Lexical structures: Compounding and the modules of grammar - Rilegato

Giegerich, Heinz J.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0748624619 ISBN 13: 9780748624614

Casa editrice: Edinburgh Univ Pr, 2015

Riassunto

An original study of both structural entities originating in the lexicon, and the structural characteristics of the lexicon as a module of formal grammar, this book makes two contributions to our understanding of the formal grammar of English. Firstly, it presents a coherent theory of ‘compounding’ in English. There is a long-standing but unresolved dispute in the literature as to whether certain constructions (e.g. LONDON ROAD, DENTAL TREATMENT) are compound words or syntactic phrases. The question is important because in other cases the distinction is clear-cut (RING ROAD, FREE TREATMENT respectively), and because it impinges on central assumptions regarding the organisation of the grammar.Secondly, the book suggests an alternative to the commonly assumed sharp division of the grammar into the ‘lexicon’ and the ‘syntax’. The lexicon-syntax distinction facilitates important new insights in the nature of compounding in English. However, Heinz Giegerich argues that the Lexicalist assumption of a sharp divide between the modules cannot be upheld: the two modules overlap, such that there are constructions in English that are simultaneously compound and phrase. He suggests an alternative, tripartite, structure comprising three successive, and significantly overlapping, modules: the lexicon proper, the morphology and the syntax.The book illustrates a grammar that is rather different from that envisaged in Lexicalism (while still retaining that theory’s basic insights) and provides a better understanding of some of the most recalcitrant problems in English word formation.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sugli autori

Heinz Giegerich is Professor Emeritus of English Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His previous publications include Metrical Phonology and Phonological Structure (CUP 1985), English Phonology (CUP 1992), Lexical Strata in English (CUP 1999) and Lexical Structures: Compounding and the Modules of Grammar (EUP 2015). At EUP he is the editor of the Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language book series and a co-founder of the journal Word Structure.

Heinz Giegerich is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He is series editor for Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language and Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language - Advanced. He is editor of the journal Word Structure.

Dalla quarta di copertina

Books in the series address the core sub-disciplines of linguistics - phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics - and their interfaces, with a particular focus on novel data from various sources and their challenges to linguistic theorizing.Bringing together the subjects of English compounding and Chomsky’s theory of ‘Lexicalism’, Heinz Giegerich demonstrates in this new study the impossibility of drawing a line between compounds and phrases, and therefore between the lexicon and the syntax, the two grammatical modules of Lexicalism. Proposing a new model of grammatical modularity, where the lexicon and the syntax overlap ‘like slates on a roof’, Giegerich examines long-standing and unresolved questions about the difference between English compounds and phrases. With its detailed study of compound words in English and its comprehensive analysis of Lexicalism’s theoretical framework, Lexical structures: Compounding and the modules of grammar will be of profound relevance to all researchers and students with an interest in English linguistics, and in morphological, syntactic or phonological theory.Heinz Giegerich is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His previous publications include Metrical phonology and phonological structure (1985), English phonology (1992) and Lexical strata in English (1999). At Edinburgh University Press he is the editor of the Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language and a co-founder and co-editor (with Laurie Bauer and Greg Stump) of the journal Word Structure.Cover design: Stuart Dalziel

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Edinburgh Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0748624619
• ISBN 13: 9780748624614
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 142
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile