Preposition Stranding :
Parametric Variation and Pragmatics
pp. 1-24
FREDERICK NEWMEYER
Abstract
In this paper I will develop
further a theme that has characterized much of my recent work, namely that
one cannot hope to understand complex linguistic phenomena without pointing
to the interaction of principles from grammar, meaning, and use (see
especially Newmeyer 1998). But what gives this paper a special twist is that
I will argue that it has been generativists, rather than functionalists, who
have, for the most part, produced inelegant and uninsightful analyses. In
particular, I will argue that most generative treatments of the phenomenon
of preposition-stranding, by virtue of their construction-specificity and
failure to incorporate insights from the functionalist literature, have been
highly inadequate. As we will see, preposition-stranding provides a model
arena of where the products of both generativist and functionalist research
can play a role in the explanation of a complex phenomenon.
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The Syntactic Nature and Position
of Object Clitics in Berber
pp. 25-47
FATIMA SADIQI
Abstract
This paper seeks to characterize
the syntactic nature and position of object clitics in Berber (a
chamito-semitic surface VSO language) within the Minimalist framework. There
are two aspects which make Berber clitics interesting to current theory: (1)
the exclusion of lexical DPs and (2) the position of these morphemes. I
assume that these two aspects are not independent, but I grant that to some
extent they may be made so. Property (1) is identical to agreement as found
in subject agreement in Standard Arabic and in most Celtic systems. This
similarity suggests that indeed these elements should be identified as
agreement markers, i.e., as heads of AGRo. Being rich AGR, they license
pro-objects, while also allowing full pronouns under emphatic circumstances,
but resist full lexical DPs for the same reason as in the case of AGRs in
the aforementioned languages. An examination of word order phenomena reveals
that this licensing is a matter of LF, in terms of Spec-head relationship:
the object position remains the argument position, but the object is moved
at LF to [Spec, AGRo]. Property (2) is related to property (1). The surface
patterns of object clitics lead us to think that they hold different
positions. In simple cases, where they occur as enclitics on V, their
position results from V-raising to an F-category outside VP, minimally AGRo,
where it left-adjoins at the object clitic, after which it may raise further.
Following this line of argumentation, each occurrence of an object clitic to
the left of V would indicate that V has not so raised. In cases involving
heads other than V, it seems that the clitic does not raise independently
because it never left-adjoins to these heads. I assume that these cases
involve pure adjacency, rather than movement. |
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Is Arabic a V2 language ?
pp.49-64
MOHAMED KHALIL ENNASSIRI
Abstract
In this paper, I discuss the
nature of an apparent V2 phenomenon in Arabic. In this language, whenever a
wh-constituent is extracted to the clause-initial position, it must be
left-adjacent to the inflected verbal element. This is reminiscent of V2
languages, where the linear adjacency is the result of I-to-C movement. The
paper contends, however, that the linear order wh-element-verb in Arabic
does not result from I-to-C movement. The paper is organized as follows.
Section one briefly reviews the standard analysis of verb second phenomenon
in full V2 languages. Section two deals with the construction-specific
nature of V2 in residual V2 languages, and section three discusses the
nature of V2 in Arabic wh-structures. The analysis presented here is
conducted within the standard Principles and Parameters theory, as outlined
in Chomsky (1991), Chomsky and Lasnik (1991), Rizzi (1990, 1991) and
references cited therein.
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Personal Pronoun Systems and
Their Origin in some Languages of Ethiopia
pp. 65-86
ANDRZEJ ZABORSKI
Abstract
This paper is based on a
supplement to my paper presented at the Eighth International Conference of
Ethiopian Studies in Addis Abeba in 1984 when I spoke about Cushitic
independent pronouns concentrating on isoglosses combining and dividing
Cushitic languages. Since that time some new data have been published so
that some additions and revisions are possible although, generally speaking,
the progress in describing hitherto unknown languages and dialects has been
much slower than it could be expected. As far as pronouns are concerned I
have to mention one thing which may both irritate and please feminists: in
the frame of the very important Survey of Little Known Languages of Ethiopia
most of the published word-lists omit "she" altogether i.e. the
questionnaires did not include the item which, consequently, has not been
elicited although gender distinction does occur in most Cushitic languages
in the third person singular. |
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Les Rapports Associatifs Saussuriens: Paradigmes ou Syntagmes ?
pp. 87-127
FOUAD BRIGUI
Abstract
The linguistic approach can gain
much from ancient works like Saussurian Analysis or traditional studies of
Arabic with the prime aim to extend such an approach to different ways which
can be derived from it but which deal with new data that is similar, in a
way, to the former but different, in another way.
