Transformational Syntax and Model Theoretic Semantics

This piece of work began life as a doctoral thesis written at the University of Texas between 1976 and 1978. Now after a year in Dublin it is to become a book. Of the many people in the Department of Linguistics at Texas who shaped my interests and who helped me through the writing of the thesis, I must single out Lee Baker, Lauri Karttunen, Bill Ladusaw, Sue Schmerling and Stanley Peters for special gratitude. All of them have provided specific suggestions which have improved this work, but perhaps more .importantly they provided a uniquely stimulating and harmonious environment in which to work, and a demanding set of professional standards to live up to. To Ken Hale lowe a particular debt of gratitude - for two years of encour­ agement and suggestions, and particularly for a set of detailed comments on an earlier version of the book which led to many changes for the better. I also thank my friends Per-Kristian Halvorsen and Elisabet Engdahl, both of whom took the trouble to provide me with detailed criticisms and comments. In Dublin I am grateful to the School of Celtic Studies of the Institute for Advanced Studies for giving me the opportunity of teaching a seminar on many of the topics covered in the book and of exposing the material to people whose knowledge of the language is unequalled. Donal 6 Baoill and Liam Breatnach have been particularly helpful.

Contenu

1. Introduction.- 2. The Syntax of Relative Clauses.- 2.1. Basic Data.- 2.2. Movement or Deletion?.- 2.3. A Deletion Analysis.- 2.4. Relative Clause Binding.- 2.5. Island Constraints on Relative Deletion.- 2.6. Against the Head-Raising Analysis.- 2.7. Conclusion.- 2.8. Another Relative Clause Type.- Notes.- 3. The Syntax of Questions.- 3.1. Introduction.- 3.2. The Relation between Relatives and Constituent Questions.- 3.3. A Deletion Analysis.- 3.4. In Defence of the Deletion Analysis.- 3.5. The Internal Structure of QNP.- 3.6. Adjectival and Adverbial Questions.- 3.7. On the Status of the Category Q.- 3.8. Yes/No Questions.- 3.9. Conclusion.- 3.10. Postscript.- Notes.- 4. Indexing and the Formalization of Accessibility Constraints.- 4.1. Introduction.- 4.2. Relative Clauses and Nominal Constituent Questions.- 4.3. Deictic Pronouns.- 4.4. Cleft Sentences.- 4.5. On Formalizing the Accessibility Constraints.- 4.6. Conclusion.- Notes.- 5. The Complementizer System.- 5.1. Introduction.- 5.2. The Data.- 5.3. Further Predictions.- 5.4. Disputed Data.- Notes.- 6. Deep Structure Syntax.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.2. Phrase Structure Rules.- 6.3. The Lexicon.- 6.4. Generating Deep Structure Trees.- Notes.- 7. Semantic Interpretation.- 7.1. Introduction.- 7.2. Type Assignment.- 7.3. Translating the Lexicon.- 7.4. Translation Rules.- 7.5. Subcategorizational and Adverbial Uses of Prepositional Phrases.- 7.6. Noun Phrases.- 7.7. Questions.- Notes.- 8. Theoretical Postscript.- 8.1. On the Universal Characterisation of Constituent Questions.- 8.2. Deep Structure vs. Surface Structure Interpretation.