Lexical-Functional Syntax, 2nd Edition, the definitive text for Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) with a focus on syntax, is updated to reflect recent developments in the field.
- Provides both an introduction to LFG and a synthesis of major theoretical developments in lexical-functional syntax over the past few decades
- Includes in-depth discussions of a large number of syntactic phenomena from typologically diverse languages
- Features extensive problem sets and solutions in each chapter to aid in self-study
- Incorporates reader feedback from the 1st Edition to correct errors and enhance clarity
Table of Contents:
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 Chichewˆ 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
About the Author :
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).
