The Order of Prepositional Phrases in the Structure of the Clause

352 Pages·2005·1.53 MB·English

by  Walter Schweikert

<DOCINFOAUTHOR""TITLE"TheOrderofPrepositionalPhrasesintheStructureoftheClause"SUBJECT"LinguistikAktuell/LinguisticsToday,Volume83"KEYWORDS""SIZEHEIGHT"240"WIDTH"160"VOFFSET"4">
TheOrderofPrepositionalPhrases
intheStructureoftheClause
LinguistikAktuell/LinguisticsToday
LinguistikAktuell/LinguisticsToday(LA)providesaplatformfororiginalmonographstudies
intosynchronicanddiachroniclinguistics.StudiesinLAconfrontempiricalandtheoretical
problemsasthesearecurrentlydiscussedinsyntax,semantics,morphology,phonology,and
systematicpragmaticswiththeaimtoestablishrobustempiricalgeneralizationswithina
universalisticperspective.
SeriesEditors
WernerAbraham EllyvanGelderen
UniversityofVienna ArizonaStateUniversity
AdvisoryEditorialBoard
CedricBoeckx IanRoberts
HarvardUniversity CambridgeUniversity
GuglielmoCinque KenSafir
UniversityofVenice RutgersUniversity,NewBrunswickNJ
GüntherGrewendorf LisadeMenaTravis
J.W.Goethe-University,Frankfurt McGillUniversity
LilianeHaegeman StenVikner
UniversityofLille,France UniversityofAarhus
HubertHaider C.Jan-WouterZwart
UniversityofSalzburg UniversityofGroningen
ChristerPlatzack
UniversityofLund
Volume83
TheOrderofPrepositionalPhrasesintheStructureoftheClause
byWalterSchweikert
The Order of
Prepositional Phrases
in the Structure of the Clause
Walter Schweikert
UniversityCa’Foscari,Venice
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany
Amsterdam(cid:1)/(cid:1)Philadelphia
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WalterSchweikert
TheOrderofPrepositionalPhrasesintheStructureoftheClause / Walter
Schweikert.
p. cm.(LinguistikAktuell/LinguisticsToday,issn0166–0829;v.83)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes.
1.Grammar,Comparativeandgeneral--Prepositionalphrases.2.
Grammar,Comparativeandgeneral--Syntax.3.Grammar,Comparative
andgeneral--Wordorder.4.Grammar,Comparativeandgeneral--Clauses.
I.Title.II.Linguistikaktuell;Bd.83.
P285.S338 2005
415--dc22 2005048266
isbn9027228078(Hb;alk.paper)
©2005–JohnBenjaminsB.V.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ix

List of Abbreviations xi

CHAPTER 1
Introduction 1

CHAPTER 2
Arguments and modifiers 5
2.1 Sentence constituents 6
2.2 Representation in X-Bar structure 16
2.3 The Split Infl hypothesis 19
2.4 The level of logical form and covert movement 23
2.5 The minimalist program 25
2.6 Antisymmetry 27
2.7 Argument structure and VP shell 32
2.7 Semantic interpretation of X-bar structure 35
2.8 Parallels between morphology and syntax 38
2.10 The Cinque hierarchy 39
2.11 Recent minimalist developments 44

CHAPTER 3
The order of PPs in German – empirical observations 47
3.1 Introduction 47
3.2 General remarks on German sentence structure 53
3.3 Potential tests for finding the base generation of phrases 54
3.3.1 Infinitival complex 54
3.3.2 VP-topicalisation 56
3.3.3 Binding theory 58
3.3.4 Quantifier pronoun binding 62
3.3.5 Semantic interpretation 63
3.3.6 Weak cross over 64
3.3.7 Wh - pronouns used as indefinites 64
3.3.8 Licensing of negative polarity items 66
3.3.9 Quantifier scope (QS) 66
3.3.10 Focus neutral order 73
3.3.11 Informational focus (IF) 77
3.3.12 Role disambiguation 80
3.3.13 Pair – List reading (PLR) 82
3.3.14 Reference to events 83
3.4 Word order in the German Mittelfeld 86
vi THE ORDER OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
3.4.1 The description in Heidolph et al. (1981: 707 ff.) 86
3.4.2 The data according to R. Hinterhölzl 88
3.4.3 Frey und Pittner‘s Mittelfeld order 89
3.4.4 Recent works by W. Frey 93
3.5 My data 95
3.5.1 General methodology 95
3.5.2 The main thematic roles 96
3.5.3 One example of the data 101
3.5.4 Results 104
3.5.5 Relative distances 108
3.5.6 The larger sample 115
3.5.7 Argumental PPs 123
3.5.8 English 129
3.5.9 Reference to events 131
3.5.10 Conclusion 132

