- In: Kiefer, Ferenc (1973). Generative grammar in Europe. 20-47. Dordrecht: Reidel.
- Under the heading of 'Datives' as locatives, part I of Maximi Planudis in memoriam is concerned with the interpretation of 'datives'/'indirect objects'. Pursuing a suggestion on the analysis of causatives in Anderson's The grammar of case (1971: §11.4), the discussion here interprets 'transfer' verbs as lexically complex such that they conflate a causative and a dependent directional predicate head. The so-called 'indirect object' term of such verbs originates as a loc(ative) ('goal') argument of the directional component predicate. With 'transfer' verbs participating in the 'dative alternation' the locative argument is optionally co-labelled erg(ative): loc,erg(ative) ('recipient'). In essence, then, the 'dative alternation' is available with verbs which project both of (i) and (ii),
(i) x CAUSE Ø [y GO TO z]
(ii) x CAUSE Ø [z RECEIVE y]
where z = loc in (i) and loc,erg in (ii), and Ø designates the 'empty' absolutive 'slot' of the causative component predicator which has associated with it the y = absolutive ('theme') or z = loc,erg ('recipient') argument of the dependent predicator. The analysis of the 'double object' construction sketched out in Maximi Planudis ... is pursued in a considerable body of later NG work, including Anderson (1975, 1977, 1978, 1984, and 1997). Its conceptual core has been re-invented under various terminological and architectural guises in much recent work outside NG. - 12 pages, 253kb
Notional(ly-grounded Dependency) Grammar Papers
A collection of recent and some not-so-recent papers in NG, the latter being included here for their sustained relevance in still ongoing debates concerning the architecture of the grammar, the interfacing of semantic-functional and grammatical relations, transitivity alternations...
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 1975. La grammaire casuelle. Anderson, J.M. & F. Dubois-Charlier, eds. 1975. La grammaire des cas. [Langages 38]. 18-64. Paris: Didier-Larousse.
- La grammaire casuelle is an early version (in French) of the material which made its way into (parts of) ch. 1 of Anderson (1977) – On case grammar. London: Croom Helm) – and takes up the various challenges facing a grammar in which semantic functional relations (rather than grammatical relations and/or the configurations that allegedly define them) have primacy in the lexicon and in the syntax. Sections 4 & 5 deal with 'some problems for case grammar' as brought up in the early 1970s in reponse to the proposals in Fillmore's Case for case, discussing, in particular, the notorious 'locative alternation' (of ... spray paint on the wall vs. ... spray the wall with paint fame). Section 6 is concerned with matters of subcategorisation and dependency and section 7 explores the analysis of 'double object'/'ditransitive' constructions of Anderson (1973).
- 56 pages, 654kb
- Bloomington, Ind.: IULC.
- On being without a subject starts out from the central case grammar tenet whereby grammatical relations are absent from basic or initial syntactic structures and only arise derivatively, if they arise at all, via 'subject-formation' on the basis of semantic functional information lexically associated with the arguments of a predicator. In terms of this and given a definition of subjecthood, which capitalizes on the sharing of (non-contingent) (morpho-)syntactic properties by the 'agent' argument of transitive predicators and the 'patient' argument of intransitives, specific language systems or sub-systems simply lack subjects. Sections 2-4 explore the hypothesis of 'being without a subject' against data from Dyirbal, Kannada and English, with the latter two showing lack of subjecthood in 'dative' and nominal predications, respectively. Section 5 is concerned with matters of relational typology and establishes that the grammatical relation of SUBJECT is but one of a set of derived PRINCIPAL (aka 'pivot') grammatical relations alongside those of PRIME and ABSOLUTIVE.
- 46 pages, 414kb
- In: Plank, F., ed. 1984. Objects. Towards a theory of grammatical relations. 29-54. London and New York: Academic Press.
