Predication Theory - Napoli, Donna Jo

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Résumé :
In this study Donna Jo Napoli takes a common-sense approach to the notions of argument and predicate. Discussions of predication within Government and Binding theory have stressed the configurational properties of the phrases involved, and Napoli argues that this has led to proposals for more and more elaborate syntactic structures that nevertheless fail to provide genuinely explanatory accounts. She presents a convincing case for viewing the notion of predicate as a semantic primitive which cannot be defined by looking simply at the lexicon or simply at the syntactic structure, and offers a theory or predication where the key to the subject-predicate relationship is theta-role assignment. The book then goes on to offer principles for the coindexing of a predicate with its subject role player. These coindexing principles make use of Chomsky's 1986 notion of barriers, but instead of being sensitive to configurational notions like c-command and governing category, Napoli argues that they are sensitive to thematic structure. In the final chapter of the book Napoli extends the principles for predication coindexing to anaphor binding, by introducing the notion of argument ladders....

Biographie:
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Sommaire:
Donna Jo Napoli is the acclaimed and award-winning author of many novels, both fantasies and contemporary stories. She won the Golden Kite Award forStones in Waterin 1997. Her novelZelwas named an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, aPublishers WeeklyBest Book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon, and aSchool Library JournalBest Book, and a number of her novels have been selected as ALA Best Books. She isa professor of linguisticsat Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband. Visit her at DonnaJoNapoli.com....