Phrase Structure

This chapter focuses on phrase structure, whose discussion in the eighteenth century was subsumed under the theory of melody and based on the parallel between music and language. The first part is devoted to classification of caesuras and melodic sections contained by them. Since the former were equivalent to punctuation marks (period, colon, semicolon, comma) and the latter to grammatical units (sentences, clauses), the musical terminology adopted by eighteenth-century authors (Johann Mattheson, Joseph Riepel, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, and Heinrich Christoph Koch) was influenced by linguistic terminology and it developed for decades, with meanings of individual terms changing from author to author. The second part of the chapter treats the different lengths of phrases. It links the preference for four-measure phrases to regular hypermeter and it presents a classification of four-measure phrase rhythms.

Hypermetrical Irregularities in Basic Phrases

This chapter’s focus is on hypermetrical irregularities caused by irregular phrases. It addresses five-, six-, and seven-measure phrases, considers their use as recommended by eighteenth-century music theorists, and discusses their subdivision into shorter segments. It then shifts to much longer phrases without subdivisions. While not recommended by theorists, such phrases were used by eighteenth-century composers. A series of analyses in the final part of the chapter illustrates Haydn’s use of irregular phrases and illuminates their formal implications in minuet movements of string quartets Op. 50 No. 3 and No. 4 and in the first movement of Op. 55 No. 2.

Region Prepositions: The View from French

The goal of this article is to offer a formal account of region prepositions in French. We define region prepositions as prepositions that denote non-oriented locations and resist modification with measure phrases (e.g.,au nez dein#dix metres au nez de l'avion‘ten meters from (in front of) the tip of the airplane’). We show that region prepositions may involve items that include inflected markers or items involving “bare” markers (au bord de‘at the edge of’ vs.à droite de‘to the right of’). We analyze the relation between structure and semantic type to show that this distribution stems from the morpho-syntactic properties of their “internal location nouns” (e.g.,nez,bord, droite, sommet). We offer a feature-driven analysis of these prepositions that hinges on a Lexical Syntax account and can capture all of the relevant data in a unified perspective. We conclude by discussing some theoretical consequences for accounts of spatial prepositions.

Johannes Brahms’s Horn Trio and Its Unique Place in the Chamber Music Repertoire

The purpose of this research is to explore the elements in Brahms’s Trio for Piano, Violin, and Horn in E-flat Major, op. 40, that contribute to its unique position in the vast and revered library of chamber music. These include Brahms's use of folksong, five-measure phrases, a variation on sonata form, developing variation, emotional elements, and unique instrumentation. The German folk song, Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben is almost identical to the opening fourth movement theme of the horn trio. Brahms incorporates portions of this melody throughout all four movements of his horn trio which demonstrates an internal unity and cohesive use of folksong that contribute to his work’s individuality. This is one of many examples of Brahms’s attention to detail and use of surprising elements that allow his horn trio to stand out among thousands of other works. Through studying portions of Brahms’s Trio for Piano, Violin, and Horn in E-flat Major, op. 40., analyzing distinctive qualities of this work, and comparing these elements to those of other chamber works of the time, one can conclude that this piece has a unique place in the chamber music repertoire.

Smuggling in Syntax

One of the fundamental properties of human language is movement, where a constituent moves from one position in a sentence to another position. Syntactic theory has long been concerned with properties of movement, including locality restrictions. This work investigates how different movement operations interact with one another, focusing on the special case of smuggling. The contributions in this volume each describe different areas where smuggling derivations play a role, including passives, causatives, adverb placement, the dative alternation, the placement of measure phrases, wh-in-situ and word order in ergative languages. Other issues addressed in the volume include the freezing constraint on movement and the acquisition of smuggling derivations by children.

The Romance of Modal Superlatives as Degree Descriptions

In this paper, I present a novel compositional analysis of modal predicative superlatives, that is, predicative superlatives accompanied by modal adjectives such as possible, as that in (1). (1) Mary wanted to be the prettiest possible. I argue that they are elliptical bona fide degree-relative clauses denoting maximal degrees and whose semantic contribution is similar to that of Measure Phrases. This account will require a novel composition of the superlative which involves the formation of an ordered set and the selection of a maximal element. I argue that not only is this account able to derive their peculiar semantics (dispensing us from the ad hoc components that previous accounts posited), but it can also capture the morphosyntax of these constructions, especially in Romance languages, which turn out more informative than English in this respect.

Sortal concepts and pragmatic inference in children’s early quantification of objects

It is typically assumed that count nouns like fork act as logical sortals, specifying whether objects are countable units of a kind (e.g., that a whole fork counts as “one fork”) or not (e.g., that a piece of a fork does not count as “one fork”). In four experiments, we provide evidence from linguistic and conceptual development that nouns do not specify units of quantification, but include both whole objects and their arbitrary parts in their denotations. We argue that, to restrict quantification to whole objects, nominal concepts are enriched pragmatically, via contrast with concepts denoted by alternative descriptions: a piece of a fork is not counted as “one fork” because it is “one piece of fork.” Experiment 1 replicated previous findings that children count pieces of broken objects as whole objects (e.g., two pieces of fork as “two forks”), and showed that children also accept whole object labels as descriptions of object pieces (e.g., “two forks” to describe two pieces of fork). Experiment 2 showed that although children accept such descriptions in isolation, they prefer measure phrases (e.g., “two pieces of fork”) when they are explicitly presented as alternatives. Experiment 3 found that children were better at excluding pieces from their counts of whole objects when measure phrases were primed prior to counting, making them accessible as alternatives to whole object labels. Finally, Experiment 4 taught children names for novel objects, and found that they do not count parts that are given unique labels or that have non-linguistic properties that suggest they are members of distinct object kinds (e.g., unique functions or physical affordances). Together, our results suggest that for children and adults alike, nominal concepts do not provide necessary and sufficient criteria for excluding parts from object kinds. To specify units of quantification – and do the work of sortals – concepts are contrasted with one another and enriched pragmatically.