Cogprints

A Bi-Polar Theory of Nominal and Clause Structure and Function

Ball, Dr. Jerry T. (2004) A Bi-Polar Theory of Nominal and Clause Structure and Function. [Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)] (Unpublished)

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
 PDF
235Kb

Abstract

It is taken as axiomatic that grammar encodes meaning. Two key dimensions of meaning that get grammatically encoded are referential meaning and relational meaning. The key claim is that, in English, these two dimensions of meaning are typically encoded in distinct grammatical poles—a referential pole and a relational pole—with a specifier functioning as the locus of the referential pole and a head functioning as the locus of the relational pole. Specifiers and heads combine to form referring expressions corresponding to the syntactic notion of a maximal projection. Lexical items and expressions functioning as modifiers are preferentially attracted to one pole or the other. If the head of an expression describes a relation, one or more complements may be associated with the head. The four grammatical functions specifier, head, modifier and complement are generally adequate to represent much of the basic structure and function of nominals and clauses. These terms are borrowed from X-Bar Theory, but they are motivated on semantic grounds having to do with their grammatical function to encode referential and relational meaning.

Item Type:Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)
Keywords:meaning grammar function structure refer relation head specifier modifier complement
Subjects:Linguistics > Semantics
Linguistics > Syntax
ID Code:4351
Deposited By: Ball, Dr. Jerry T.
Deposited On:14 May 2005
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:56

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Abney, S. (1987). The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect. PhD dissertation, MIT.

Abney, S. (1991). Parsing by Chunks. In Berwick, R., Abney, S. and Tenney, C. (eds.), Principle Based Parsing. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Anderson, J. R. (1983). The Architecture of Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ball, J. (2003). Toward a Semantics of X-Bar Theory. www.DoubleRTheory.com/SemanticsOfXBarTheory.pdf.

Ball, J. (1992). PM, Propositional Model, a Computational Psycholinguistic Model of Language Comprehension Based on a Relational Analysis of Written English. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Information Service.

Borsley, R. (2005). “Against ConjP”. Lingua, 115: 461-482.

Borsley, R. & Kornfilt, J. (2000). “Mixed Extended Projections.” In Syntax and Semantics, Volume 32, pp. 101-131, edited by R. Borsley. Academic Press, New York, NY.

Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, NY.

Cann, R. (1999). Specifiers as Secondary Heads. In Specifiers, Minimalist Approaches, edited by Adger, D. Pintzuk, S, Plunkett, B & Tsoulas, G. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

Chafe, W. (1970). Meaning and the Structure of Language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Cheng, L, and Sybesma, R. (1998). Interview with James McCawley, University of Chicago. Glot International 3:5, May 1998.

Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist Program. Ellis Horwood, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Chomsky, N. (1970). Remarks on Nominalization. In R. Jacobs & P. Rosembaum, eds., Readings in English Transformational Grammar. Ginn, Waltham, MA.

Clark, H. (1983). Making sense of nonce sense. In The Process of Language Understanding. Edited by G. Flores d’Arcais & R. Jarvella. John Wiley, New York, NY.

Croft, W. and Cruse, D. A. (2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Dixon, R. (1991). A New Approach to English Grammar, On Semantic Principles. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK.

Ericsson, K. and Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-Term Working Memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245.

Fillmore, C. (1977). Scenes-and-frames semantics. In Linguistic Structures Processing pp. 55-82. Edited by A. Zampolli. Holland: North Holland Publishing.

Fillmore, C. (1968). The case for case. In Universals in Linguistic Theory. Edited by E. Bach & R. Harms. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Givon, T. (1984). Syntax: a Functional-Typological Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Goldberg, A. (1995). A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Grootjen, F, Kamphuis, V. & Sarbo, J. (1999). Coordination and multi-relational modeling: ‘X and X’ revisited. In 6th conference annuelle sur le Traitement Automatique des Languages Naturelles, pp. 345-351. Cargese, Corse.

Hawkins, J. (1984). Modifier-Head or Function-Argument Relations in Phrase Structure. Lingua, 63, 107-138.

Hocket, C. (1958). A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: The MacMillan Company.

Hudson, R. (2000). Grammar without functional categories. In R. Borsley ed, The Nature and Function of Syntactic Categories. New York: Adademic Press.

Hudson, R. (1984). Word Grammar. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Jackendoff, R. (2002). Foundations of Language. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Jackendoff, R. (1983). Semantics and Cognition. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Jackendoff, R. (1977). X-Bar Syntax. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Kaup, B. and Zwann, R. (2003). Effects of Negation and Situational Presence on the Accessibility of Text Information. Journal of Experiment Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol 29, No. 3, pp. 439-446.

Kintsch, W. (1998). Comprehension, a Paradigm for C ognition. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Langacker, R. (1987). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Volume 1. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Langacker, R. (1991). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Volume 2, Descriptive Application. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Lyons, J. (1968). Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Malouf, R.. (2000). Verbal Gerunds as Mixed Categories in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. In Syntax and Semantics, Volume 32, pp. 133-165, edited by R. Borsley. Academic Press, New York, NY.

Pullum, G. (1991). English nominal gerunds as noun phrases with verb phrase heads. Linguistics 29, pp. 763-99.

Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, & J. Svartvik (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.

Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, & J. Svartvik (1972). A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: Longman

Steedman, (2000). The Syntactic Process. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Vols I and II. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Thomason, R., & R. Stalnaker (1973). A Semantic Theory of Adverbs. Linguistic Inquiry, 4, pp. 195-220.

Zwann, R., and Radvansky, G. (1998). Siutation models in language comprehension and memory. Psychological

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.