Ferdinand de Saussure assumes, in
a word-based and mentalist conception of language, that there are two kinds
of relationships between linguistic terms : syntagmatic and associative. He
claims that the syntagmatic relationship is based on a linear aspect of
language, and that it defines terms in praesentia ; in other words, these
terms are handled within discourse. While the paradigmatic relationship
deals with terms handled in absentia, out of discourse, in the speaker’s
mind, forming groups of complex nature, related in associative ways and
different kinds of similarity. Two kinds of these associative relationships
are highly significant for our purpose : one is what is known as the first
Saussurian paradigm which deals with derivational paradigms such as the
paradigm formed by terms like enseignement, enseigner, enseignons,… ; the
other is what is known as the second Saussurian paradigm. It deals with
lexical paradigms such as the paradigm formed by terms like apprentissage,
éducation,…
As a matter of fact, there is a
problem which arises in cases like the following Arabic sentence :
(i) و أرسلناك للناس رسولا [wa ‘arsalnaa-ka
li-nnaas-i rasuul-aa]
(We sent you to people as [somebody who was sent])
We sent you as a Messenger (of God).
Where the relationship between
أرسلنا [‘arsalnaa] and رسولا [rasuul-an] might be viewed as an associative
one, set between terms in absentia in a context situated out of discourse,
while it appears to be a syntagmatic relationship set between terms in
praesentia situated within discourse.
Another problem arises with cases
like :
(ii) ابتسم ضاحكا [‘ibtasim DaaHik-an]
Smile laughing !
What kind of relationship holds
here between ابتسم [‘ibtasim] and ضاحكا [DaaHik-an] ? Actually, it must be a
relationship which holds in the speaker’s mind, but it appears here within a
syntagmatic structure.
In this paper, I shall focus on
these problems and make some assumptions. Most of our approach is based on
Systemics (Functional Sentence Perspective). Part of it is based on
traditional grammatical and rhetorical analysis of Arabic language. |
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Pause and Morphosyntactic
Categories in Standard Arabic (in Arabic)
pp. 1A-31A
MOUBARAK HANOUNE
Abstract
This contribution is a careful
analysis of the pause in Arabic. It proposes that the pause is phonological
phenomenon, but also it has ramifications for syntactic and morphological
elements. The article goes further to suggest, on the basis of a great
number of examples, that syntactic and morphological categories are
themselves determined by the pause. Even syntactic and morphological terms
and not only concepts are defined depending on the role of pauses in the
language.
See the Arabic abstract below :
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لوقف وإحداث مقولات تركيبية و صرفية
مبارك حنون
ملخص
ينطلق هذا المقال من نظرية حاولنا
البرهنة على صحتها في عمل سابق (1997) وتقضي باعتبار الوقف، من زاوية نظر
فونولوجية، مكونا إيقاعيا يلعب دورا تنظيميا للتركيب، ومن ثمة فهو يوفر فرصة ثمينة
للفونولوجيا لمعالجة الوقف معالجة مستقلة. وضمن هذا المنظور، حاولنا، في هذا
المقال، أن نعزز هذا الرأي بحجج تفيد أن جملة من المصطلحات التركيبية والصرفية
في اللغة الواصفة العربية وغير العربية يعود أمر إحداثها إلى ظاهرة الوقف: أي
لولا وقوع الوقف لما تمت صناعة مثل هذه المصطلحات. بل إن تحديد هاته المفاهيم
يقوم في جزء كبير منه على الوقف. ومن الواضح أن لهذا القول بعدا آخر يتمثل في
ما سماه النحاة العرب القدماء بالمخالفة الإعرابية بما يعنيه ذلك من أن للوقف
دورا في تفسير بعض القضايا التركيبية إلى جانب البناء المصطلحي الذي يبدو لنا
أمر إعادة النظر فيه قد بات ملحا.
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