LINGUIST List 15.989

Wed Mar 24 2004

Books: Semantics: Chung, Ladusaw

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. dgw, Restriction and Saturation: Chung, Ladusaw

 


Title: Restriction and Saturation
Series Title: Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 

Publication Year: 2004
Publisher:	MIT Press
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/ 

Book URL: http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/FL20030262033135

Author: Sandra Chung, University of California, Santa Cruz
Author: William A. Ladusaw, University of California, Santa Cruz 

Paperback: ISBN: 0262532549, Pages: 192, Price: U.S. $ 22 

			
Abstract:

With this study of Maori and Chamorro, Sandra Chung and William
Ladusaw make a valuable contribution to the growing literature on the
formal semantic analysis of non-Indo-European languages. Their
ultimate focus is on how the study of these Austronesian languages can
illuminate the alternatives for semantic interpretation and their
interaction with syntactic structure. Revisiting the analysis of
indefiniteness in terms of restricted free variables, they claim that
some varieties of indefinites are better analyzed by taking
restriction and saturation to be fundamental semantic operations.

Chapters examine the general topic of modes of composition (including
predicate restriction and syntactic versus semantic saturation), types
of indefinite determiners in Maori, and object incorporation in
Chamorro (including discussions of the extra object and restriction
without saturation). The authors' goal is that the two case studies
they offer, and their larger focus on modes of composition, will
contribute to a broader account of the interaction of form, position,
and semantic interpretation.

"This book is a gem. It is clearly written, extraordinarily well
researched; the argumentation is crisp, to the point, and highly
convincing. Restriction and Saturation is sure to open new doors in
the understanding of how syntax, morphology, and semantics interact in
a theory of grammar."
- Greg Carlson, University of Rochester 


Lingfield(s):	Semantics
		
Written In:	English (Language Code: ENG) 


 See this book announcement on our website: 
 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=9471.