Issues in Formal German(ic) Typology
Published on 22. April 2002
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-90-272-2766-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book takes up a variety of general syntactic topics, which either yield different solutions in German, in particular, or which lead to different conclusions for theory formation. One of the main topics is the fact that languages that allow for extensive scrambling between the two verbal poles, V-2 and V-last, need to integrate discourse functions like thema and rhema into the grammatical description. This is attempted, in terms of Minimalism, thus extending the functional domain. Special attention is given to the asymmetrical scrambling behavior of indefinites vs. definites and their semantic interpretation. Related topics are: Transitive expletive sentences, types of existential sentences with either BE or HAVE, the that-trace phenomenon and its semantics, negative polarity items, ellipsis and gapping, passivization, double negation - all of which have extensive effects both on distributional behavior and semantic disambiguation, reaching far beyond effects observable in English with its rigid, 'un-scrambable' word order.
Reviews / Votes
This fine collection of papers unravels interesting properties of German(ic) and beyond. This volume can be heartily recommended to all researchers of any of the major topics discussed here (partly identified in the title). The volume is a welcome addition to the study of Germanic languages, especially, especially with regard to variation, as it contains intelligent discussions and astute analyses. -- Kleanthes Grohmann, University of Cypres, in Language 79(4), 2003More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 164 mm
Weight
580 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-2766-9 (9789027227669)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Werner Abraham | C. Jan-Wouter Zwart
Issues in Formal German(ic) Typology
E-Book
04/2002
1st Edition
John Benjamins Publishing Company
€161.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
1. Contributors' addresses; 2. Introduction (by Abraham, Werner); 3. German clause structure under discourse functional weight: Focus and antifocus (by Abraham, Werner); 4. On the co-occurrence of expletives and definite subjects in Germanic (by Boeckx, Cedric); 5. Reconsidering identificational focus (by Cohan, Jocelyn); 6. Decomposing existence: Evidence from Germanic (by Czinglar, Christine); 7. Polarity items in English and Danish (by Jensen, Britta); 8. The argument-time structure of recipient constructions in German (by Klein, Wolfgang); 9. Scrambling and reference in German (by Lenerz, Juergen); 10. Attributive adjectives in Germanic and Romance (by Mallen, Enrique); 11. Die Negationsklammer im Afrikaans: Mehrfachnegation aus formaler und funktionaler Sicht (by Molnarfi, Laszlo); 12. On the syntax and semantics of verb-complement constructions that involve 'creation': A comparative study in Greek and German (by Sioupi, Athina); 13. Wh-expletives and partial wh -movement: Two non-existing concepts? (by Sternefeld, Wolfgang); 14. Phases in the derivation of elliptical coordinate constructions in Germanic (by Velde, John R. te); 15. Index