The Semantics of Syntax: A Minimalist Approach to Grammar

by Denis Bouchard

Overview

During the last thirty years, most linguists and philosophers have assumed that meaning can be represented symbolically and that the mental processing of language involves the manipulation of symbols. Scholars have assembled strong evidence that there must be linguistic representations at several abstract levels—phonological, syntactic, and semantic—and that those representations are related by a describable system of rules. Because meaning is so complex, linguists often posit an equally complex relationship between semantic and other levels of grammar.

The Semantics of Syntax is an elegant and powerful analysis of the relationship between syntax and semantics. Noting that meaning is underdetermined by form even in simple cases, Denis Bouchard argues that it is impossible to build knowledge of the world into grammar and still have a describable grammar. He thus proposes simple semantic representations and simple rules to relate linguistic levels. Focusing on a class of French verbs, Bouchard shows how multiple senses can be accounted for by the assumption of a single abstract core meaning along with background information about how objects behave in the world. He demonstrates that this move simplifies the syntax at no cost to the descriptive power of the semantics. In two important final chapters, he examines the consequences of his approach for standard syntactic theories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226067339
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	12/01/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	540
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Pt. I: The Relationship between Form and Meaning
1: The Semantics of Syntax: Defining the Object of Inquiry
2: Selective Semantics and Syntactic Correspondence
Pt. II: Selective Semantics and the Lexicon
3: A Case Study of Six French Verbs
Pt. III: Selective Semantics and Syntax
4: Psych Verbs
5: Verb Movement
Afterword
Notes
References