The Theta System: Argument Structure at the Interface

424 Pages·2012·1.88 MB·English

by  Tal Siloni

The Theta System
OXFORD STUDIES IN THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS
GENERALEDITORS:DavidAdger,QueenMaryUniversityofLondon;HagitBorer,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
ADVISORY EDITORS: Stephen Anderson, Yale University; Daniel Büring, University of California, Los Angeles; Nomi
Erteschik-Shir,Ben-GurionUniversity;DonkaFarkas,UniversityofCalifornia,SantaCruz;AngelikaKratzer,University
ofMassachusetts,Amherst;AndrewNevins,UniversityCollegeLondon;ChristopherPotts,StanfordUniversity,Am-
herst;BarrySchein,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia;PeterSvenonius,UniversityofTroms(cid:2);MoiraYip,University
CollegeLondon
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The Theta System
Argument Structure at the Interface
Edited by
MARTIN EVERAERT,
MARIJANA MARELJ,
AND TAL SILONI
1
3
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Contents
GeneralPreface vii
ListofContributors viii
Abbreviations xi
1. TheThetaSystem:anIntroduction 1
MartinEveraert,MarijanaMarelj,andTalSiloni
2. TheLinguisticExpressionofCausation 20
AdNeelemanandHansvandeKoot
3. TheContentofSemanticRoles:Predicate–ArgumentStructurein
LanguageandCognition 52
MartinHaiden
4. Combine 78
EdwinWilliams
5. IntheEventofaNominal 103
HagitBorer
6. LexiconUniformityandtheCausativeAlternation 150
MalkaRappaportHovavandBethLevin
7. InDefenceoftheNon-CausativeAnalysisofAnticausatives 177
GyörgyRákosi
8. HiddenEntries:aPsycholinguisticStudyofDerivationalGaps 200
JulieFadlon
9. ToHavetheEmptyTheta-Role 227
PeterAckemaandMarijanaMarelj
10. EmissionVerbs 251
JosephPotashnik
11. VerbalPassivesinEnglishandHebrew:aComparativeStudy 279
AyaMeltzer-Asscher
vi Contents
12. AnEventSemanticsfortheThetaSystem 308
AlexisDimitriadis
13. ChildrenAcquireUnaccusativesandA-MovementVeryEarly 354
JoãoCostaandNaamaFriedmann
References 379
Index 401
General Preface
The theoretical focus of this series is on the interfaces between subcomponents of
thehumangrammaticalsystemandthecloselyrelatedareaoftheinterfacesbetween
thedifferentsubdisciplinesoflinguistics.Thenotionof‘interface’hasbecomecentral
in grammatical theory (for instance, in Chomsky’s recent Minimalist Programme)
and in linguistic practice: work on the interfaces between syntax and semantics,
syntax and morphology, phonology and phonetics, etc. has led to a deeper under-
standingofparticularlinguisticphenomenaandofthearchitectureofthelinguistic
componentofthemind/brain.
Theseriescoversinterfacesbetweencorecomponentsofgrammar,includingsyntax/
morphology, syntax/semantics, syntax/phonology, syntax/pragmatics, morphology/
phonology,phonology/phonetics,phonetics/speechprocessing,semantics/pragmatics,
intonation/discoursestructure,aswellasissuesinthewaythatthesystemsofgrammar
involving these interface areas are acquired and deployed inuse (including language
acquisition,languagedysfunction,andlanguageprocessing).Itdemonstrates,wehope,
that proper understandings of particular linguistic phenomena, languages, language
groups,orinterlanguagevariationsallrequirereferencetointerfaces.
Theseriesisopentoworkbylinguistsofalltheoreticalpersuasionsandschoolsof
thought.Amainrequirementisthatauthorsshouldwritesoastobeunderstoodby
colleaguesinrelatedsubfieldsoflinguisticsandbyscholarsincognatedisciplines.
Inthecurrentvolumetheeditorsbringtogetherinternationalscholarstoconsider
howlexicalsemanticsrelatestosyntacticstructure.AllofthemusetheThetaSystem
developedbyTanyaReinhartasaspringboardfortheirinvestigations.Thechapters
presenthowthesystemworks,andexamine,extend,andcritiqueitscoretheoretical
commitmentsanditsapplicationtonovelempiricaldomains.Asawholethevolume
is an in-depth exploration of the fecundity of this approach to the lexicon–syntax
interface.
DavidAdger
HagitBorer
List of Contributors
PETER ACKEMA is Reader in Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. His work is
mainly on topics relating to the syntax–morphology interface, including argument
structure. He has published two books (Issues in Morphosyntax, 1999 and, with Ad
Neeleman,BeyondMorphology),aswellasarticlesinadiverserangeofjournals.