- Objecthood reviews the familiar notional, configurational, positional, inflexional and behavioural properties commonly held to correlate with an argument's direct object function in the clause and finds that object status is a variable both across languages as well as with respect to regularities in a particular language. This variable character of objecthood is incompatible with attributing to it the nature of a primitive/universal grammatical relation. Instead it is argued that objecthood is relevant only in subject-forming languages. In such systems, non-subject abs(olutive) arguments constitute a set of potential objects, of which, in turn, objects are the 'syntactically active' members.
- 19 pages, 255kb
- In: Studies in Language 15.2, 301-333.
- As suggested by its title, Notional grammar and the redundancy of syntax is essentially a plea for syntactic minimalism (before this came to be fashionable elsewhere). Section 2 suggests that word class labels have an internal structure which consists of possibly asymmetrical combinations of two unary features, P(redicability) and N(ominality). These features have notional content: P is associated with the capacity to form a (optimally independent) predication, N with the capacity to refer. P thus introduces relationality and dynamicness, and N discreteness and stability. Names exhibit N but no P; finite verbs P but no N; other classes involve combinations of P and N, possibly with one or the other preponderant (governing). Section 3 shows how this articulation of categoriality enables the definition of natural classes and an explanation of scalar ('squishy') phenomena. Section 4 argues that syntactic structure – conceived of in terms of the binary aymmetric relation of dependency between a head element and its dependent(s) – is built monotonically on the basis of lexically provided notional word class characterisations, which also include, crucially, the valencies of a lexical item. Sections 5-7 are concerned with establishing that complex sentential structures, in particular those commonly held to display 'raising' and 'wh-movement', can be accommodated monotonically without appealing to movement and structure change.
- 26 pages, 309kb
- In: Andor, J. et al., eds. 1998. The diversity of linguistic description. Studies in honour of Béla Korponay. 1-38. Debrecen: Lajos Kossuth University.
- The domain of semantic roles reviews some of the attempts to characterise semantic roles with a view to eliciting whatever there might be of principle to characterise the set of semantic roles and the semantic domain of the set. Principles of contrast and complementarity are discussed in section 2 in relation to participant roles. Section 3 considers and repudiates some attempts to supplement such a set with an over-arching set of 'macroroles'. Section 4 (re-)presents a hypothesis concerning the set of semantic relations which conforms to requirements of contrast and complementarity and embodies a particular substantive proposal – that of localism – concerning their semantic domain. Section 5 considers to what extent the hypothesis of 4 is applicable to circumstantial arguments. And section 6 looks at the interaction of the domain of semantic roles with adjacent (co-expressed) 'dimensions' and the extent to which there is empirical support for circumscribing such a domain.
- 34 pages, 309kb
- Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 39, 3-46.
- Only connect looks at the syntax of only within the notionally-grounded dependency grammar framework laid out in Anderson (1997. A notional theory of syntactic categories. Cambridge: CUP), dealing, for instance, with the apparent ‘misplacement’ of only before the verb and its scope illustrated by e.g. She only travels on foot (vs. She travels only on foot). The paper looks at both (i) 'adverbial' and (ii) 'attributive' uses of only. It is suggested that only is a 'specifier' that is (i) unspecified for the category of the head it seeks to modify or (ii) seeks to modify, in particular, a quantifier head.
- 39 pages, 489kb
- [earlier and shorter version of Anderson, John M. 2004. On the grammatical status of names. Language 80, 435-474.]
- The paper focuses on the relatively neglected grammar (including the morphosyntax) of names and suggests that names belong, universally, with pronouns and determiners, to a category of determinative. The behaviour of names as vocatives and in predications of nomination suggests that they are, unlike pronouns and determiners, inherently neither definite nor indefinite. Moreover in such circumstances names do not function as regular arguments of the predicator: they are 'extra-sentential' or appositive.
- 62 pages, 648kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2004. Syntactic categories and syntactic change: the development of subjunctive periphrases in English. Moskowich-Spiegel Fandiño, Isabel and García Begoña Crespo. eds. 2004. New Trends in English Historical Linguistics: An Atlantic View. 31-73. Coruña: Universidade da Coruña.
