16.3135, Books: Syntax, Danish/English: Mikkelsen

Mon Oct 31 15:55:59 UTC 2005

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-3135. Mon Oct 31 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.3135, Books: Syntax, Danish/English: Mikkelsen

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1)
Date: 27-Oct-2005
From: Paul Peranteau < paul at benjamins.com >
Subject: Copular Clauses: Mikkelsen 

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:53:51
From: Paul Peranteau < paul at benjamins.com >
Subject: Copular Clauses: Mikkelsen 

Title: Copular Clauses 
Subtitle: Specification, predication and equation 
Series Title: Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 85  

Publication Year: 2005 
Publisher: John Benjamins
	   http://www.benjamins.com/

Book URL: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=LA%2085 

Author: Line Mikkelsen, University of California, Berkeley

Hardback: ISBN: 9027228094 Pages: viii, 210 Price: U.S. $ 126.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027228094 Pages: viii, 210 Price: Europe EURO 105.00

Abstract:

This book is concerned with a class of copular clauses known as
specificational clauses, and its relation to other kinds of copular
structures, predicational and equative clauses in particular. Based on
evidence from Danish and English, I argue that specificational clauses
involve the same core predication structure as predicational clauses - one
which combines a referential and a predicative expression to form a minimal
predicational unit - but differ in how the predicational core is realized
syntactically. Predicational copular clauses represent the canonical
realization, where the referential expression is aligned with the most
prominent syntactic position, the subject position. Specificational clauses
involve an unusual alignment of the predicative expression with subject
position. I suggest that this unusual alignment is grounded in information
structure: the alignment of the less referential DP with the subject
position serves a discourse connective function by letting material that is
relatively familiar in the discourse appear before material that is
relatively unfamiliar in the discourse. Equative clauses are argued to be
fundamentally different. 

Table of contents

Acknowledgements  vii  
1. Introduction  1-3  
I. Structure  4  
2. Predicate topicalization  6-40  
3. Alternative structures for specificational clauses  41-45  
II. Meaning  46  
4. Decomposing copular clauses  48-63  
5. Determining the subject type  64-93  
6. The type of the predicate complement  94-107  
7. Consequences and extensions  108-130  
III. Use  131  
8. Aspects of use  133-161  
9. An intergrated analysis  162-190  
10.Conclusion  191-194  
References  195-204  
Index  205-210  

"This is a beautiful piece of work, one that I have had much pleasure
reading and discussing with students and colleagues. Mikkelsen's account of
copular clauses is simply elegant. She is so thorough in her treatment of
these copular constructions that in our discussion of her analysis in a
recent MIT seminar there wasn't any comment that wasn't already anticipated
in her own caveats and footnotes." 
Michel DeGraff, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT 

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Syntax

Subject Language(s): Danish (dan)
                     English (eng)

Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=17102

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