The first attempt at a restrictive theory of the linear order of sentences and phrases of the world's languages, by one of the founders of cartographic syntax.Linearization, or the typical sequence ...of words in a sentence, varies tremendously from language to language. Why, for example, does the English phrase “a white table” need a different word order from the French phrase “une table blanche,” even though both refer to the same object? Guglielmo Cinque challenges the current understanding of word order variation, which assumes that word order can be dealt with simply by putting a head either before or after its complements and modifiers. The subtle variations in word order, he says, can provide a window into understanding the deeper structure of language and are in need of a sophisticated explanation.The bewildering variation in word order among the languages of the world, says Cinque, should not dissuade us from researching what, if anything, determines which orders are possible (and attested/attestable) and which orders are impossible (and not attested/nonattestable), both when they maximally conform to the “head-final” or “head-initial” types and when they depart from them to varying degrees. His aim is to develop a restrictive theory of word order variation—not just a way to derive the ideal head-initial and head-final word orders but also the mixed cases.In the absence of an explicit theory of linearization, Cinque provides a general approach to derive linear order from a hierarchical arrangement of constituents, specifically, by assuming a restrictive movement analysis that creates structures that can then be linearized by Richard S. Kayne's Linear Correspondence Axiom.
Of the 24 mathematically possible orders of the four elements demonstrative, numeral, adjective, and noun, only 14 appear to be attested in the languages of the world. Some of these are unexpected ...under Greenberg's Universal 20. Here it is proposed that the actually attested orders, and none of the unattested ones, are derivable from a single, universal, order of Merge (Dem > Num > Adj > N) and from independent conditions on phrasal movement.
Guglielmo Cinque is an emeritus professor at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. He is one of the leading figures in generative syntax, and the most prominent representative of generative syntactic ...typology. He is one of the founders of the cartographic enterprise. His publications include Typological Studies. Word Order and Relative Clauses (2013, Routledge), The Syntax of Adjectives. A Comparative Study (2010, MIT Press), Restructuring and Functional Heads. The Cartography of Syntactic Structures (2006, OUP), Adverbs and Functional Heads. A Cross-Linguistic Perspective (1999, OUP), Italian Syntax and Universal Grammar (1995, CUP), Types of Ā-dependencies (1990, MIT Press). He has published extensively on every aspect of Italian syntax and syntax in general.
This paper discusses the ambiguity of the Bulgarian quantity word mnogo and argues that it is not an intensifier stricto sensu, although it can also have such a usage. Comparing mnogo with its ...Italian counterparts troppo, tanto, and molto, we show that it corresponds more precisely to Italian tanto (English much), which can be modified by overt intensifiers like cosi (cosi tanto) or silent ones like molto/troppo (tanto), etc. (cf. English so/ very /too much). However, mnogo can also function as an intensifier, much like Italian molto and English much: toj njama mnogo pari; non ha molti soldi; he doesn't have much money. As to its interpretation as troppo, we argue that mnogo is modified by the silent degree modifier tvarde, as in: tvarde mnogo. Keywords Quantity Word; Intensifier; Degree Modifier; Bulgarian; Italian; English; Slavic.
Non-restrictive (or appositive) relative clauses can either belong to sentence grammar (integrated non-restrictive relatives) or to the grammar of discourse (non-integrated non-restrictive ...relatives). Italian has both constructions (the former employs che and cui relative pronouns, while the latter employs the il quale paradigm, with distinct properties). The evidence discussed in the present article induces one to analyse the non-restrictive relatives of Standard (non colloquial) Romanian as belonging to the grammar of discourse.
If cross-linguistic word order variation is a function of the movement of the head of each (sub)projection of an extended projection (in one of the possible ways movement can take place: with or ...without pied piping) there will be novel evidence for the correct constituencies of the clause and its major phrases. Here I will try to illustrate this by looking at two specific sub-projections of the nominal extended projection in a number of Romance languages: the sub-projection of locative adverbs and elevation and exteriority/interiority particles, and the sub-projection containing ‘other’, and ordinal and cardinal numerals.
La frase relativa è una frase subordinata che contiene necessariamente un nominale identico ad un nominale della frase superordinata (ad esempio, in una frase come Ho perso un libro che mi avevi ...prestato il complemento oggetto di prestato è necessariamente interpretato come ‘un libro’, nominale identico alla ‘testa’ della relativa, e cancellato). Ove questa condizione non sia rispettata perché il complemento oggetto di prestato è occupato da un nominale diverso, come in Ho perso un libro che mi avevi prestato una penna, la frase che ne risulta è inaccettabile (agrammaticale).
The Romance Inter-Views are short, multiple Q&A pairs that address key issues, definitions and ideas regarding Romance linguistics. Prominent exponents of different approaches to the study of Romance ...linguistics are asked to answer some general questions from their viewpoint. The answers are then assembled so that readers can get a comparative picture of what’s going on in the field.
After the first Inter-Views focused on (morpho)syntax more generally, the second Inter-Views focus more narrowly on Cartography. We invited six syntacticians, working on this topic from a variety of perspectives, to answer our questions.
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