Beyond Coding and Control: Leakage, Categorization and Blocking in the Definition of the English Subject

Authors

  • Javier Martín Arista Universidad de La Rioja

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.199811016

Abstract

This paper offers a non-intuitive definition of the English subject by discussing Keenan's coding and control properties and by contending that leakage, blocking properties (co-referentiality, omission of the relative and question target) and categorization must also be taken into account in the definition of this grammatical function. The consideration of leakage and blocking properties allows for a cross-theoretical approach to this syntactic phenomenon that may modify Keenan's hierarchy of subject properties and the hierarchy of syntactic functions of Keenan and Comrie.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AARTS, F. and J. AARTS. 1988. English Syntactic Structures. 1982. Englewood Cliffs (NJ): Prentice Hall.

AKMAJIAN, A. and F. HENRY. 1975. An Introduction to the Principles of Transformational Grammar. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.

ANDREWS, A. 1985. “The Major Functions of the Noun Phrase.” In Shopen ed.; 62-154.

ARNOLD, D., et al., eds. 1990. Essays on Grammatical Theory and Universal Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BLAKE, B. 1994. Case. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

BLOOMFIELD, L. 1984. Language. 1933. Chicago: U of Chicago P.

BOLKESTEIN, A. M. 1979. “Subject-to-Object Raising in Latin?” Lingua 48: 15-34.

BRESNAN, J. 1982. “Control and Complementation.” In Bresnan (ed.): 282-390.

--. ed. 1982. The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations. Cambridge (MA): MIT.

CHOMSKY, N. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge (MA): MIT.

--. 1970. “Remarks on Nominalisation.” In Jacobs and Rosenbaum eds.: 184-221.

--. 1986. Lectures on Government and Binding. 1981. Dordrecht: Foris.

--. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.

CORBETT, G. 1991. Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

DIK, S. 1968. Coordination: Its Implications for the Theory of General Linguistics. Amsterdam: North Holland.

--. 1979. “Raising in a Functional Grammar.” Lingua 47: 119-140.

--. 1980. Studies in Functional Grammar. London and New York: Academic Press.

--. 1989. The Theory of Functional Grammar 1: The Structure of the Clause. Dordrecht: Foris.

DIXON, R. 1990. “Subject and Object in Universal Grammar.” In Arnold et al. eds.: 91-118.

--. 1994. Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

DOWNING, A. and P. LOCKE. 1992. A University Course in English Grammar. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International.

FAARLUND, J. T. 1988. “A typology of subjects.” In Hammond et al. 193-207.

FIRBAS, J. 1992. Functional Sentence Perspective in Written and Spoken Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

FOLEY, W. 1993. “The Conceptual Basis of Grammatical Relations.” In Foley, ed.: 131-174.

--. The Role of Theory in Language Description. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

FOLEY, W. and R. VAN VALIN. 1984. Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

GIVÓN, T. 1984/1990. Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction. 2 vols. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

--. 1993. English Grammar: A Function-Based Introductio. 2 vols. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

--. 1995. Functionalism and Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

GOLDBERG, A. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: U of Chicago P.

HAEGEMAN, L. 1995. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.

HALLIDAY, M. 1985. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.

HAMMOND, M., et al., eds. 1988. Studies in Syntactic Typology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

HANNAY, M. 1985. English Existentials in Functional Grammar. Dordrecht: Foris.

HUDDLESTON, R. 1976. An Introduction to English Transformational Syntax. London: Longman.

--. 1989. Introduction to the Grammar of English. 1984. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

HUMBOLDT, W. von 1988 (1836) On Language. 1836. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

JACOBS, R.A. and P.S. ROSENBAUM. 1970. English Transformational Grammar. Cambridge (MA): Ginn & Waltham,

KEENAN, E. L. 1975. “Some Universals of Passive in Relational Grammar.” Papers from the XIth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: University of Chicago, Chicago Linguistic Society.

--. 1976. “Towards a Universal Definition of Subject.” In Li, ed.: 303-333.

LAMBRECHT, K. 1994. Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

LANGACKER, R. 1991. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar II: Descriptive Application. Stanford (CA): Stanford UP.

--. 1976. Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press.

LI, Ch. and S. THOMPSON. 1976. “Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Language.” In Li, ed.: 457-489.

MARANTZ, A. P. 1984. On the Nature of Grammatical Relations. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.

MITHUN, M. 1991. “Motivation in the Emergence of Grammatical Categories.” In Traugott and Heine, eds.: 159-184.

MORAVCSIK, E. A. and J. R. WIRTH eds. 1980. Syntax and Semantics 13: Current Approaches to Syntax. New York: Academic Press.

MORENO CABRERA, J. C. 1991. Curso universitario de lingüística general 1: Teoría de la gramática y sintaxis general. Madrid: Síntesis.

NUYTS, J., A. M. BOLKESTEIN and C. VET eds. 1990. Layers and Levels of Representation in Language Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

PALMER, F. 1994. Grammatical Roles and Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

PERLMUTTER, D. 1980. “Relational Grammar.” In Moravcsik and Wirth, eds.: 195-229.

--. 1983. Studies in Relational Grammar 1. Chicago: U of Chicago P.

PERLMUTTER, D. and P. M. POSTAL. 1974. Linguistic Institute Lectures. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

--. 1983. “Some Proposed Laws of Basic Clause Structure.” In Perlmutter, ed.: 81-128.

QUIRK, R. et al. 1991. A Grammar of Contemporary English. 1972. London: Longman.

QUIRK, R., et al. 1994. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. 1985. London: Longman.

RADFORD, A. 1988. Transformational Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

--. 1997. Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

SAPIR, E. 1921. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

SCHACHTER, P. 1976. “The Subject in Philippine Languages.” In Li, ed.: 491-518.

SCHLESINGER, I. 1995. Cognitive Spaces. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

SHIBATANI, M. 1991. “Grammaticization of Topic into Subject.” In Traugott and Heine, eds.: 93-133.

SHOPEN, T., ed. 1985. Language Typology and Syntactic Description. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

SIEWIERSKA, A. 1991. Functional Grammar. London: Routledge.

TAYLOR, J. 1989. Linguistic Categorization. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

TRAUGOTT, E. C., and B. HEINE, eds. 1991. Approaches to Grammaticalization. 2 vols. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

VALIN, R. van 1990. “Layered Syntax in Role and Reference Grammar.” In Nuyts, Bolkestein and Vet, eds.: 193-231.

WIERZBICKA, A. 1988. The Semantics of Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Downloads

Published

1998-12-31

How to Cite

Javier Martín Arista. (1998). Beyond Coding and Control: Leakage, Categorization and Blocking in the Definition of the English Subject. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 19, 111–138. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.199811016

Issue

Section

ARTICLES: Language and linguistics