Ways of Structure Building [Hardcover]

This volume addresses some of the most important approaches to the following key questions in contemporary generative syntactic theory: What are the operations available for (syntactic) structure-building in natural languages? What are the triggers behind them? and Which constraints are involved in the operations? Internationally recognised scholars and young researchers propose new answers on the basis of detailed discussions of a wide range of phenomena (Gapping, Right-Node-Raising, Comparative Deletion, Across-The-Board movement, Tough-constructions, Nominalizations, Scope interactions, Wh-movement, A-movement, Case and Agreement relations, among others). Their discussions draw on evidence from a rich variety of languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Croatian, English, German, Icelandic, Japanese, Spanish, Vata, and Vietnamese.

The proposals presented illustrate the shift in the locus of the explanation of linguistic phenomena that characterizes contemporary linguistic theory: a shift, in many cases, from a model which relies on properties of systems external to narrow syntax (such as the Lexicon or the Phonetic Form component) to one which relies on properties of the structure-building mechanisms themselves. The volume will interest researchers and students of theoretical linguistics from advanced undergraduate and above.

1. Overview,Myriam uribe-Etxebarria and Vidal Valmala
Part I: Merge and Beyond
2. Constituent Structure Sets II,Dirk Bury and Hiroyuki Uchida
3. A Parallel Merge Solution to the Merchant/Johnson paradox,Barbara Citko
4. Evidence for Multidominance in Spanish Agentive Nominalizations,Antonio Fabregas
5. Clitic Placement and Multidominance,Martina Gracanin-Yusek
6. Sideward Movement: triggers, timing, and ouptuts,Jairo Nunes
7. Unconventional Mergers,Mark de Vries
Part II: Triggers and Constraints