Verbless predicative structures across Romance

This article develops an analysis of a verbless predicative structure attested throughout Romance: in this type of reduced clause the predicate linearly precedes the subject and is separated from it by a clear intonational break, while the missing verb is interpreted as a silent copula. I argue that this structure should be viewed as the result of three movement steps: the first step is to be identified with predicate inversion, that is, extraction of the predicate from the complement position of the predicative small clause to a higher specifier position thanks to phase extension, followed by raising of the predicate to the specifier of SubjP to check the EPP feature, and finally to the specifier of the left-peripheral projection FocusP in order to check a focus feature. The present analysis is based on the crucial, and independently motivated assumption, that the process of phase extension, produced by raising of the small clause internal relator R° to a higher functional head F°, is limited to small clauses associated with individual-level predicates. The verbless predicative structure is then compared to an analogous construction in which the preposed predicate is preceded by awh-item, arguing that, despite their apparent similarity, the two structures should be clearly distinguished.

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Resultatives, goal PPs, and postverbal subjects: From Scotland to Belfast

Journal of Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0022226720000407 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-45

Author(s):

ANDREW WEIR

Keyword(s):

Standard English ◽

Small Clause ◽

Resultative Constructions ◽

Functional Head ◽

Light Verb ◽

Unaccusative Verbs ◽

Cast Doubt ◽

The Subject ◽

Small Clauses

This paper investigates postverbal imperative subjects (e.g., get you to school), ungrammatical in standard English but grammatical in certain contexts in dialects of Scottish and Belfast English. Henry (1995) reports that unaccusative verbs generally allow postverbal subjects in Belfast English, but in the Scottish English (ScotE) dialect considered here, only a very restricted subset of verbs allow it. Moreover, in ScotE, the preposition away can appear without an overt verb (I’ll away to my bed); this also allows a postverbal subject in imperatives (away you to school). The ScotE data cast doubt on Henry’s (1995) proposal that the licensor of postverbal subjects is weak agreement. The paper argues that the subjects in these constructions are actually external arguments of small clauses (of which goal PPs are taken to be a subset following, e.g., Beck & Snyder 2001). The differences between dialects are located in the structure of resultatives; Belfast English allows Case to be assigned to the subject of small clauses in resultative constructions via a functional head endowed with a causation feature, allowing them to remain in situ in imperatives. In standard English, the causation feature is directly merged onto the verb, not allowing for Case assignment and forcing raising of the subject of the small clause. The ScotE data is argued to arise from the availability of a very ‘light’ verb which is realized as get in some contexts and as silence in others.

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What information structure tells us about individual/stage-level predicates

Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics ◽

10.7557/1.1.1.2293 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Angel Jiménez-Fernández

Keyword(s):

Information Structure ◽

Syntactic Structure ◽

Small Clause ◽

Individual Stage ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Subject ◽

Small Clauses ◽

The Individual

The goal of this paper is to explore the lexical-syntactic structure of copulative constructions and argument small clauses within the framework proposed by Gallego & Uriagereka (2011) for the Individual-Level/Stage-Level distinction (Carlson 1988, Kratzer 1995) and implement their theory by claiming that there is a crucial correlation between IL/SL constructions and their information structure. I argue that IL subjects are topics (and hence this is a categorical construction, following Kuroda 1972, Milsark 1977 and Raposo & Uriagereka 1995), whereas in SL constructions the topic may either be the subject or a silent spatiotemporal argument (their construction being thetic). I show the topic nature of IL subjects in contexts of specificity and subextraction. I ultimately derive the IS of IL/SL constructions from their lexical-syntactic structure and identify the type of topic here as an Aboutness-Topic (in the sense of Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl 2007, Lambrecht 1994, Erteschik-Shir 1997). Keywords: individual-level/stage-level predicates, copulas, small clause, central-coincidence/terminal coincidence prepositions, topic, specificity, subextraction

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Ereigniskontrollierte Adjunkte im Deutschen

Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik ◽

10.1515/zgl-2019-0023 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 507-534

Author(s):

Inghild Flaate Høyem

Keyword(s):

