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.
Author: | Patrick BrandtGND |
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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): | Urheberrechtlich geschützt |