LINGUIST List 25.1089
Tue
Mar 04 2014
Diss: Germanic,
Semantics, Syntax: Ioannidou: 'The Syntax of
Non-verbal Causation ...'
Editor for this issue:
Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org>
Date: 02-Mar-2014
From: Alexandra Ioannidou
<alexandra.ioannidou
soran.edu.iq>
Subject: The Syntax of
Non-verbal Causation: The causative apomorphy
of 'from' in Greek and Germanic languages
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Institution: CUNY Graduate Center
Program: Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2012
Author: Alexandra Ioannidou
Dissertation Title: The Syntax of Non-verbal
Causation: The causative apomorphy of 'from' in
Greek and Germanic languages
Linguistic Field(s): Semantics
Syntax
Language Family(ies): Germanic
Dissertation Director:
Marcel den Dikken
Thomas Leu
Christina Tortora
William McClure
Dissertation Abstract:
This is a study of the meaning and syntax of
non-(lexical)verbal causation.
Macroscopically, it examines the preposition
'from' as attested in contexts
like 'X is/comes from Y'. Syntactic diagnostics
are applied to formally
distinguish the causative from the spatial
interpretations of 'from'-PPs in
Greek, English, Dutch, and German. The
syntactic landscape of causative
'from' will turn out to be very minimal with
'from' directly selecting the
Cause-DP, in contradistinction to its spatial
counterpart, where 'from'
always selects for another PP layer. More
microscopically then I focus on
the causative interpretations only, which are
particularly revealing
because (i) they give an in-depth view of
CAUSE, stripped of all verbal
layers⎯traditionally considered the locus of
CAUSE⎯suggesting that the
source of causation in non-(lexical)verbal
environments has to be the
preposition per se and (ii) they
single-handedly provide a rudimentary
structure for causation, where 'from'
introduces the Cause in its
complement and is predicated of the Causee.
Finally, with a basic
predicational structure in place, I offer a
detailed cross-linguistic
account for the syntactic mechanism that forces
the use of particle verbs
in causative 'from'-less environments.
Page Updated: 04-Mar-2014