Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics: Negation, Tense, and Clausal Architecture

Raffaella Zanuttini · Héctor Campos · Elena Herburger · Paul H. Portner

may 2006 · Georgetown University Press

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Presenting cutting-edge research in syntax and semantics, this important volume furthers theoretical claims in generative linguistics and represents a significant addition to present scholarship in the field. Leading scholars present crosslinguistic studies dealing with clausal architecture, negation, and tense and aspect, and the issue of whether a statistical model can by itself capture the richness of human linguistic abilities. Taken together, these contributions elegantly show how theoretical tools can propel our understanding of language beyond pretheoretical descriptions, especially when combined with the insight and skills of linguists who can analyze difficult and complex data.

Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics covers a range of topics currently at the center of lively debate in the linguistic literature, such as the structure of the left periphery of the clause, the proper treatment of negative polarity items, and the role of statistical learning in building a model of linguistic competence. The ten original contributions offer an excellent balance of novel empirical description and theoretical analysis, applied to a wide range of languages, including Dutch, German, Irish English, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, and a number of medieval Romance languages. Scholars and students of semantics, syntax, and linguistic theory will find it to be a valuable resource for ongoing scholarship and advanced study.

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Raffaella Zanuttini is an associate professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. She is the author of Negation and Clausal Structure and coeditor of Paths Towards Universal Grammar.

Héctor Campos is an associate professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University. He is the author of De la Oracion Simple a la Oracion compuesta and coeditor of Evolution and Revolution in Linguistic Theory.

Elena Herburger is an associate professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University. She is the author of What Counts.

Paul H. Portner is an associate professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. He is the author of What Is Meaning? and a coeditor of Formal Semantics and the second edition of the Handbook of Semantics.