About the Book
The volume contains 18 contributions from senior and junior scholars covering core issues within the theoretical investigation of the architecture and the mechanisms of the faculty of language, with particular emphasis on the computational component. They all pursue a comparative approach, investigating and comparing different languages and dialects or comparing different modes of acquisition, as in Adriana Belletti’s work, to whom the volume is dedicated. The papers in the first part (by Chomsky, Rizzi, Bianchi & Chesi, Cinque, Costa, Calabrese) deal with theoretical issues such as labeling, the cartography of structures and the locality of derivations in a broad sense. The papers in the second part (by Haegeman & Lohndal, Delfitto & Fiorin, Cruschina, Lahousse, Di Domenico and Contemori, Dal Pozzo & Matteini) concentrate on the realization of structure relative to discourse, particularly on topic and focus positions in the vP periphery, and on referential dependencies. The third part collects papers (by Cardinaletti & Volpato, Friedmann, Yachini & Szterman, Snyder & Hyams, Hamann & Tuller, Cecchetto & Donati, Grewendorf & Poletto) that specifically target intervention effects in relative clauses as apparent in different structures, different languages, and different populations.
Table of Contents:
1. List of contributors; 2. Preface (by Haegeman, Liliane); 3. Introduction (by Di Domenico, Elisa); 4. PART I. The Architecture of the Computational Component; 5. Problems of projection: Extensions (by Chomsky, Noam); 6. Notes on labeling and subject positions* (by Rizzi, Luigi); 7. On a PP/DP asymmetry in extraction (by Bianchi, Valentina); 8. Augmentative, pejorative, diminutive and endearing heads in the extended nominal projection* (by Cinque, Guglielmo); 9. A note on parallels between agreement and intervention (by Costa, Joao); 10. Locality effects in Italian verbal morphology (by Calabrese, Andrea); 11. PART II. The Realization of Structure Relative to Discourse and Referential Dependencies: Focus, the vP periphery, and pronominal reference; 12. Be careful how you use the left periphery (by Haegeman, Liliane); 13. Exhaustivity operators and fronted focus in Italian (by Delfitto, Denis); 14. Some notes on clefting and fronting* (by Cruschina, Silvio); 15. A case of focal adverb preposing in French* (by Lahousse, Karen); 16. Transferring strategies and the nature of transfer* (by Di Domenico, Elisa); 17. Resolving pronominal anaphora in real-time: A comparison between Italian native and near-native speakers* (by Contemori, Carla); 18. PART III. Complex clauses in linguistic theory and acquisition: The role of intervention; 19. On the comprehension and production of passive sentences and relative clauses by Italian university students with dyslexia (by Cardinaletti, Anna); 20. Relatively easy relatives: Children with syntactic SLI avoid intervention (by Friedmann, Naama); 21. Intervention effects in the spontaneous production of relative clauses in (a)typical language development of French children and adolescents (by Hamann, Cornelia); 22. Minimality effects in children's passives (by Snyder, William); 23. Subject intervention in free relatives (by Cecchetto, Carlo); 24. Relative clauses in Cimbrian* (by Grewendorf, Gunther); 25. Index
Review :
This extremely inspiring and rich collection of papers should be on every linguist's desk. Grouped along themes that Adriana Belletti has studied in her 40-year career and thereby testifying to the breadth and span of her oeuvre, these 18 original chapters constitute, each and every one, outstanding contributions to linguistics, language acquisition and language pathology. The editors have succeeded in putting together a collection of articles which speak to each other and thus demonstrates the interdependence of the study of formal grammar and its psycholinguistic dimensions.
This volume is an impressive collection of articles by top linguists such as Chomsky, Rizzi and Cinque, who discuss various aspects of the architecture of syntax, by Haegeman, and others on the relationship between syntax and discourse, as well as by Cardinaletti, Tuller, Hyams and many others on language acquisition. Only a collection of essays of this quality could do proper justice to the impressive contribution by Andriana Belletti to theoretical linguistics over the past decades. Many of the articles contained in this book will turn out to play a central role in the respective sub fields in the near future and perusing the book will therefore be a duty as well as a feast for all colleagues and students active in the core sub fields of modern linguistics that are covered in this volume.
