Predication Theory: A Case Study for Indexing Theory

by Donna Jo Napoli

Overview

Napoli's study takes a refreshing look at the notions of argument and predicate. Recent discussions of predication with Government and Binding theory stress the configurational properties of the phrases involved, and Napoli argues that this has led to proposals for more and more elaborate syntactic structures that still fail to give genuinely explanatory accounts. She presents a convincing case for the idea of predicate as a semantic primitive that cannot be defined simply by looking at the lexicon or simply at semantic structure, and offers a theory of predication where the key to the subject-predicate relationship is theta role assignment. Napoli then offers principles for the coindexing of a predicate with its subject role player. The coindexing principles use Chomsky's 1986 notion of barriers, but this study argues that binding is sensitive to thematic structure rather than to configurational notions such as Government and C-Command. Napoli's approach successfully handles the data traditionally considered in discussions of predication, as well as constructions that are not generally treated in the literature. Although exemplification is from English and Italian, the conclusions apply to all configurational languages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521368209
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/11/1989
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Linguistics , #50
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.87(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Predicates and theta-role assignment; 2. The principles of predication coindexing; 3. Predication coindexing within NP in Italian; 4. Predication coindexing within NP in English; 5. A brief look at five more constructions; 6. An indexing theory encompassing anaphora and predication; References; Index of names; Index of subjects.