Inner Aspect: The Articulation of VP

321 Pages·2010·3.5 MB·English

by  Lisa deMena Travis (auth.)

INNERASPECT
Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory
VOLUME80
ManagingEditors
MarceldenDikken,CityUniversityofNewYork
LilianeHaegeman,UniversityofGhent,Belgium
JoanMaling,BrandeisUniversity
EditorialBoard
GuglielmoCinque,UniversityofVenice
CarolGeorgopoulos,UniversityofUtah
JaneGrimshaw,RutgersUniversity
MichaelKenstowicz,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
HildaKoopman,UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles
HowardLasnik,UniversityofMaryland
AlecMarantz,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
JohnJ.McCarthy,UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst
IanRoberts,UniversityofCambridge
Forfurthervolumes:
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INNER ASPECT
THE ARTICULATION OF VP
by
LisadeMenaTravis
McGillUniversity,Montre´al,QC,Canada
1 3
LisadeMenaTravis
McGillUniversity
1085Dr.PenfieldAvenue
Montre´alQCH3A1A7
Canada
[email protected]
ISBN978-90-481-8549-8 e-ISBN978-90-481-8550-4
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-8550-4
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010920233
#SpringerScienceþBusinessMediaB.V.2010
Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformor
byanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming,recordingorotherwise,without
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ofthework.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScienceþBusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Thisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofmyparents,HarrietSmallTravisand
W.WillardTravis,whoshouldhavebeenhereforthis1.
Tomymotherwhotaughtmetolookfororderinart.
Tomyfatherwhotaughtmetolookforartinorder.
1FromChomsky(1973:Ex.169and166b)
(i) a. HarrietistoughformetostopBillfromlookingat.
b. Itistoughforme[COMPPROtostop[COMPBill‘slookingatHarriet]]

Preface
FinishingthisbookwasoneofthemostdifficultthingsIhaveeverdone.Ittook
fartoolongfromoriginalideatopageproofsandsufferedfrombeingrelegated
tosmallcornersofmylife.Itwasveryrarelyonthefrontburner.SinceIstarted
workingonthistopicin1991,therehasbeenalotofinterestingworkdoneon
theareasofthearticulationofVP,phrasestructuremirroringeventstructure,
theuseoffunctionalcategoriestorepresentAktionsart,andmanyotherareas
that the research presented here touches on. The hardest thing about doing a
projectofthissizeistoacceptthatnoteveryone’sideascanbeaddressedand
not all new research can be incorporated. The only way that I have found it
possible to let this book go to press is to reread the Preface to Events in the
SemanticsofEnglishbyTerenceParsonswherehewrites,‘‘Thegoalofthisbook
is neither completeness nor complete accuracy; it is to get some interesting
proposalsintothepublicarenaforotherstocriticize,develop,andbuildon.’’
My aim in this book is to make connections between various accounts of
variousconstructionsinvariouslanguagesattheriskoftreatingeachofthese
toolightly.
Iamgratefultotoomanypeopletothankthemindividually.Thebestpartof
doing research is sharing ideas with linguists who still have the marvel of
discovery.Ithankthoseforremindingmeofthejoyoflinguisticswhileatthe
sametimehelpingmekeeptrackofwhatistrulyimportantoutsideoflinguis-
tics. I thank federal (SSHRC) and provincial (FQRSC) funding agencies.
Aboveall,Ithankmystudentsforenlighteningmedaily.
vii

Contents
1 Introduction............................................. 1
1.1 AspectandSyntax ................................... 2
1.1.1 OuterAspectandSyntax......................... 2
1.1.2 InnerAspectandSyntax......................... 3
1.2 InnerAspect........................................ 4
1.2.1 DerivedObjects................................ 6
1.2.2 AspectualMorphology .......................... 7
1.2.3 ComputationofAktionsart....................... 9
1.3 OtherClaims ....................................... 11
1.3.1 LexicalandFunctionalCategories ................. 11
1.3.2 TheRoleoftheLexicon ......................... 12
1.4 SomeConsequences.................................. 14
1.4.1 TheStructureofAchievements.................... 14
1.5 Coercion........................................... 15
1.6 ANoteonMethodology .............................. 16
2 InnerDerivedObjects ..................................... 19
2.1 Introduction........................................ 19
2.2 Background ........................................ 19
2.3 EarlyProposals ..................................... 21
2.3.1 Mahajan(1990)................................ 22
2.3.2 Johnson(1991)................................. 23
2.3.3 Sportiche(1990/1998) ........................... 24
2.3.4 Koizumi(1993,1995) ........................... 24
2.3.5 Chomsky(1993,1995)........................... 26
2.4 TwoObjectPositions................................. 27
2.4.1 OneObject:EITHER/OR........................ 27
2.4.2 TwoObjects:BOTH.............................. 32
2.5 ObjectswithintheVP................................. 34
2.5.1 Chinese ...................................... 35
2.5.2 Swedish ...................................... 37
ix