syntactic variable sharing must be preferred over parataxis plus anaphora resolution. The scopal behavior of the construction will be derived from its 'proto-assertional force,' which it shares with similar 'embedded root' constructions.
This article discusses some syntactic peculiarities of Chinese yes/no questions. Starting from the observation that Standard Mandarin shares significant typological features with prototypical SOV languages, Chinese is treated as an underlyingly verb-final language. Based on this heuristic principle, A-not-AB, AB-not-A and AB-not questions are uniformly derived by means of one simple raising rule that operates within the sentence constituent V'. This novel idea is elaborated on in great detail in the first part of the article. In contrast to the prevailing trend, it is argued that the question operator contained in A-not-A and A-not sentences CANNOT be raised to "Comp". In consequence, A-not-A and A-not questions are "typed" in the head position of a sentence-internal functional phrase that we call Force2 Phrase (F2P) in the present paper. This position is not to be confused with Drubig's (1994) Polarity 1 Phrase (PollP), in the head position of which assertive negations and an abstract affirmative element are located. The existence of a head position F2° other than Poll° is supported by the fact that F2° can be occupied by certain overt question operators, such as assertive shi-bu-shi, which are compatible with negations. In contrast to the assertive question operator shi-bu-shi which is obligatorily associated with information focus, non-assertive shi-bu-shi serves as a compound focus and question operator whose focus feature is complex insofar as it is composed of two subfeatures: a contrastivity and an exhaustivity subfeature. Non-assertive shi-bu-shi is obligatorily associated with identificational focus in the sense of Kiss (1998). In accordance with some basic ideas of Chomsky's checking theory, the two subfeatures of the complex focus feature carried by the non-assertive shi-bu-shi operator check a correlating subfeature in the head position of a corresponding functional phrase (Contrastive Phrase and Focus Phrase, respectively). The question feature contained in the non-assertive shi-bu-shi operator is attracted by the head of Force1 Phrase (F1') at the level of LF. Due to the fact that F1° is sentence-final, the question feature of non-assertive shi-bu-shi must be Chomsky-adjoined to F1'. Unlike identificational focus phrases which are inherently contrastive, topics are non-contrastive in the default case. As separate speech acts, they are located in a c-commanding position outside the sentence structure. Semantically, there is a difference between Frame-Setting Topics and Aboutness Topics. As shown in the article, both A-not-A and A-not questions on the one hand and yes/no questions ending with ma on the other can be used in neutral and non-neutral contexts. The decisive advantage of mu questions, however, is that their question operator has scope over the whole sentence.
We will argue that some seemingly adverbial free DPs in the instrumental in Russian which are traditionally termed measure instrumental are best understood as secondary predicates. We present the relevant syntactic assumptions and propose a semantics of this use of DPs in the instrumental. This proposal hears on the distinction between adjunct modification and secondary predication.
What are incremental themes?
(2001)
In this paper I examine the approach to incremental themes developed in Krifka 1992,1998, Dowty 1991 and others, which argues that the extent of a telic event is determined by the extent of its incrementally affected theme. This approach identifies the defining property of an accomplishment event as being the fact that the theme relation is a homomorphism from parts of the event to parts of the (incremental) theme. I show that there are a large number of accomplishments, both lexical and derived via resultative predication, which cannot be characterised in this way. I then show that it is more insightful to characterise accomplishments in terms of their internally complex structure: an accomplishment event consists of a non-incremental activity event and an incrementally structured 'BECOME' event, which are related by a contextually available one-one function in such a way that the incremental structure of the latter is imposed on the activity.
Adjectival secondary predicates can enter into two Case frames in Russian, the agreeing form and the Instrumental. The paper argues that these Case frames go together with two syntactic positions in the clause which are correlated with two different interpretations, the true depictive and the temporally restricted reading, respectively. The availability of the two readings depends on the houndedness of the secondary predicate. Only bounded predicates can enter into both Case frames and only partially non-bounded predicates can appear in the Instrumental. The paper therefore argues that the pertinent two-way SL/IL-contrast is to he replaced by a three-way distinction in terms of boundedness. The paper outlines the syntax and semantics of the true depictive and the temporally restricted interpretation and discusses how adjectival secondary predicates whose salient properties involve a cotemporary interpretation with the matrix predicate and a control relation of an individual argument, differ from temporal adjuncts as well as from non-finite clauses.
