This book considers the syntax and semantics of non-verbal predicates (i.e., nominal, adjectival and prepositional predicates) in copular sentences. Isabelle Roy explores how a single structure for predication can account for the different interpretations of non-verbal predicates. The book departs from earlier studies by arguing in favor of a ternary distinction between defining / characterizing / situation-descriptive predicates rather than the more common stage-level/individual distinction. The distinction is based on two semantic criteria, namely maximality (i.e., whether the predicate describes an eventuality that has spatio-temporal properties or not) and density (i.e. whether the spatio-temporal properties are perceived as atomic or not). The author argues in favor of a strong correlation between the semantics properties of predicates and their internal syntactic structure. Her analysis accounts for seemingly unrelated cross-linguistic data: the indefinite article inFrench, the distribution of the two copulas 'ser'/'estar' in Spanish, and case marking on Russian predicates.
| ISBN | 9780199543540 |
| Autor(a) | Roy, Isabelle |
| Editora | Oxford University Press - USA |
| Ano de edição | 2013 |
| Páginas | 230 |
| Acabamento | Capa Dura |
| Dimensões | 23,60 X 16,00 |