A main motivation for relegating Word Formation to the lexicon is the fact that its output is oft... more A main motivation for relegating Word Formation to the lexicon is the fact that its output is often non-compositional. The present article, however, presentsa serious challenge to the presumed contradiction between non-compositionality and syntactic combinatorial processes. The investigation of N-N Constructs in Hebrew shows that equal syntactically complex expressions nonetheless interact differently with non-compositionality. Crucially, it is the syntactic differences between these expressions that give rise to distinct Content properties, with non-compositionality correlating not with syntactic structure as such, but with the presence of functional structure. The emerging syntactic domain of 'word' Content in turn allows the language learner to make informed decisions on where to look for non-compositionality and to draw the appropriate structural conclusions from its presence.
A review of the analytic history of derived nominals and their argument structure configurations... more A review of the analytic history of derived nominals and their argument structure configurations spans, by necessity, significant milestones in theoretical developments at the very least of the past 50 years, with issues involving most crucially on the one hand the lexicon/syntax divide and the formal properties of words and word formation, and on the other hand the modelling of event structure. Major theoretical developments in the past 50 years are summarized and critically assessed in this entry.
Key terms: action nominals; argument structure nominals; complex event nominals; derived nominals; the Lexicon and Lexical word formation; listedness; nominal affixation; non-compositionality; process nominals; remarks on nominalizations; R-nominals; simple event nominals; syntactic word formation; X′-theory
Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics, 2021
Michal Starke’s (MS) presentation is a very impressive take on deriving the phonological realizat... more Michal Starke’s (MS) presentation is a very impressive take on deriving the phonological realization of the French verbal paradigm, introducing systematicity into the inflectional system where previous accounts appear to have failed, and signaling, or so it might be hoped, the potential availability of a principled treatment for the notorious morpho-phonological irregularity of inflectional paradigms. I would not indeed be surprised if the system can be successfully extended to other synthetic or semi synthetic languages (but see caveats below). I do have an important theoretical query, however, the answer to which is fundamental to the overall assessment of the account and to its placement within our overall view of the grammar. The system crucially relies on lexical entries to ‘check’ the emerging syntax, with syntactic structural fragments compared, at fixed junctures, with the availability of suitable lexicalizations. Cases of movement (‘movement to lexicalize’) in turn are prec...
A preface to the republished version of I-Subjects, originally published in 1986, highlighting it... more A preface to the republished version of I-Subjects, originally published in 1986, highlighting its contemporary relevance
This article argues that important constraints on the properties of derived nominals can only be ... more This article argues that important constraints on the properties of derived nominals can only be explained if complex words, and
specifically derived nominals are syntactically derived, and if noncompositional Content, in essence conceptual meaning, is constrained by syntactic locality.
In R. Lieber and P. Stekauer (eds.) Handbook of Compounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press
For... more In R. Lieber and P. Stekauer (eds.) Handbook of Compounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Children, it is well known, go through a developmental stage in which they omit functional materi... more Children, it is well known, go through a developmental stage in which they omit functional material, a fact which is often attributed to a missing of deficient functional structure in the early grammar. We argue that the systematic omission of functional material, on the contrary, argues for the presence of functional structure, as in the absence of such structure, what
On the basis of data from English, French, Hebrew and Spanish, this paper argues that (apparent) ... more On the basis of data from English, French, Hebrew and Spanish, this paper argues that (apparent) adjectives which function as nominals belong to two distinct classes. One small class consists of true nouns that are homophonous with adjectives but are not derived from them. The other one consists of true attributive adjectives which modify a null N, and whose range of interpretations cross-linguistically depends on the conditions on the licensing and identification of null Ns in a given structure and in a given language. We further claim that while the former group can appear in any context where nouns are typically licensed, the latter group is restricted to strong environments. This, we argue, is because referential pro, the assumed head of N-ellipsis structures, is always definite.
Recent accounts of process nominals postulate a VP within the nominalized structure. A verb becom... more Recent accounts of process nominals postulate a VP within the nominalized structure. A verb becomes a nominal by a head raising operation to a nominal affix. This view contrasts with analyses of process nominals as (pure) nominals with partial verbal properties, originally due to Chomsky (1970). Contributing to this debate, we will argue that direct evidence indicates that English process nominals contain a VP. Our evidence comes from the distribution of adverbs on the one hand, and from the presence of the VP anaphor do so in process nominals on the other. We show that a portion of the verbal extended projection specifically excluding IP or CP is present in process nominals. An array of word order facts about process nominals falls into place when we further assume that the verb is raised from VP over the subject, the object, and adverbs, adjoining to a nominal affix. Our analysis moreover adds to the evidence for functional structure above VP and supports particular claims about the syntax-morphology interface.
A main motivation for relegating Word Formation to the lexicon is the fact that its output is oft... more A main motivation for relegating Word Formation to the lexicon is the fact that its output is often non-compositional. The present article, however, presentsa serious challenge to the presumed contradiction between non-compositionality and syntactic combinatorial processes. The investigation of N-N Constructs in Hebrew shows that equal syntactically complex expressions nonetheless interact differently with non-compositionality. Crucially, it is the syntactic differences between these expressions that give rise to distinct Content properties, with non-compositionality correlating not with syntactic structure as such, but with the presence of functional structure. The emerging syntactic domain of 'word' Content in turn allows the language learner to make informed decisions on where to look for non-compositionality and to draw the appropriate structural conclusions from its presence.
A review of the analytic history of derived nominals and their argument structure configurations... more A review of the analytic history of derived nominals and their argument structure configurations spans, by necessity, significant milestones in theoretical developments at the very least of the past 50 years, with issues involving most crucially on the one hand the lexicon/syntax divide and the formal properties of words and word formation, and on the other hand the modelling of event structure. Major theoretical developments in the past 50 years are summarized and critically assessed in this entry.
Key terms: action nominals; argument structure nominals; complex event nominals; derived nominals; the Lexicon and Lexical word formation; listedness; nominal affixation; non-compositionality; process nominals; remarks on nominalizations; R-nominals; simple event nominals; syntactic word formation; X′-theory
Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics, 2021
Michal Starke’s (MS) presentation is a very impressive take on deriving the phonological realizat... more Michal Starke’s (MS) presentation is a very impressive take on deriving the phonological realization of the French verbal paradigm, introducing systematicity into the inflectional system where previous accounts appear to have failed, and signaling, or so it might be hoped, the potential availability of a principled treatment for the notorious morpho-phonological irregularity of inflectional paradigms. I would not indeed be surprised if the system can be successfully extended to other synthetic or semi synthetic languages (but see caveats below). I do have an important theoretical query, however, the answer to which is fundamental to the overall assessment of the account and to its placement within our overall view of the grammar. The system crucially relies on lexical entries to ‘check’ the emerging syntax, with syntactic structural fragments compared, at fixed junctures, with the availability of suitable lexicalizations. Cases of movement (‘movement to lexicalize’) in turn are prec...
A preface to the republished version of I-Subjects, originally published in 1986, highlighting it... more A preface to the republished version of I-Subjects, originally published in 1986, highlighting its contemporary relevance
This article argues that important constraints on the properties of derived nominals can only be ... more This article argues that important constraints on the properties of derived nominals can only be explained if complex words, and
specifically derived nominals are syntactically derived, and if noncompositional Content, in essence conceptual meaning, is constrained by syntactic locality.
In R. Lieber and P. Stekauer (eds.) Handbook of Compounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press
For... more In R. Lieber and P. Stekauer (eds.) Handbook of Compounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Children, it is well known, go through a developmental stage in which they omit functional materi... more Children, it is well known, go through a developmental stage in which they omit functional material, a fact which is often attributed to a missing of deficient functional structure in the early grammar. We argue that the systematic omission of functional material, on the contrary, argues for the presence of functional structure, as in the absence of such structure, what
On the basis of data from English, French, Hebrew and Spanish, this paper argues that (apparent) ... more On the basis of data from English, French, Hebrew and Spanish, this paper argues that (apparent) adjectives which function as nominals belong to two distinct classes. One small class consists of true nouns that are homophonous with adjectives but are not derived from them. The other one consists of true attributive adjectives which modify a null N, and whose range of interpretations cross-linguistically depends on the conditions on the licensing and identification of null Ns in a given structure and in a given language. We further claim that while the former group can appear in any context where nouns are typically licensed, the latter group is restricted to strong environments. This, we argue, is because referential pro, the assumed head of N-ellipsis structures, is always definite.
Recent accounts of process nominals postulate a VP within the nominalized structure. A verb becom... more Recent accounts of process nominals postulate a VP within the nominalized structure. A verb becomes a nominal by a head raising operation to a nominal affix. This view contrasts with analyses of process nominals as (pure) nominals with partial verbal properties, originally due to Chomsky (1970). Contributing to this debate, we will argue that direct evidence indicates that English process nominals contain a VP. Our evidence comes from the distribution of adverbs on the one hand, and from the presence of the VP anaphor do so in process nominals on the other. We show that a portion of the verbal extended projection specifically excluding IP or CP is present in process nominals. An array of word order facts about process nominals falls into place when we further assume that the verb is raised from VP over the subject, the object, and adverbs, adjoining to a nominal affix. Our analysis moreover adds to the evidence for functional structure above VP and supports particular claims about the syntax-morphology interface.
Uploads
Key terms: action nominals; argument structure nominals; complex event nominals; derived nominals; the Lexicon and Lexical word formation; listedness; nominal affixation; non-compositionality; process nominals; remarks on nominalizations; R-nominals; simple event nominals; syntactic word formation; X′-theory
Prepublication version, 2021
specifically derived nominals are syntactically derived, and if noncompositional Content, in essence conceptual meaning, is constrained by syntactic locality.
For a more complete discussion of the material in this short handbook entry see Borer (2013) The Syntactic Domain of Content, at https://www.academia.edu/6341251/The_Syntactic_Domain_of_Content
Key terms: action nominals; argument structure nominals; complex event nominals; derived nominals; the Lexicon and Lexical word formation; listedness; nominal affixation; non-compositionality; process nominals; remarks on nominalizations; R-nominals; simple event nominals; syntactic word formation; X′-theory
Prepublication version, 2021
specifically derived nominals are syntactically derived, and if noncompositional Content, in essence conceptual meaning, is constrained by syntactic locality.
For a more complete discussion of the material in this short handbook entry see Borer (2013) The Syntactic Domain of Content, at https://www.academia.edu/6341251/The_Syntactic_Domain_of_Content