Analysing English sentences: a minimalist approach

542 Pages·2009·2.48 MB·English

by  Andrew Radford

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Analysing English Sentences
Analysing English Sentences provides a concise and clear introduction
to current work in syntactic theory, drawing on the key concepts of
Chomsky’sMinimalistProgram.Assuminglittleornopriorknowledge
ofsyntaxorMinimalism,Radfordoutlinesthecoreconceptsandleading
ideasandhowtheycanbeusedtodescribevariousaspectsofthesyntax
of English. A diverse range of topics is covered, including syntactic
structure, null constituents, head movement, case and agreement, and
split projections. Using Radford’s trademark approach and writing style,
the bookisintensive and progressive innature, introducing grammatical
conceptsandworkinginstagestowardsmorecomplexphenomena.
andrew radford is Professor and Head of the Department of
Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. His recent
publications include Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the Structure of
English (Cambridge, 2004) and English Syntax: An Introduction
(Cambridge,2004).

Analysing English
Sentences
A Minimalist Approach
ANDREW RADFORD
UniversityofEssex
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521516976
© Andrew Radford 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-50667-3 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-51697-6 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-73191-1 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
This book is dedicated to my long-suffering wife
Khadija(whohashadtoputupwithextendedperiods
of authorial autism) and to her family, who have
always spoiled me shamefully (and done their best to
indulge my every whim) whenever we visit Morocco.

Contents
Preface pagexi
Acknowledgments xiv
1 Grammar 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Traditionalgrammar: categories andfunctions 1
1.3 Universal Grammar 11
1.4 The LanguageFaculty 15
1.5 Principles ofUniversal Grammar 19
1.6 Parameters 21
1.7 Parameter setting 26
1.8 Summary 30
1.9 Bibliographical background 31
Workbooksection 33
2 Structure 39
2.1 Overview 39
2.2 Phrases 39
2.3 Clauses 43
2.4 Specifiers 49
2.5 Intermediate andmaximal projections 53
2.6 Testing structure 58
2.7 Syntactic relations 69
2.8 Bare phrasestructure 75
2.9 Summary 77
2.10 Bibliographical background 80
Workbooksection 81
3 Null constituents 92
3.1 Overview 92
3.2 Null subjects 92
3.3 Null auxiliaries 97
3.4 Null T inindicative clauses 101
3.5 Null T insubjunctive clauses 107
3.6 Null T ininfinitive clauses 109
vii
viii Contents
3.7 Null Cinfiniteclauses 112
3.8 Null Cininfinitive clauses 116
3.9 Null complementisersand case-marking 119
3.10 Defectiveclauses 125
3.11 Null determiners and quantifiers 129
3.12 Summary 133
3.13 Bibliographical background 135
Workbooksection 137
4 Head movement 143
4.1 Overview 143
4.2 T-to-C movement 143
4.3 Movementas copying and deletion 147
4.4 V-to-T movement 151
4.5 Head movement 155
4.6 Auxiliary raising 160
4.7 Another look at negation 164
4.8 do-support 167
4.9 Head movementinnominals 172
4.10 Summary 175
4.11 Bibliographical background 176
Workbooksection 178
5 Wh-movement 183
5.1 Overview 183
5.2 Wh-questions 183
5.3 Wh-movement ascopyingand deletion 186
5.4 Driving wh-movement and auxiliary inversion 193
5.5 Pied-piping ofmaterial inthe domain ofa wh-word 198
5.6 Pied-piping ofa superordinate preposition 203
5.7 Long-distance wh-movement 207
5.8 Multiple wh-questions 215
5.9 Wh-subject questions 218
5.10 Exclamativeand relative clauses 222
5.11 Summary 227
5.12 Bibliographical background 230
Workbooksection 232
6 A-movement 238
6.1 Overview 238
6.2 Subjects in Belfast English 238
6.3 Idioms 241
6.4 Argument structure andtheta-roles 243
6.5 Unaccusative predicates 249