Past Participle ◽

Small Clause ◽

Matrix Clause ◽

Object Control ◽

The Matrix ◽

The Subject ◽

Small Clauses ◽

German Data ◽

Semantic Properties ◽

Insight Into

Abstract The present paper investigates small clause adjuncts displaying the phenomenon referred to as ‘event control’ in literature. Many languages, including German, employ non-finite clauses (besides finite clauses) as propositional adjuncts, for instance infinitival, participial and small clause adjuncts. The subject of these adjunct clauses is left unexpressed and must generally be interpreted co-referentially with the subject or object of the matrix clause (subject or object control), but the matrix event itself can also be interpreted as the controller. Adjuncts involving event control have, to my knowledge, never been examined jointly or particularly thoroughly. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide insight into German data involving event control in different kinds of non-finite propositional adjunct clauses, by examining common and diverging syntactic and semantic properties. The data comprises nominative DPs (Germ. Satzappositionen), adverbial infinitives headed by um (Engl. in order to), adverbial present and past participle constructions, and adverbial small clauses headed by the particle als. Furthermore, I discuss briefly how these data could be captured theoretically, by analyzing them as adjuncts in different syntactic-semantic domains and as obligatorily controlled (OC) adjuncts according to the OC-properties described by Landau (2013).

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Small clauses in English and Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian / Male klauze u engleskom i bosanskom, hrvatskom i srpskom jeziku

Književni jezik ◽

10.33669/kj2019-30-06 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 181-208

Author(s):

Izela Habul-Šabanović

Keyword(s):

English Literature ◽

Generative Grammar ◽

Small Clause ◽

Contrastive Analysis ◽

Sentence Level ◽

The Subject ◽

Basic Concepts ◽

Small Clauses ◽

Secondary Predication ◽

Finite Verb

Small Clauses in English represent one of the basic concepts of modern generative grammar and they are characterized as minimal units of non-verbal predication, where the predication relation between the subject and the predicate is established in the absence of a finite verb form. In traditional grammars, they are generally referred to as “secondary predication” constructions. As the concept of a “small clause” is not familiar in the context of traditional descriptive grammars of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, the aim of this paper is to make a preliminary contrastive analysis of how these or similar constructions are realized in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian through translation equivalents and how they are treated in traditional grammars. Additionally, we have applied several tests typically used in English literature to prove the constituency of small clauses in order to establish whether or not these constructions could form a separate constituent at the sentence level in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian as well.

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Encasing the Absolutes

ELOPE English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries ◽

10.4312/elope.11.2.21-35 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 21-35

Author(s):

Uroš Martinčič

Keyword(s):

Minimalist Program ◽

Small Clause ◽

Nominative Case ◽

The Subject ◽

Small Clauses

The paper explores the issue of structure and case in English absolute constructions, whose subjects are deduced by several descriptive grammars as being in the nominative case due to its supposed neutrality in terms of register. This deduction is countered by systematic accounts presented within the framework of the Minimalist Program which relate the case of absolute constructions to specific grammatical factors. Each proposal is shown as an attempt of analysing absolute constructions as basic predication structures, either full clauses or small clauses. I argue in favour of the small clause approach due to its minimal reliance on transformations and unique stipulations. Furthermore, I propose that small clauses project a singular category, and show that the use of two cases in English absolute constructions can be accounted for if they are analysed as depictive phrases, possibly selected by prepositions. The case of the subject in absolutes is shown to be a result of syntactic and non-syntactic factors. I thus argue in accordance with Minimalist goals that syntactic case does not exist, attributing its role in absolutes to other mechanisms.

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Free and depedent small clauses in Brazilian Portuguese

DELTA Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada ◽

10.1590/s0102-44502007000300007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 23 (spe) ◽

pp. 85-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Mary Aizawa Kato

Keyword(s):

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Subject ◽

Cleft Constructions ◽

Small Clauses

This paper examines free small clauses, which, unlike dependent small clauses, exhibit peculiar properties: (a) they are restricted to occur with individual level and event adjectives, (b) they have to appear with the subject postposed. After considering several hypotheses on the nature of this inversion, it is proposed that these adjectives are of the ergative type, while the stage level adjectives are unergatives. Small clauses with ergative adjectives can be complements of a third copula distinct from the attributive 'ser' and the stative 'estar', which underlies cleft constructions. The derivation of free small clauses is parallel to canonical cleft sentences.

