Clausal architecture and subject positions : impersonal constructions in the Germanic languages
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Clausal architecture and subject positions : impersonal constructions in the Germanic languages
(Linguistik aktuell, v. 88)
J. Benjamins Pub., c2005
- : hb
Available at 14 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-204) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book offers a comparative study of the Germanic languages. It promotes a new approach to the OV vs. VO classification, according to which all clauses have a universal base where the internal argument is always merged in SpecVP. Word order differences and their correlates result from an interaction of checking conditions, the EPP and different types of verb movement, and from parametric variation concerning the location of the subject of predication in the I- or in the C-system. In the discussion of a range of impersonal constructions in German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, Icelandic, the Mainland Scandinavian languages and English, it is shown that crosslinguistic variation as regards, e.g., the distribution of the expletive in impersonal passives and the occurrence of a Definiteness Effect in Transitive Expletive Constructions is mainly due to the choice of different kinds of 'expletive' elements (each associated with different featural make-ups which force them to show up in different positions), namely true expletives, event arguments and quasi-arguments, whereas expletive pro is shown not to exist.
Table of Contents
- 1. Acknowledgements
- 2. I. Introduction
- 3. 0. Introduction
- 4. II. Clausal architecture and the EPP
- 5. 1. Subject positions and the EPP: The evolution of the two concepts
- 6. 2. The EPP and the Extension Condition
- 7. 3. Clause structure
- 8. 4. Checking
- 9. 5. The 'universal EPP' on T
- 10. 6. Summary
- 11. III. Impersonal constructions and subject positions
- 12. 7. The constructions to be discussed and previous accounts
- 13. 8. The derivation of presentational sentences and impersonal passives
- 14. 9. Constructions involving quasi-arguments (or not)
- 15. 10. Summary
- 16. IV. Conclusion
- 17. 11. Conclusion
- 18. References
- 19. Index
by "Nielsen BookData"