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Cipient predication : unifying double object, dative experiencer and existential/presentational constructions

  • The principal claim of this dissertation is that there is a unique structural core shared by Double Object, Dative Experiencer and Existential/Presentational constructions. This core is argued to take the form of a Cipient Predication structure, `cipient covering traditional notions like (affected) source/goal, recipient, indirect object or dative experiencer. Central questions arising in defining Cipient Predication are: How are cipients thematically licensed, and what is the role of there in argument-structural terms? What is the structural locus of cipients/there? What is the role and nature of dative case? How can the possessive interpretation, the blocking and definiteness effects associated with the above-mentioned constructions be explained? Cipients are presented as external arguments and logical subjects (location individuals) of predicates derived from a propositional meaning embedded in the VP, the predicate formed by a lower tense head `little t that is overtly realized as there. Little t is argued to encode a distinction at the reference time level, structural dative hinging on a tense property like structural nominative. The cipient relates as a whole to a part to a VP-internal location argument that together with the theme furnishes the propositional meaning (`possession ). As logical subjects, cipients anchor the predicate to the utterance context, forcing its interpretation in extralinguistic terms (`blocking effects ). It is proposed that lacking structurally encoded subjects, Existential/Presentational constructions are not saturated expressions in syntax, precluding the interpretation of certain quantifiers (most/every, vide `definiteness effects ). Cipient Predication, couched in terms of the Minimalist Program (in particular, Chomsky 1999) and a semantics relying on tense and the ontological distinction of locations as well as scalar and part-whole structure, should be of interest to scholars working on datives, argument structure, and the syntax/semantics/pragmatics interface more generally.

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Metadaten
Author:Patrick BrandtGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-41508
Handle:http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/622
ISBN:90-76864-357
Series (Serial Number):LOT Dissertation Series (74)
Publisher:LOT Publications
Place of publication:Utrecht
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2003
Date of Publication (online):2015/09/21
Publicationstate:Veröffentlichungsversion
Reviewstate:Qualifikationsarbeit (Dissertation, Habilitationsschrift)
Tag:argument structure; cipient; dative; definiteness; double object; existential, tense; experiencer; predication
GND Keyword:Dativ; Deutsch; Englisch; Kasus; Minimalist program <Linguistik>; Satztyp; Thematische Relation; Verbalphrase
Page Number:285
DDC classes:400 Sprache / 410 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik
Open Access?:ja
BDSL-Classification:Grammatik
Linguistics-Classification:Grammatikforschung
Licence (German):License LogoUrheberrechtlich geschützt