1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910966594503321

Autore

Kuno Susumu <1933->

Titolo

Functional constraints in grammar : on the unergative-unaccusative distinction / / Susumu Kuno, Ken-ichi Takami

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam ; ; Philadelphia, : John Benjamins, c2004

ISBN

9786612254383

9781282254381

1282254383

9781423761297

1423761294

9789027295217

9027295212

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

vii, 242 p. : ill

Collana

Constructional approaches to language ; ; v. 1

Classificazione

HF 310

Altri autori (Persone)

TakamiKen'ichi <1952->

Disciplina

415

Soggetti

Grammar, Comparative and general - Syntax

Functionalism (Linguistics)

Generative grammar

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-233) and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Functional Constraints in Grammar -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC page -- Table of contents -- Acknowledgement -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The there-construction and unaccusativity -- 3. The way construction and unergativity -- 4. The cognate object construction and unergativity -- 5. The pseudo-passive construction and unergativity -- 6. Extraposition from subject NPs and unaccusativity -- 7. Conclusion -- Notes -- Notes to Chapter 1 -- Notes to Chapter 2 -- Notes to Chapter 3 -- Notes to Chapter 4 -- Notes to Chapter 5 -- Notes to Chapter 6 -- References -- Name index -- Subject index -- The series Constructional Approaches to Language.

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines in detail the acceptability status of sentences in the following five English constructions, and elucidates the syntactic, semantic, and functional requirements that the constructions must satisfy in order to be appropriately used: There-Construction, (One's) Way Construction, Cognate Object Construction, Pseudo-Passive



Construction, and Extraposition from Subject NPs. It has been argued in the frameworks of Chomskyan generative grammar, relational grammar, conceptual semantics and other syntactic theories that the acceptability of sentences in these constructions can be accounted for by the unergative-unaccusative distinction of intransitive verbs. However, this book shows through a wide range of sentences that none of these constructions is sensitive to this distinction. For each construction, it shows that acceptability status is determined by a given sentence's semantic function as it interacts with syntactic constraints (which are independent of the unergative-unaccusative distinction), and with functional constraints that apply to it in its discourse context.