Lexical-Functional Syntax 2e

Updated to reflect recent developments in the field, Lexical-Functional Syntax, 2nd Edition, enhances its stature as the definitive text for Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) with a primary focus on syntactic structure. Representing the most accessible, empirically-motivated treatment of the mathematical architecture of LFG available, the authors continue to offer a synthesis of major theoretical developments related to lexical-functional syntax and cover the wide range of cross-linguistic syntactic phenomena to which it has been applied. Updates include new sections on agreement and concord, predication, along with morphology that supports or suppresses argument structure roles, as well as many new problem sets--including several based on languages not featured in the 1st edition. Helpful feedback from readers is also incorporated into this new edition to enhance clarity. Offering illuminating insights into the syntactic framework of LFG, Lexical-Functional Syntax, 2nd Edition, is an essential resource for all aspects of this important field.
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Preface to the First Edition xi Preface to the Second Edition xv Acknowledgments xvii I Motivation for the LFG Architecture 1 1 Nonconfigurationality 3 Further reading 10 2 Movement Paradoxes 11 2.1 Theoretical assumptions 15 Further reading and discussion 19 3 Lexicality and Argument Structure 21 3.1 Two approaches to passive relation changes 21 3.2 The lexicality of relation changes 23 3.2.1 English passive verb forms 24 3.2.2 Adjectives versus verbs 24 3.2.3 Participle adjective conversion 25 3.2.4 Passive participles convert to adjectives 25 3.2.5 Differences between adjectival and verbal passives explained 27 3.2.6 Differences between adjectival and verbal passives unexplained 28 3.2.7 Conclusion: passivization is lexical 32 3.3 Passivization with and without movement 32 Further reading and discussion 36 II Formally Modeling the Architecture 39 4 A Formal Model of Syntactic Structure 41 4.1 Design principles 41 4.1.1 Principle I: variability 41 4.1.2 Principle II: universality 42 4.1.3 Principle III: monotonicity 43 4.2 The definition of f-structures 44 4.3 The description of f-structures 46 4.4 The correspondence between c- and f-structures 48 4.5 The solution algorithm 54 Problems 58 4.6 Defining versus constraining equations 59 4.7 Completeness and coherence 62 Problems 63 4.8 Functional uncertainty 63 4.9 Sets of f-structures 70 4.10 Conclusion 71 Further reading 72 5 Monotonicity and Some of Its Consequences 73 5.1 Monotonicity 73 5.2 Relation changes and monotonicity 76 5.3 Information and form 79 5.3.1 The fragmentability of language 79 5.3.2 The nonconfigurationality of language 82 5.3.3 Apparent information flow through external structure 83 5.3.4 Noncompositionality 84 5.4 Conclusion 85 III Inflectional Morphology and Phrase Structure Variation 87 6 A Theory of Structure Function Mappings 89 6.1 Grammatical functions 94 6.1.1 Basics of grammatical functions 94 6.1.2 Classification of grammatical functions 100 6.2 The organization of c-structure categories 101 6.2.1 Endocentricity and X structures 101 6.2.2 Endocentric mapping to f-structure 104 Problems 111 6.3 Exocentric categories 112 6.3.1 Lexocentricity and S 112 6.3.2 S and endocentricity 115 6.3.3 Nonprojecting words 116 6.3.4 Summary of the structure function principles 117 6.4 Toward a typology 118 6.5 Effects of economy of expression 119 Further reading and discussion 124 Appendix: X theory 125 7 Endocentricity and Heads 129 7.1 Head mobility 129 7.1.1 Verb order in Welsh 130 7.2 Endocentricity and extended heads 135 7.3 Distributed exponence 138 7.3.1 Wambaya c-structure 139 7.3.2 The Wambaya tense system 144 7.4 Conclusion 146 Problems 147 Exercise 147 8 Pronoun Incorporation and Agreement 151 8.1 Chichew a 157 8.1.1 Word order 161 8.1.2 Independent pronouns 162 8.1.3 Contrastive focus 164 8.1.4 Interrogatives and relatives 165 8.1.5 Other syntactic and phonological differences 