Syntactic Constructions in English

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Preface
1 What Is a Theory of English Syntax About?
	1.1 Linguistic and Syntactic Competence
	1.2 Generative Grammars
	1.3 How We Discover Descriptive Rules
	1.4 Two Different Views of Generative Grammar
		1.4.1 Deductive Reasoning and the Nativist View
		1.4.2 Inductive Reasoning and the Constraint-Based View
	1.5 Evidence That Grammar Is Construction-Based
	1.6 Goals of This Book
2 Lexical and Phrasal Signs
	2.1 Linguistic Signs and Constructions as Form-Meaning Pairs
	2.2 From Lexical Signs to Phrasal Signs as a Continuum
	2.3 Lexical Signs
		2.3.1 Classifying Lexical Signs
		2.3.2 Grammar with Lexical Categories Alone
	2.4 Phrasal Constructions and Constituency Tests
	2.5 Forming Phrasal Constructions: Phrase Structure Rules
		2.5.1 NP: Noun Phrase
		2.5.2 VP: Verb Phrase
		2.5.3 AP: Adjective Phrase
		2.5.4 AdvP: Adverb Phrase
		2.5.5 PP: Preposition Phrase
		2.5.6 CP and ConjP: Complementizer and Conjunction Phrases
	2.6 Grammar with Phrasal Constructions
	2.7 Multi-word Expressions: Between Lexical and Phrasal Constructions
		2.7.1 Fixed Expres
		2.7.2 Semi-fixed Expressions
		2.7.3 Syntactically Flexible Multi-word Expressions
	2.8 Conclusion
3 Syntactic Forms, Grammatical Functions, and Semantic Roles
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Grammatical Functions
		3.2.1 Subjects
		3.2.2 Direct Objects and Indirect Objects
		3.2.3 Predicative Complements
		3.2.4 Oblique Complements
		3.2.5 Modifiers
	3.3 Bringing Form and Function Together
	3.4 Form-Function Mismatches
	3.5 Semantic Roles
	3.6 Conclusion
4 Head, Complements, Modifiers, and Argument Structures
	4.1 Building a Phrase from a Head
		4.1.1 Internal vs. External Syntax
		4.1.2 The Notion of Head, Complements, and Modifiers
	4.2 Differences between Complements and Modifiers
	4.3 PS Rules, X'-rules, and Features
		4.3.1 Problems of PS Rules
		4.3.2 Intermediate Phrases and Specifiers
		4.3.3 Intermediate Phrases for Non-NPs
	4.4 Lexicon and Feature Structures
		4.4.1 Feature Structures and Basic Operations
		4.4.2 Feature Structures for Linguistic En
	4.5 Arguments and Argument-Structure Constructions
		4.5.1 Basic Properties of Argument Structure
		4.5.2 Types of Argument-Structure Constructions
		4.5.3 Argument Structures as Constructions: Form and Meaning Relations
	4.6 Conclusion
5 Combinatorial Construction Rules and Principles
	5.1 From Lexemes to Words
	5.2 Head Features and Head Feature Principle
		5.2.1 Parts of Speech Value as a Head Feature
		5.2.2 Verb Form as a Head Feature
		5.2.3 Mapping between Argument-Structure and Valence Features
	5.3 Combinatory Construction Rules
	5.4 Nonphrasal, Lexical Constructions
	5.5 Feature Specifications on the Syntactic Complement
		5.5.1 Complements of Verbs
		5.5.2 Complements of Adjectives
		5.5.3 Complements of Common Nouns
	5.6 Feature Specifications on the Subject
	5.7 Clausal Complement and Subject
		5.7.1 Verbs Selecting a Clausal Complement
		5.7.2 Verbs Selecting a Clausal Subject
		5.7.3 Adjectives Selecting a Clausal Complement
		5.7.4 Nouns Selecting a Clausal Complement
		5.7.5 Prepositions Selecting a Clausal Complement
	5.8 Conclusion
6 Noun Phrases and Agreement
	6.1 Classification of Nouns
