Verbs and Diachronic Syntax

A Comparative History of English and French

By: I.G. Roberts

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Hardcover | 31 December 1992

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392 Pages

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25.4 x 16.51 x 3.18

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This book analyses the development of a number of English and French constructions involving various kinds of subject-verb inversion. The analysis is framed in terms of the principles-and-parameters approach to syntactic theory, and provides strong support for the adoption of this approach in the description and explanation of language change.
The book falls into three parts. The first presents an overall framework for the analysis of inversion constructions and motivates, on the basis of synchronic data, several parameters which distinguish among the various Romance and Germanic languages. The second part shows how several near-simultaneous syntactic changes in the history of French can be explained as a change in one of the parameters introduced in Chapter One. A notable aspect of this analysis is the way in which the distribution of null subjects is shown to relate to verb-placement. The third part of the book treats verb-movement in the history of English, arguing in detail that the attested changes in this area are due to a change in the internal structure of `Infl', a proposal which has important ramifications for the theory of functional heads. Throughout the book, emphasis is placed on the theoretical questions raised by language change. In this connection the two notions of diachronic reanalysis and parametric change are distinguished.
Verbs and Diachronic Syntax will interest all theoretical linguists as well as specialists in the history of English, history of French, Germanic philology and Romance philology.

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Non-Fiction Language & Linguistics Language Learning & Teaching Language Teaching & Learning Material & Coursework Grammar, Vocabulary & Pronunciation Reference, Dictionaries & Guides Linguistics Historical & Comparative Linguistics Grammar, Syntax & Morphology Philosophy of Language

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Paperback

Published: 31st December 1993

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Preface
The Analysis of Inversion
Inversion and X-bar Theory	p. 8
Inversion and Case Theory	p. 17
Inversion and Incorporation	p. 29
The Paradigm Case: Verb Second	p. 52
Complex Inversion	p. 64
The History of French Interrogatives
Inversion and Interrogatives in Old French	p. 87
Pronominal Subjects in OF	p. 110
Developments in Middle French	p. 142
The Sixteenth Century and After	p. 187
The English Auxiliary System
Verb-raising and the Status of Agr	p. 246
Do-Insertion	p. 274
Modals	p. 309
Conclusion: the Loss of V2 in English	p. 326
Appendix	p. 341
References	p. 343
Index of Names	p. 355
Index of Subjects	p. 359
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Verbs and Diachronic Syntax

A Comparative History of English and French

At a Glance

Hardcover

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

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