Heads and adjuncts : an experimental study of subextraction from participials and coordination in English, German and Norwegian
In recent years, attempts to simplify the grammatical mechanisms used in syntax have led to proposals to reduce the relationships between elements in a sentence to relations between heads and complements, doing away with free adjunction. For the analysis of modifying relations one consequence has been the rise of analyses that use the properties of selecting heads to stipulate unexpected syntactic behaviour, such as the use of light verbs to derive transparency in complex verb constructions. This thesis shows that such accounts are empirically inadequate and argues that the relationship between heads and adjuncts provides a more empirically-satisfactory model of modifying relations, such as complex verb constructions, than one restricted to the selection relation between heads and complements in the syntax. In support of the adjunct relation, I show how a modular approach to adjuncts in which the position of adjunction is licensed in the semantics and long-distance dependencies are licensed in the syntax can provide a more unified account of subextraction from two separate types of island configurations, viz. asymmetric subextraction from coordination and subextraction from participial adjuncts, either than
Brown, Jessica M. M.
linguistics ; Germanic ; English ; German ; Norwegian ; syntax ; semantics ; experimental linguistics ; rating experiment ; yoked study ; generative grammar ; Minimalism ; wh-questions ; participials ; pseudocoordination ; long-distance dependencies ; movement ; adjuncts ; islands ; blackholes
Heads and adjuncts : an experimental study of subextraction from participials and coordination in English, German and Norwegian. In recent years, attempts to simplify the grammatical mechanisms used in syntax have led to proposals to reduce the relationships between elements in a sentence to relations between heads and complements, doing away with free adjunction. For the analysis of modifying relations one consequence has been the rise of analyses that use the properties of selecting heads to stipulate unexpected syntactic behaviour, such as the use of light verbs to derive transparency in complex verb constructions. This thesis shows that such accounts are empirically inadequate and argues that the relationship between heads and adjuncts provides a more empirically-satisfactory model of modifying relations, such as complex verb constructions, than one restricted to the selection relation between heads and complements in the syntax. In support of the adjunct relation, I show how a modular approach to adjuncts in which the position of adjunction is licensed in the semantics and long-distance dependencies are licensed in the syntax can provide a more unified account of subextraction from two separate types of island configurations, viz. asymmetric subextraction from coordination and subextraction from participial adjuncts, either than
adjunct experimental_study participial coordination english_german norwegian attempt simplify grammatical mechanism use syntax lead proposal reduce relationship element_sentence relation head_complement away free adjunction analysis modify relation one_consequence rise analyse_use property select head stipulate unexpected syntactic_behaviour use light verb derive transparency complex verb construction show account empirically inadequate argues relationship head adjuncts provide empirically satisfactory model relation complex verb construction restrict selection relation head_complement syntax support adjunct relation show modular adjunct position adjunction license semantics long_distance dependency license syntax provide unify account two_separate type island configuration viz asymmetric coordination participial adjunct either