LINGUIST List 22.5107 Mon Dec 19 2011 Diss: General Ling/Semantics/Syntax: Kluck: 'Sentence Amalgamation ...' Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Marlies Kluck , Sentence Amalgamation Message 1: Sentence Amalgamation Date: 16-Dec-2011 From: Marlies Kluck <m.e.kluckrug.nl> Subject: Sentence Amalgamation E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of Groningen Program: Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2011 Author: Marlies Kluck Dissertation Title: Sentence Amalgamation Dissertation URL: http://www.let.rug.nl/kluck/Kluck2011_dissertatie.pdf Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics                             Semantics                             Syntax Subject Language(s): Dutch (nld)                             English (eng)                             German (deu) Dissertation Director: Mark de Vries Henk van Riemsdijk Jack Hoeksema Jan Koster Jason Merchant Dissertation Abstract: This thesis sheds new light on an old puzzle in linguistics: the intriguing phenomenon of sentence amalgamation, where two clauses are intertwined and seem to revolve around a pivot constituent, the 'content kernel'. The clauses involved, the matrix and the 'interrupting' clause, are root clauses, which are syntactically opaque to each other. The content kernel itself, however, is mysterious in this regard: it appears to be accessible for the matrix as well as the interrupting clause, and the position of the interrupting clause in the matrix seems to depend on the category of the content kernel. I argue that the content kernel is in fact the remnant of sluicing, and A'-moves out of an ellipsis site in the interrupting clause. The apparent transparency of the content kernel then follows directly from reconstruction. This idea also accounts for a number of other well-attested properties of sluicing that resonate in amalgams: case matching, cross-linguistic variation related to preposition stranding and island-insensitivity. A detailed study of the interpretation of amalgams reveals that interrupting clauses can only express speaker-oriented content, which concerns precisely the missing matrix constituent. This is evidence for an analysis in terms of anchored parenthesis. Putting this together with the sluicing approach, the correspondence between the content kernel and its position in the matrix is ultimately derived via a general licensing condition for sluicing. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 19-Dec-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.