	6.2 Syntactic Structures
		6.2.1 Common Nouns
		6.2.2 Pronouns
		6.2.3 Proper Nouns
	6.3 Agreement Types and Morphosyntactic Features
		6.3.1 Noun-Determiner Agreement
		6.3.2 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
		6.3.3 Subject-Verb Agreement
	6.4 Semantic Agreement Features
	6.5 Partitive NPs and Agreement
		6.5.1 Basic Properties
		6.5.2 Two Types of Partitive NPs
		6.5.3 Measure Noun Phrases
	6.6 Modifying an NP
		6.6.1 Adjectives as Prenominal Modifiers
		6.6.2 Postnominal Modifiers
	6.7 Conclusion
7 Raising and Control Constructions
	7.1 Raising and Control Predicates
	7.2 Differences between Raising and Control Verbs
		7.2.1 Subject Raising and Control
		7.2.2 Object Raising and Control
	7.3 A Simple Transformational Approach
	7.4 A Nontransformational, Construction-Based Approach
		7.4.1 Identical Syntactic Structures
		7.4.2 Differences among the Feature Specifications in the Valence Information
		7.4.3 A Mismatch between Meaning and Structure
	7.5 Explaining the Differences
		7.5.1 Expletive Subject and Object
		7.5.2 Meaning Preservation
		7.5.3 Subject vs. Object Control Verbs
	7.6 Conclusion
8 Auxiliary and Related Constructions
	8.1 Basic Issues
	8.2 Transformational Analyses
	8.3 A Construction-Based Analysis
		8.3.1 Shared Properties of Raising Verbs
		8.3.2 Modals
		8.3.3 Be and Have
		8.3.4 Periphrastic Do
		8.3.5 Infinitival Clause Marker To
	8.4 Capturing NICE Properties
		8.4.1 Auxiliaries with Negation
		8.4.2 Auxiliaries with Inversion
		8.4.3 Contracted Auxiliaries
		8.4.4 Auxiliaries with Ellipsis
	8.5 Conclusion
9 Passive Constructions
	9.1 Introduction
	9.2 The Relationship between Active and Passive
	9.3 Approaches to Passive
		9.3.1 From Structural Description to Structural Change
		9.3.2 A Transformational Approach
		9.3.3 A Construction-Based Approach
	9.4 Prepositional Passives
	9.5 The Get-Passive
	9.6 Conclusion
10 Interrogative and Wh-question Constructions
	10.1 Clausal Types and Interrogatives
	10.2 Movement vs. Feature Percolation
	10.3 Feature Percolation with No Abstract Elements
		10.3.1 Basic Systems
		10.3.2 Nonsubject Wh-questions
		10.3.3 Subject Wh-questions
	10.4 Indirect Questions
		10.4.1 Basic Structures
		10.4.2 Non-wh Indirect Questions
		10.4.3 Infinitival Indirect Questions
		10.4.4 Adjunct Wh-questions
	10.5 Conclusion
11 Relative Clause Constructions
	11.1 Introduction
	11.2 Nonsubject Wh-Relative Clauses
	11.3 Subject Relative Clauses
	11.4 That-Relative Clauses
	11.5 Infinitival and Bare Relative Clauses
	11.6 Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive Relative Clauses
	11.7 Island Constraints on the Filler-Gap Dependencies
	11.8 Conclusion
12 Tough, Extraposition, and Cleft Constructions
	12.1 Introduction
	12.2 ‘Tough’ Constructions and Topichood
		12.2.1 Basic Properties
		12.2.2 Transformational Analyses
		12.2.3 A Construction-Based Analysis
	12.3 Extraposition
		12.3.1 Basic Properties
		12.3.2 Transformational Analysis
		12.3.3 A Construction-Based Analysis
	12.4 Cleft Constructions
		12.4.1 Basic Properties
		12.4.2 Distributional Properties of the Three Clefts
		12.4.3 Syntactic Structures of the Three Types of Cleft: Movement Analyses
		12.4.4 A Construction-Based Analysis
	12.5 Conclusion
Afterword
Appendix
Bibliography
Index