CHAPTER 4
Restrictions on structure and movement 133
4.1 Introduction 133
4.2 Trees and subtrees 135
4.3 Basic projections 137
4.4 Basic relations 140
4.5 Extended projections 143
4.6 Sequences of modifiers of the same category 155
4.7 Derivations 156
4.8 Movement 158
4.9 The parameters 168

CHAPTER 5
Affixes in syntax 171
5.1 Introduction 171
5.2 Prefixes and suffixes 173
5.3 Derivation of the inverted order of suffixes 177
5.4 Derivation of the direct order of prefixes 180
5.5 Separable prefixes 190
5.6 Derivation of the inverted order of prefixes 200
5.7 Fused morphemes 220
5. 8 Arguments 225
5.9 Open questions 236
5.10 Conclusion 237
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER 6
Syntactic analysis of the surface word order of PPs 239
6.1 The basic patterns 239
6.1.1 The direct order 239
6.1.2 The inverted order 240
6.1.3 Mixed order 241
6.1.4 Patterns of other constituents 243
6.1.5 Conclusion 247
6.2 A symmetric analysis 247
6.3 Directionally licensing and the proposal of Haider 252
6.4 Collective versus indivual checking in the work of Koster 253
6.5 The pied piping analysis of Cinque 255
6.6 The verb second problem 270
6.7 Overt verb movement driven only by morphology 271
6.8 Cyclic approaches 273
6.8.1 A Derivations that result in direct order 274
6.8.2 B Derivations that result in inverted order 276
6.8.3 Derivation of the inverted structure 278
6.8.4 Derivation of the direct order 284
6.8.5 Modifications in order to include morphology 298
6.8.6 Modifications in order to include arguments 299
6.8.7 Recursive extended projections and event Structure 309

CHAPTER 7
Conclusion 323

References 325

Name index 329

Language index 331

Subject index 333

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work could never have been completed without the help of many people,
whom I would like to thank here.
First of all I am grateful to my supervisor Guglielmo Cinque, whose advice
guided me through this work. In many discussions he helped me to clarify my
ideas and opened new doors to aspects I had not seen before. Whenever I got
lost in the vast area of syntax he helped me find the way back to the path. I will
always be indebted to him for his encouragement and support in all stages of
this thesis.
I sincerely thank Paola Benincà for her support in my work as well her sugges-
tions and encouragement.
I also want to thank Hubert Haider for giving me the opportunity to spend three
months in Salzburg and for the many profound discussions we had about the
nature of syntax. His support in establishing valid syntactic test for the order of
PPs in German cannot be overestimated.
It was also in Salzburg where I met Werner Abraham who showed how much
passion can be found in linguistics and who later on contributed in bringing
this book into the actual shape.
I am thankful to Laura Brugè, Anna Cardinaletti, Alessandre Giorgi, Giuliana
Giusti, Nicola Munaro and Cecilia Poletto for the opportunity to discuss my
ideas with them and the thousand and one proposals they contributed to this
work.
I am very grateful to Enoch Aboh, Sjef Barbiers, Josef Bayer, Hans Den Be-
sten, James Higginbotham, Richard Kayne, Jan Koster and Jan-Wouter Zwart
for enlightening discussion.
Peter Cole and Gillian Ramchand not only helped me with supportive com-
ments, they also provided me with useful English data.
Linguistic and moral support came from all the graduate students in Venice and
Padua, of whom I especially want to mention: Paolo Chinellato, Francesco
Costantini, Federico Damonte, Federico Ghegin, Soon Haeng Kang, Debora
Musola, Laura Sgariotto and Luigi Zennaro as well as Elisa Franchi, María
Martínez-Atienza and Sara Vecchiato.
Special thanks go to Walter Bisang and Thomas Müller-Bardey, who opened
my eyes to the beauty of linguistics.