LINGUIST List 22.39 Tue Jan 04 2011 Books: Syntax: Postal Editor for this issue: Fatemeh Abdollahi <fatemehlinguistlist.org> Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers are available at the end of this issue. Directory         1.     David Weininger , Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: Postal Message 1: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: Postal Date: 20-Dec-2010 From: David Weininger <dgwmit.edu> Subject: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: Postal E-mail this message to a friend Title: Edge-Based Clausal Syntax Subtitle: A Study of (Mostly) English Object Structure Published: 2011 Publisher: MIT Press                 http://mitpress.mit.edu/ Book URL: http://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262512756 Author: Paul M. Postal Hardback: ISBN: 0262014815 9780262014816 Pages: 488 Price: U.S. $ 70 Paperback: ISBN: 0262512750 9780262512756 Pages: 488 Price: U.S. $ 35 Abstract: In "Edge-Based Clausal Syntax", Paul Postal rejects the notion that an English phrase of the form [V + DP] invariably involves a grammatical relation properly characterized as a direct object. He argues instead that at least three distinct relations occur in such a structure. The different syntactic properties of these three kinds of objects are shown by how they behave in passives, middles, -able forms, tough movement, wh-movement, Heavy NP Shift, Ride Node Raising, re-prefixation, and many other tests. This proposal renders Postal's position sharply different from that of Chomsky, who defined a direct object structurally as [NP, VP], and with the traditional linguistics text's definition of the direct object as the DP sister of V. According to Postal's framework, sentence structures are complex graph structures built on nodes (vertices) and edges (arcs). The node that heads a particular edge represents a constituent that bears the grammatical relation named by the edge label to its tail node. This approach allows two DPs that have very different grammatical properties to occupy what looks like identical structural positions. The contrasting behaviors of direct objects, which at first seem anomalous--even grammatically chaotic--emerge in Postal's account as nonanomalous, as symptoms of hitherto ungrasped structural regularity. Linguistic Field(s): Syntax Written In: English (eng ) See this book announcement on our website: http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=52306 Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue -------------------------- Major Supporters -------------------------- ---------------------- Other Supporting Publishers ---------------------- Page Updated: 04-Jan-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.