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Nonverbal predication : copular sentences at the syntax-semantics interface
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 f...
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| Main Author : | |
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| Format : | Thesis |
| Language : | anglais |
| Title statement : | Nonverbal predication : copular sentences at the syntax-semantics interface / Isabelle Roy |
| Published : |
Oxford :
Oxford University Press
, 2013 |
| Physical Description : | 1 vol. (XIV-212 p.) |
| Series : | Oxford studies in theoretical linguistics ; 45 |
| Note de thèse : | Texte remanié de : Thèse de doctorat : Linguistique : University of Southern Califormnia : 2006 |
| Subjects : | |
| Related Items : | Additional physical form:
Nonverbal predication |
| Summary : | 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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| Bibliography : | Bibliogr. p. [199]-206. Index |
| ISBN : | 978-0-19-954354-0 978-0-19-954355-7 0-19-954355-0 |