Middle voice : a comparative study in the syntax-semantics interface of German

This book offers a completely new analysis of the syntax and semantics of transitive reflexive sentences in German, which is embedded in the major phenomenon of the middle voice in Indo-European languages. It integrates the interpretation of non-argument reflexives into a modified version of recent...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Steinbach, Markus
Format: eBook Book
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam J. Benjamins 2002
John Benjamins Publishing Company
John Benjamins
Edition:1
Series:Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today
Subjects:
Generative linguistics
German language
German language > Semantics
German language > Syntax
German language > Verb
German language > Voice
Germanic linguistics
Grammar, Comparative and general
Grammar, Comparative and general > Middle voice
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
Middle voice
Semantics
Syntax
Verb
Voice
Germanic linguistics
Syntax
Generative linguistics
Semantics
ISBN:1588111946, 9027227713, 9789027227713, 9781588111944
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:This book offers a completely new analysis of the syntax and semantics of transitive reflexive sentences in German, which is embedded in the major phenomenon of the middle voice in Indo-European languages. It integrates the interpretation of non-argument reflexives into a modified version of recent theories of binding. The ambiguity of the reflexive pronoun is derived at the interface between syntax and semantics and does not rely on additional lexical or syntactic rules of argument suppression and argument promotion. This shift towards the semantic interpretation of syntactic arguments enables the author to offer a unified analysis of the middle, the anticausative and the reflexive interpretations. Furthermore, the crucial distinction between structural and oblique case forms is discussed and it is illustrated how specific properties of middle constructions such as adverbial modification or subject responsibility can be related to the generic interpretation of middle constructions.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-325) and index
ISBN:1588111946
9027227713
9789027227713
9781588111944
DOI:10.1075/la.50