The main purpose of this paper is to show that argument structure constructions like complex telic path of motion constructions (John walked to the store) or complex resultative constructions (The dog barked the chickens awake) are not to be regarded as "theoretical entities" (Jackendoff (1997b); Goldberg (1995)). As an alternative to these semanticocentric accounts, I argue that their epiphenomenal status can be shown iff we take into account some important insights from three syntactically-oriented works: (i) Hoekstra's (1988, 1992) analysis of S<mall>C<lause> R<esults>, (ii) Hale & Keyser's (1993f.) configurational theory of argument structure, and (iii) Mateu & Rigau’s (1999; i.p.) syntactic account of Talmy's (1991) typological distinction between 'satellite framed languages' (e.g., English, German, Dutch, etc.) and 'verb-framed languages' (e.g., Catalan, Spanish, French, etc.). In particular, it is argued that the formation of the abovementioned constructions involves a conflation process of two different syntactic argument structures, this process being carried out via a 'generalized transformation'. Accordingly, the so-called 'lexical subordination process' (Levin & Rapoport (1988)) is argued to involve a syntactic operation, rather than a semantic one. Due to our assuming that the parametric variation involved in the constructions under study cannot be explained in purely semantic terms (Mateu & Rigau (1999)), Talmy's (1991) typological distinction is argued to be better stated in lexical syntactic terms.
In anaphora resolution theory, it has been assumed that anaphora resolution is based on a reversed mapping of antecedent salience and anaphora complexity: minimal complex anaphora refer to maximal salient antecedents. In order to ex-amine whether and by which developmental steps German children gain command of this mapping maxim we conducted an experiment on production and comprehension of intersentential pronouns including the three pronoun types zero, personal, and demonstrative pronoun. With respect to antecedent salience, the experiment varied syntactic role (subject/object) and in/animacy. Six age groups of children (age range from 2;0 to 6;0) and an adult control group has been tested. The hypothesis arising from the mapping maxim is that zero pronoun correlates with more salient antecedents than personal and demonstrative pronoun, the latter correlating with the least salient antecedents. The results are: In production, children first establish the opposition of zero pronoun with animate antecedents vs. demonstrative pronoun with inanimate antecedents. In a next step, syntactic role comes into play and a more complex system opposing the three presented pronoun types is established. In comprehension, however, the effect of pronoun type re-mains weak and antecedent features remain a strong factor in reference choice. However, also adults employ pronoun type and antecedent features. The oldest children and the adults show variation in personal pronoun resolution according to the animacy pattern of the potential antecedents. In case of identical animacy features, the subject is the preferred candidate; in case of distinct animacy features, there is a tendency to choose the object antecedent.
The study examines the hypotheses that the acquisition of the finite verb is an indispensable and linking constituent of the development of SVO utterances. Four apparently separate or at least separable processes are analysed over 6 months in one Russian and one German child: a) the emergence of verbs in the child’s utterances, b) the occurrence of correctly inflected (finite) verb forms, c) the development of multi-component utterances containing a verb, and c) the emergence of (potential) subjects and objects. Russian and German exhibit rich verb morphology, and in both languages finiteness is strongly correlated with inflectional categories like person, number and tense. With both children we find a correlation in the temporal order of these four processes and – what is more relevant for our study – a dependency of a certain development on the utterance level on the emergence of finite verbs. Further, our investigation shows that language-specific development comes in to play already when children start to acquire verb inflection and becomes more contrastive when we observe the onset of the production of the SVO utterances.
The 48th volume of the ZAS Papers in Linguistics presents selected papers from the conference on Intersentential pronominal reference in child and adult language held at the ZAS in December, 2006. The conference, organized by the project Acquisition and disambiguation of intersentential pronominal reference, brought together leading researchers dealing with anaphora resolution in diverse theoretical approaches and the acquisition perspective on pronominal reference taken by the ZAS project.
Focus on verbal operators such as aspect or tense ("predication focus", lucidly described by Hyman & Watters (1984) under the label "auxiliary focus") has been noticed to exist in African languages of Afroasiatic and Niger-Congo affiliation, but not so far in Saharan. The Saharan language Kanuri is assumed to have substantially reorganized its TAM system, particularly in the perfective aspect domain (Cyffer [2006] dates major changes between the years 1820 and 1900). The paper discusses, for the first time in Kanuri scholarship, the existence of a neat subsystem of predication focus marking by suffix in the perfective aspect which is made up of a total of six conjugational paradigms that uniformly encode predication focus by suffix {-ò}. Kanuri dialects differ in strategies and scope of focus marking encoded in verb morphology. In the light of data from the Yerwa (Nigeria) and Manga (Niger) dialects the paper discusses some "anomalies" with regard to general focus theory which we account for by describing the "Kanuri Focus Shift" as a diachronic process which is responsible for leftward displacement of scope of focus.
