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A theory of lexical functors : light heads in the lexicon and the syntax

This thesis advances a specific model of 1-syntax, based on Hale
and Keyser (1993, 1994) and Dechaine (1996) as a point of departure,
and also proposes a general theory of the relation between the lexicon
and the syntax. One of the essential proposals that I make is the
F\mctionalization Principle, which permits a lexical head to project a
functional projection if and only if the meaning of the head is
represented by 1-syntactic structure without any extra semantic features.
I refer to this type of head as a light head. The Functionalization
Principle leads us to a principled account of various lexical and
functional uses of lexical items such as a passive morpheme -en and
have.
Examples that support my analysis range from adjectival and
verbal passives (e.g. Mary is very pleased and The glass was broken by
BUI), to constructions of alienable and inalienable possession (e.g. John
has Jive bucks and John has blue eyes), to causative/experiential
constructions (e.g. John had his students walk out of class), and to perfect
constructions (e.g. Lucie has advised the prime minister). Furthermore,
the analysis of possessive have is extended to possessive nominals (e.g.
John's cat and John's eyes).
I also examine the implications of the theories of 1-syntax and 1-
functors for Case. I propose that 1-syntactic structure partly determines
inherent Case whereas the 1-functor checks what I call l-Junctor Case
through the Spec-head relation. Furthermore, I show that these analyses of inherent Case and 1-functors account for essential properties of
possessive D (a genitive marker -*s), some Hindi marked subject
constructions and Japanese experiential transitive constructions. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/8609
Date11 1900
CreatorsSuzuki, Takeru
Source SetsUniversity of British Columbia
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, Thesis/Dissertation
Format13960326 bytes, application/pdf
RightsFor non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

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