22.39, Books: Syntax: Postal

[linguist at LINGUISTLIST.ORG]

LINGUIST List: Vol-22-39. Tue Jan 04 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.39, Books: Syntax: Postal

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews: Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Eric Raimy, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
       <reviews at linguistlist.org> 

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Fatemeh Abdollahi <fatemeh at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers
are available at the end of this issue. 

===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 20-Dec-2010
From: David Weininger [dgw at mit.edu]
Subject: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: Postal
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:18:50
From: David Weininger [dgw at mit.edu]
Subject: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: Postal

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=22-39.html&submissionid=3796235&topicid=2&msgnumber=1
  



Title: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax 
Subtitle: A Study of (Mostly) English Object Structure 
Publication Year: 2011 
Publisher: MIT Press
	   http://mitpress.mit.edu/
	

Book URL: http://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262512756 


Author: Paul M. Postal

Hardback: ISBN: 0262014815 9780262014816 Pages: 488 Price: U.S. $ 70
Paperback: ISBN: 0262512750 9780262512756 Pages: 488 Price: U.S. $ 35


Abstract:

In "Edge-Based Clausal Syntax", Paul Postal rejects the notion that an
English phrase of the form [V + DP] invariably involves a grammatical
relation properly characterized as a direct object. He argues instead that
at least three distinct relations occur in such a structure. The different
syntactic properties of these three kinds of objects are shown by how they
behave in passives, middles, -able forms, tough movement, wh-movement,
Heavy NP Shift, Ride Node Raising, re-prefixation, and many other tests.
This proposal renders Postal's position sharply different from that of
Chomsky, who defined a direct object structurally as [NP, VP], and with the
traditional linguistics text's definition of the direct object as the DP
sister of V.

According to Postal's framework, sentence structures are complex graph
structures built on nodes (vertices) and edges (arcs). The node that heads
a particular edge represents a constituent that bears the grammatical
relation named by the edge label to its tail node. This approach allows two
DPs that have very different grammatical properties to occupy what looks
like identical structural positions.

The contrasting behaviors of direct objects, which at first seem
anomalous--even grammatically chaotic--emerge in Postal's account as
nonanomalous, as symptoms of hitherto ungrasped structural regularity. 



Linguistic Field(s): Syntax


Written In: English  (eng)
	
See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=52306


MAJOR SUPPORTERS

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	
	



-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-22-39	
----------------------------------------------------------