- Syntactic categories and syntactic change discusses (section 1) the neglect in much current work in ('autonomist') syntax of syntactic categorisation and the failure to recognise its notional basis and goes on (section 2) to outline a system of notionally-based syntactic categories that is driven by the assumption that syntax and phonology are analogous in manifesting substance-based categories. Section 3 looks at some historical developments involving, in particular, the 'modal' verbs in English and the status and development of various subjunctive periphrases whose explication necessitates recognition of the notional basis for syntactic categorisation and the complex categorial articulations argued for in section 2.
- 27 pages, 153kb
- Lectures, Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, 9-16 June 2004
- Modern grammars of case: a personal history is an early version of chapter I of Anderson (2006) Modern Grammars of Case: A retrospective. Oxford: OUP, and offers a critical history of modern grammars of case, focussing on the last four decades and setting this in the context of earlier, including ancient, developments. The subjects considered include the evolution of ideas concerning deep structure and semantic and grammatical relations, and arguments for the maintenance of the traditional central position of case in the grammar.
- 40 pages, 486kb
- Lectures, Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, 9-16 June 2004
- 22 pages, 330kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2005. The argument structure of morphological causatives. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 40, 27-89.
- On the basis of material from a number of different languages The argument structure of morphological causatives argues that the derivation of morphological causatives involves reference to semantic (thematic) relations, and that the derivational relationship is subject to universal principles governing the distribution of semantic relations, notably the role criterion. The causative relationship does not at all invoke grammatical relations – as in Comrie's (1975) or (1985) formulations – or relations based on configuration or linear precedence. This is in accord with the position that such non-semantic relations are not part of argument structure (Anderson 1997). Reference to grammatical relations in the formulation of such a morphological relationship also falls foul of the absence of a general theory of objecthood and object type; and any apparent language-particular reference of this kind – such as might be extrapolated from Rosen's contention that the case marking of the non-subject arguments of causatives patterns 'exactly as case marking does in VPs in general in the language' (1990: 220) – is, in so far as it is appropriate, derivative of a general formulation based on semantic relations. Morphological causatives based on non-intransitives involve the addition of a locative relation to the ergative (and so subject) argument of the base verb or the conferring of circumstantial status on it. The first of these gives a derived transitive an argument structure like that of a ditransitive, which underlies the observed case-marking. A concluding suggestion extends the locative-adding formulation to intransitive-based forms. It is also argued that syntactically-based 'clause-union' analyses are undesirable; instead, the morphological rule deriving causatives increases the syntactic potential of the verb.
- 63 pages, 438kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2005. The non-autonomy of syntax. Folia Linguistica 39, 223-250.
- Structuralism sought to introduce various kinds of autonomy into the study of language, including the autonomy of that study itself. The basis for this was the insistence on categorical autonomy, whereby categories are identified language-internally (whether in a particular language or in language). In relation to phonology, categorial autonomy is tempered by grounding: the categories correlate (at least prototypically) with substance, phonetic properties. This is manifested in the idea of 'natural classes' in generative phonology. Usually, however, in more modern grammars, despite some dissent, no such grounding (in meaning) has been attributed to syntax. This attitude culminates in the thesis of the 'autonomy of syntax' which was put forward in transformational-generative grammar.