Questions in Northern Sotho
(2006)
This article gives an overview of the marking of polar and constituent questions in Northern Sotho, a Bantu language of South Africa. It thereby provides a contribution to the typological investigation of sentence types in the world’s languages. As will be shown, Northern Sotho follows cross-linguistic tendencies in marking interrogative sentences: It uses intonation as main indicator in polar questions and question words as main indicator in constituent questions. Nevertheless, it also shows interesting language-specific variation, e.g. with respect to the location of raised intonation in polar questions, the presence of two pragmatically distinct question particles in polar questions, or a split in the formation of constituent questions based on the grammatical function of the questioned constituent.
Zulu shows an alternation of conjoint and disjoint (conjunctive/disjunctive, short/long) verb forms. Certain contexts suggest that the distribution of these forms is related to focus. For example, certain adverbial expressions receive a focal interpretation when preceded by a conjoint form but not when preceded by a disjoint form. Similarly, a wh-phrase must be preceded by a conjoint form. This has led some researchers to argue or suggest that the alternation encodes focus directly. This paper examines two different focal hypotheses, one in which a disjoint form encodes focus on the verb and another in which the conjoint form encodes focus on the element following the verb. It is shown that both of these hypotheses are inadequate because certain contexts requiring the conjoint form do not display the predicted focal interpretation. Relativization morphology is argued to also support an analysis independent of focus. It is proposed that the alternation is regulated entirely by the position of the verb within the surface constituencies first proposed in Van der Spuy (1993) and that the associated focal interpretations are the result of a range of interpretations permitted within the different constituencies. Elements remaining within the relevant constituent are nontopical, and focus is one of a range of interpretations they can receive.
Beria, a member of the Saharan language family, is one of the rare languages in Africa exhibiting both an ergative and an active/agentive alignment system of grammatical relations.1 While the active/agentive pattern is shown by the participant reference markers, the ergative pattern is attested both in the constituent order and in the focus markers on the core constituents. In the pragmatically unmarked constituent order, the Agent constituent precedes the Patient constituent. An unmarked single constituent immediately preceding the verb may represent a Patient or a Subject argument. In this position, the Agent constituent requires the clitic GU. The focused Patient and Subject constituents are both either marked by the clitic DI or by a cleft construction.
In this paper I argue that the syntax of Eastern Bantu does not make reference to the notion 'syntactic object'. That is, there is no linguistic category of objects that is the target of syntactic rules in Eastern Bantu languages. Instead I propose that syntactic rules broadly distinguish complements and adjuncts as well as category type of complement or adjunct. I argue that Bantu languages are typologically special in that (a) the verb complement structure can be expanded by the valency increasing applicative suffix; and (b) that the class of adjuncts can be expanded through verb concord licensing. Because of these properties, Bantu languages have a much-expanded notion of 'complement' and 'adjunct'. Namely, complements consist of (a) inherent complements (subcategorised by the lexical verb), and (b) derived complements (licensed by the applicative suffix). Adjuncts consist of (a) non-subcategorised modifying constituents in the usual sense and (b) phrases that are licensed by verb concord (i.e. Topics in Bresnan and Mchombo (1987)). I propose that most the differences in the licensing of objects in Bantu are due to two causes: (a) the unusual split in the composition of complements and adjuncts and (b) a set of typological parameter settings.
Complex focus versus double focus : investigations on multiple focus interpretations in Hungarian
(2006)
The main aim of this paper is to point out several problems with the semantic analysis of Hungarian focus interpretation and 'only'. For current semantic analyses the interpretation of Hungarian identificational/exhaustive focus and 'only' is problematic, since in classical semantic analyses 'only' is identified with an exhaustivity operator. In this paper I will discuss multiple focus constructions and question-answer pairs in Hungarian to show that such a view cannot be applied to Hungarian exhaustive focus. Next to this I will discuss possible interpretations of Hungarian sentences containing multiple prosodic foci: complex focus versus double focus. My claim is that in order to interpret multiple focus (in Hungarian) we have to take into consideration the different intonation patterns, the occurrence of 'only', and the syntactic structure as well.