LINGUIST List 13.2714

Mon Oct 21 2002

Books: Syntax: Steinbach

Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. paul, Middle Voice: Steinbach

			
Title: Middle Voice
Subtitle: A comparative study in the syntax-semantics interface of
 German
Series Title: Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 50
			
Publication Year: 2002
Publisher: John Benjamins 
 http://www.benjamins.com/
	 http://www.benjamins.nl		 
 
Author: Markus Steinbach 

Hardback: ISBN: 9027227713, Pages: xii, 340 pp., Price: USD 99.00
Hardback: ISBN: 1588111946, Pages: xii, 340 pp., Price: EUR 110.00
			
Abstract:

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.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 
List of abbreviations 
1. Introduction 
2. Middle constructions and middle voice 
3. Lexical and syntactic approaches to middle formation 
4. The syntax of transitive reflexive sentences 
5. The interpretation of reflexive pronouns in German 
6. Suppressed arguments and dative objects 
7. Middle constructions revisited 
8. Conclusion 
References 
Subject index

Lingfield(s): General Linguistics, Syntax
			 
Subject Language(s): German, Standard (Language code: GER)

Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)