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Differential Effects of Competence and Morality on Self-Esteem at the Individual and the Collective Level

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000410 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (3) ◽

pp. 183-198

Author(s):

Wiktor Soral ◽

Mirosław Kofta

Keyword(s):

Self Esteem ◽

Differential Effects ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Subject ◽

The Individual

Abstract. The importance of various trait dimensions explaining positive global self-esteem has been the subject of numerous studies. While some have provided support for the importance of agency, others have highlighted the importance of communion. This discrepancy can be explained, if one takes into account that people define and value their self both in individual and in collective terms. Two studies ( N = 367 and N = 263) examined the extent to which competence (an aspect of agency), morality, and sociability (the aspects of communion) promote high self-esteem at the individual and the collective level. In both studies, competence was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the individual level, whereas morality was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the collective level.

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The fāṣila in the Qur'an: Word, Context and Meaning

Journal of Qur anic Studies ◽

10.3366/jqs.1999.1.1.264 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 264-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ahmad Mukhtar Omar

Keyword(s):

Rhythmic Structure ◽

Word Context ◽

The Subject ◽

Apparent Similarity ◽

Narrative Account

Fāsila is a termed used to denote the last word in each Qur'anic āya. In this article, we explore this Qur'anic usage, examining in particular the connection between the choice of word, its semantic and rhythmic role in its immediate context, and its wider signification in the narrative. Previous writers on the subject drew attention to the apparent similarity between the fāṣila and the rhythmic schemes of poetry and rhyming prose. We argue that tire fāṣila, while certainly playing a role in the rhythmic structure of the text, has a wider significance, and that an examination of each occurrence underlines the organic connection between the ‘content’ of each sentence and its fāṣila. In a number of instances, it can be shown that the fāṣila and the rhythmic and semantic demands of the narrative account for differences between standard usage and the Qur'anic text. We discuss a number of specific instances of fāṣila, and, examine these in the light of the views of classical exegetes on this feature of the Qur'an.

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Kulturarv – et begreb til forhandling

Nordisk Museologi ◽

10.5617/nm.3115 ◽

1970 ◽

pp. 4

Author(s):

Beate Knuth Federspiel

Keyword(s):

Cultural Heritage ◽

Heritage Preservation ◽

National Unity ◽

Individual Level ◽

Normative System ◽

Intangible Heritage ◽

Conservation Effort ◽

The Subject ◽

Cultural Conservation ◽

Cultural Heritage Preservation

The international organisations active in the field of cultural conservation represent the normative framework for the protection of culture and heritage. Within this administrative and legal system, ideas about the overall meaning of the cultural heritage preservation concept are created and disseminated, and these have implications for museums’ obligations (collection, recording, conservation, research and communication), which collectively can be seen as society’s overall effort to preserve cultural heritage. The subject of this article is to examine how cultural conservation efforts shift focus in step with changes in society’s overall understanding of the concept of cultural heritage – which by nature is the object of these conservation efforts. The most recent UNESCO conventions on culture (The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and The Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions) testify to a growing appreciation of the value of this overall concept, focusing on people, right down to individual level – whereas focus was previously on national unity and a shared ”story” as the identification markers. The situation may seem especially justified by the distinction between tangible and intangible heritage, in which the intangible is increasingly taken into account. This article highlights key concepts and the continuing debate about their importance in the normative system. The emphasis is on the increasing value attributed to the concept of heritage, and the distinction between tangible and intangible heritage. Against this background, possible consequences for the basic conservation effort are discussed, because this is the foundation of the fundamental idea of what a museum is, as well as justifying the normative system in the field of culture.

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4. Levels of selection

Philosophy of Biology: A Very Short Introduction ◽

10.1093/actrade/9780198806998.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 45-62

Author(s):

Samir Okasha

Keyword(s):

Kin Selection ◽

Group Selection ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Levels Of Selection ◽

Major Transitions ◽

Individual Level ◽

Or Groups ◽

The Subject ◽

The Individual ◽

Major Transitions In Evolution

‘Levels of selection’ examines the levels-of-selection question, which asks whether natural selection acts on individuals, genes, or groups. This question is one of the most fundamental in evolutionary biology, and the subject of much controversy. Traditionally, biologists have mostly been concerned with selection and adaptation at the individual level. But, in theory, there are other possibilities, including selection on sub-individual units such as genes and cells, and on supra-individual units such as groups and colonies. Group selection, altruistic behaviour, kin selection, the gene-centric view of evolution, and the major transitions in evolution are all discussed.

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