In the present paper it is argued that the consequences of this are very unfortunate. Distribution alone is insufficient to determine the identity of categories; what is relevant is the distribution of the prototypical members of the category, where prototypicality is notionally defined. Prototypical nouns, for instance, denote concrete, discrete, stable entities. Syntax, as well as phonology, is grounded. Groundedness ensures that only the prototypical behaviour of semantically prototypical members of a category determines its basic syntax; and this syntax reflects the semantic properties. Groundedness filters out potential syntactic analyses that are incompatible with this. For instance, given the diverse semantic characters of prototypical nouns and verbs, groundedness predicts that the X-bar theory of syntactic structure, which attributes parallel projections to lexical categories, is false. Consideration of the syntax of nouns and verbs confirms that this is indeed the case. The attribution to syntax of categorical autonomy without grounding should be abandoned. - 28 pages, 201kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2011. Referentiality and the noun. Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication in Business 47, 13-29. [Hermes Tribute Volume to Torben Thrane]
- This paper argues that nouns and names, as such, do not refer. Apparently-referring nouns and names have been converted lexically to determiners. Thus nouns and names participate in reference by virtue of dependency on a determiner, either in the syntax, as part of a determiner phrase, or lexically, by conversion. Determiners may be partitive (referring to a subset) or non-partitive (generic), and definite or non-definite; and various combinations of these subcategories may be expressed either by presence of an independent determiner or by conversion of a noun to a determiner. So, in English, for example, the cows is definite and partitive; but converted cows may be either non-definite (partitive or not) or definite non-partitive (generic). Apparently-referring nouns and names in English are paralleled in some other languages by expressions with a distinct determiner. In French, for instance, conversion is sparing and nouns typically appear with an accompanying determiner: So non-definite partitive cows corresponds to des vaches in French, and definite non-partitive cows to (one sense of) les vaches. Greek is intermediate in recourse to conversion. Presence of a determiner and conversion are considered to be alternative strategies (syntactic vs. lexical) for permitting nouns to participate in reference. In the absence of these, nouns are predicative, and languages again vary in how predicativity is expressed – though arguably again involving a determiner. Non-singular predicative nouns are often converted to a non-referential determiner. Singulars may or may not be accompanied by a singular non-referential determiner: compare Greek Ine δikiγoros ('S/he is lawyer') with English She is a lawyer.
- 17 pages, 121 kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2012. Parasitic passives of intransitives in English. Token: A Journal of English Linguistics 1, 5-22.
- English has an unusual construction involving the passive of a normally agentive intransitive verb, such as attempt. The viability of such a passive depends on its being complemented by a normal passive of a transitive. The intransitive passive can be said to be parasitic upon the transitive. Thus, the overall construction takes the form of They were attempted to be dismissed. The present paper, starting from a couple of attested examples, explores the structure of such sentences and attempts to account for the parasitic requirement that ensures the acceptability of the intransitive passive concerned. Within a framework based on recent developments in notional grammar, it offers analyses of passives of various types in English as a background to establishing an understanding of the nature of such parasitic passives.
- 16 pages, 96kb
- ms. — published as: Anderson, John M. 2012. Types of lexical complexity in English: syntactic categories and the lexicon. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 47.4, 3-51.
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Types of lexical complexity in English… focuses on minimal (non-compound, non-phrasal) signs that are nevertheless internally complex in their syntactic categorization. Sometimes this is signalled by morphology – affixation or internal modification. But there are also conversions. In terms of categorial structure, we can distinguish between absorptions, where the source of the base is associated with a distinct category, and incorporation, where the base is categorically constant. Incorporation is thus typically reflected in inflectional morphology. Absorption may be associated with morphological change or conversion – with retention of the base in a different categorization. But categorial complexity may be nonderived, covert: the categorial complexity of an item is evident only in its syntax and semantics.
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49 pages, 279kb
- Duisburg: LAUD.
- 126 pages, 1.522kb
- In: Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF) 52.2, 207-231.
- 29 pages, 223kb
- In: Hackmack, Susanne und Karl Heinz Wagner, eds. 2001. Ergativ. (Bremer Linguististik Workshop 1). 53-64. Bremen: Universität Bremen, IASS. [http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/iaas/workshop/ergativ/]
- 13 pages, 135kb
- In: Boeder, W. & G. Hentschel, eds. 2001. Variierende Markierung von Nominalgruppen in Sprachen unterschiedlichen Typs. 69-100. Oldenburg: BIS.
- 31 pages, 334kb