166 8.1.6 Functional ambiguity of subject and topic 167 8.2 Navajo 171 Exercise 1 180 Exercise 2 180 8.3 Plains Cree and inverse agreement 182 Exercise 3 185 Problems 186 8.4 Two types of agreement: index and concord 186 Exercise 4 192 8.5 Conclusion 192 Further reading and discussion 193 9 Topicalization and Scrambling 196 9.1 English topicalization 196 9.2 Russian topicalization 199 9.3 Economy of expression 205 Problems 207 9.4 Topicalization versus scrambling 207 9.5 Detecting empty categories 210 Exercise 223 Further reading and discussion 223 The crossover effect 223 Two types of null pronominals 224 Generalization to operator complexes 225 Other factors 226 IV On Functional Structures: Binding, Predication, and Control 227 10 Basic Binding Theory 229 10.1 Basic concepts 229 10.2 A toy binding theory 231 10.3 Principle C 239 Further reading and discussion 246 10.4 Formalization of the binding constraints 247 11 Types of Bound Anaphors 254 11.1 Dimensions of anaphoric binding 254 11.2 Icelandic: subjective and anti-subjective pronouns 256 11.3 Norwegian: subjective/nuclear pronouns 259 11.4 Logophoricity versus subjectivity 261 Further reading and discussion 273 11.5 The typology of reflexives and the origins of nuclearity 275 Further reading and discussion 283 11.6 Formalization 284 12 Predication Relations 286 12.1 Predicate complements versus adjuncts 286 12.2 F-structures of xcomps 289 Exercise 1 295 Exercise 2 295 12.3 F-structure of PP complements 295 12.4 C-structure of predicate complements 301 12.5 Raising 304 Further reading and discussion 307 13 Anaphoric Control 309 13.1 Gerundive versus participial VPs in English 309 13.2 Structure of gerundive VPs 311 13.3 Anaphoric control versus functional control 319 13.4 Conclusion 323 Problems 323 Further reading and discussion 323 14 From Argument Structure to Functional Structure 324 14.1 What is argument structure? 326 14.2 The theory of a-structures 329 14.3 Mapping a-structures to syntactic functions 333 14.4 Examples and consequences 334 14.4.1 Unaccusatives 334 14.4.2 Resultatives 336 14.4.3 Fake reflexives and nonsubcategorized objects 336 14.4.4 Word order of internal/external arguments 337 14.4.5 Ditransitives 337 14.4.6 Interactions of passive and raising 340 14.4.7 Morphology that adds or suppresses a-structure roles 341 Problems 344 Further reading and discussion 344 Problem Sets and Solutions 349 Problem Set 1 351 Problem Set 2 354 Problem Set 3 370 Problem Set 4 375 Problem Set 5 391 Problem Set 6 417 Solutions to Selected Problems 436 References for the Problems 461 References 464 Language Index 501 Subject Index 503
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Joan Bresnan is Sadie Dernham Patek Professor in Humanities Emerita at Stanford University and a Senior Researcher at Stanford's Center for the Study of Language and Information. One of the principal architects of lexical-functional grammar, Bresnan is a former President of the Linguistic Society of America, an inaugural Fellow of the LSA, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, a Fellow of the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, and a Guggenheim Fellow. Ash Asudeh is University Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Oxford, Hugh Price Fellow at Jesus College, and Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at Carleton University. He is a recipient of an Early Researcher Award from the Province of Ontario and the E.W. Beth Prize. He is the author of The Logic of Pronominal Resumption (2012). Ida Toivonen is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Carleton University. She has published on phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics; and is the author of Non-Projecting Words (2001), and co-editor of Saami Linguistics (2007). Stephen Wechsler is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas. He is the author of The Semantic Basis of Argument Structure (1995), and co-author of The Many Faces of Agreement (2003).
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