The nature of configurationality in LFG
<p>The central issue in this thesis is configurationality, which has broadly been defined in terms of a division of the world's languages based on their core syntactic structure. Specifically, languages are traditionally divided into so-called configurational and non-configurational langu...
| Yazar: | |
|---|---|
| Diğer Yazarlar: | |
| Materyal Türü: | Tez |
| Dil: | English |
| Baskı/Yayın Bilgisi: |
2015
|
| Konular: |
| _version_ | 1826315690202628096 |
|---|---|
| author | Snijders, L |
| author2 | Asudeh, A |
| author_facet | Asudeh, A Snijders, L |
| author_sort | Snijders, L |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>The central issue in this thesis is configurationality, which has broadly been defined in terms of a division of the world's languages based on their core syntactic structure. Specifically, languages are traditionally divided into so-called configurational and non-configurational languages. Configurational languages are assumed to be languages with many restrictions on word order, and non-configurational languages are assumed to be languages with very few or no word order restrictions. Many linguists posit a strict division between the two different types of languages. In this thesis I propose a non-derivational approach to configurationality, and I discuss in detail three posited characteristics of non-configurational languages (in comparison to configurational languages): free word order, discontinuous expressions and subject-object asymmetries in binding. I propose a four-way classification of languages instead of a two-way one, based on constraints on annotations on phrase structure nodes, both for argument functions and for information structural roles (such as topic and focus). I propose that this four-way distinction is what underlies configurationality. I show that discontinuous expressions and potentially subject-object symmetries follow from the nature of languages that have traditionally been classified as non-configurational. For my analysis I employ Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a non-derivational framework which is particularly well-suited to account for languages in which grammatical functions are not tied to specific phrase structural positions, due to its parallel architecture. This characteristic of LFG enables me to provide a straightforward classification of languages, by the ability to separate the influence of grammatical functions and information structural roles on word order and phrase structural configuration.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:59:38Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:1310f160-283e-411e-a8d7-20ab4b3380c2 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:30:41Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:1310f160-283e-411e-a8d7-20ab4b3380c22024-12-01T14:02:16ZThe nature of configurationality in LFGThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:1310f160-283e-411e-a8d7-20ab4b3380c2SyntaxLinguisticsEnglishORA Deposit2015Snijders, LAsudeh, ADalrymple, M<p>The central issue in this thesis is configurationality, which has broadly been defined in terms of a division of the world's languages based on their core syntactic structure. Specifically, languages are traditionally divided into so-called configurational and non-configurational languages. Configurational languages are assumed to be languages with many restrictions on word order, and non-configurational languages are assumed to be languages with very few or no word order restrictions. Many linguists posit a strict division between the two different types of languages. In this thesis I propose a non-derivational approach to configurationality, and I discuss in detail three posited characteristics of non-configurational languages (in comparison to configurational languages): free word order, discontinuous expressions and subject-object asymmetries in binding. I propose a four-way classification of languages instead of a two-way one, based on constraints on annotations on phrase structure nodes, both for argument functions and for information structural roles (such as topic and focus). I propose that this four-way distinction is what underlies configurationality. I show that discontinuous expressions and potentially subject-object symmetries follow from the nature of languages that have traditionally been classified as non-configurational. For my analysis I employ Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a non-derivational framework which is particularly well-suited to account for languages in which grammatical functions are not tied to specific phrase structural positions, due to its parallel architecture. This characteristic of LFG enables me to provide a straightforward classification of languages, by the ability to separate the influence of grammatical functions and information structural roles on word order and phrase structural configuration.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Syntax Linguistics Snijders, L The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title | The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title_full | The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title_fullStr | The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title_full_unstemmed | The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title_short | The nature of configurationality in LFG |
| title_sort | nature of configurationality in lfg |
| topic | Syntax Linguistics |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT snijdersl thenatureofconfigurationalityinlfg AT snijdersl natureofconfigurationalityinlfg |