HAGIT BORER is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Southern California.
Herresearchinterestsspancomparativesyntax,themorphosyntax–semanticsinter-
face, and syntactic acquisition. In recent years, she has been developing a model in
which syntactic information and operations previously assumed to be linked to
lexicalentriesarereplacedbysyntactico-semanticfunctionalstructure.Someresults
ofthatresearchwerepublishedin2005astworelatedbooks(StructuringSense,vol.1:
InNameOnly;StructuringSense,vol.2:TheNormalCourseofEvents).Thepublica-
tion of a third book, Taking Form, exploring the syntactic properties of complex
words,isanticipatedin2012.
JOÃO COSTA is a professor at the Linguistics Department at FCSH—Universidade
Nova de Lisboa. He received his PhD in 1998 from Leiden University. His main
researchinterestsincludesyntaxandlanguageacquisition.
ALEXISDIMITRIADISobtainedhisPhDinlinguisticsattheUniversityofPennsylvania.
HeiscurrentlyaseniorresearchassociateattheUtrechtInstituteofLinguisticsOTS.
His interests include the semantics and typology of reciprocals, anaphoric and
pronominalreference,Greeklinguistics,andinformationtechnology.
JULIEFADLON,aPhDstudent,teachesgenerativelinguisticsatTelAvivUniversity.Her
fieldsofinterestincludesyntax,thelexicon–syntaxinterface,andpsycholinguistics.
NAAMAFRIEDMANNisaProfessorattheLanguageandBrainLab,TelAvivUniversity.
ShereceivedherPhDin1997fromTelAvivUniversity.Hermainresearchinterests
includeaphasia,developmentallanguageimpairments,dyslexiaanddysgraphia,and
languageacquisition.
MARTINHAIDENisLecturerinLinguisticsattheUniversityofToursandmemberof
theUMRINSERMU930‘Imagerieetcerveau’.Hisresearchfocusesoninterfacesin
grammatical theory, in particular lexicon–syntax and syntax–phonology, and on
languageacquisition.HispublicationsincludeThetaTheory(2005).
ListofContributors ix
BETH LEVIN is the William H. Bonsall Professor in the Humanities at Stanford
University.AfterreceivingherPhDfromMITin1983,shehadmajorresponsibility
for the MIT Lexicon Project (1983–1987) and taught at Northwestern University
(1987–1999).SheistheauthorofEnglishVerbClassesandAlternations:aPreliminary
Investigation (1993) and the co-author with Malka Rappaport Hovav of Argument
Realization (2005) and Unaccusativity: At the Syntax–Lexical Semantics Interface
(1995).
MARIJANA MARELJ is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht University. She
completedherPhD(cumlaude)atUtrechtUniversity,underthejointsupervisionof
TanyaReinhartandEricReuland.Herresearchinterestsincludethearchitectureof
grammar,syntactictheory,andinterfaces(lexicon–syntaxandsyntax–semantics).
AYAMELTZER-ASSCHER isa post-doctoralfellow in theAphasiaand Neurolinguistics
ResearchLaboratoryatNorthwesternUniversity.ShereceivedaPhDinLinguistics
fromTelAvivUniversityin2011.Hermajorareasofinterestarethelexicon–syntax
interface, the syntax of adjectives, and the neural correlates of verb and sentence
processing,particularlytheprocessingofargumentstructure.
ADNEELEMANisProfessorofLinguisticsatUniversityCollegeLondon.Hecompleted
his PhD at Utrecht University, where Tanya Reinhart was one of his tutors.
He has published on various aspects of syntactic theory and its interactions with
syntax-externalsystems,includingmorphologyandinformationstructure.
HANSVANDEKOOTisSeniorLectureratUniversityCollegeLondon.Hecompletedhis
PhD at Utrecht University. He has published on a variety of topics in syntax,
including theta theory, discourse-related word order variation, and computational
propertiesofthehumanlanguagefaculty.
JOSEPHPOTASHNIKisaPhDstudentoflinguisticsatTelAvivUniversity.Heisasenior
software engineer and worked in pioneering high-tech companies. He has a BSc in
computersciencesandphysics,andanMAdegreeinlinguistics(summacumlaude),
fromTelAvivUniversity.
GYÖRGYRÁKOSIisaLecturerinLinguisticsattheUniversityofDebreceninHungary.
HedefendedhisPhDthesis,‘DativeexperiencerpredicatesinHungarian’,in2006at
the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics. He has an interest in argument structure and
relatedphenomena.
MALKA RAPPAPORT HOVAV is Professor of Linguistics and Head of the School of
Language Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her PhD
fromMITin1984,waslaterassociatedwiththeMITLexiconProject,andtaughtat