Verb First
On the syntax of verb-initial languages
Editors
This collection of papers brings together the most recent crosslinguistic research on the syntax of verb-initial languages. Authors with a variety of theoretical perspectives pursue the questions of how verb-initial order is derived, and how these derivations play into the characteristic syntax of these languages. Major themes in the volume include the role of syntactic category in languages with verb-initial order; the different mechanisms of deriving V-initial order; and the universal correlates of the order. This book should be of interest to scholars who work on theoretical approaches to word order derivation, typologists, and those who work on the particular grammars of Celtic, Zapotec, Mixtec, Polynesian, Austronesian, Mayan, Salish, Aboriginal, and Nilotic languages.
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 73] 2005. xiv, 431 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Contributors | p. vii
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Acknowledgments | p. ix
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Abbreviations | p. xi
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Introduction: When verbs come firstAndrew Carnie, Sheila Ann Dooley and Heidi Harley | pp. 1–5
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Part I. VP movement vs Head-movement
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What fronts? On the VP-raising account of verb-initial orderSandra Chung | pp. 9–29
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Coordination and constituency in St’át’imcets (Lillooet Salish)Henry Davis | pp. 31–64
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Two derivations of VSO: A comparative study of Niuean and TonganYuko Otsuka | pp. 65–90
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Force first: Clause-fronting and clause typing in San Lucas Quiaviní ZapotecFelicia Lee | pp. 91–106
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V1 and wh-questions: a typologyKenji Oda | pp. 107–133
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Preverbal particles in verb-initial languagesDirk Bury | pp. 135–154
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A note on predicates and heads in Irish clausal syntaxJames McCloskey | pp. 155–174
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Seediq: Antisymmetry and final particles in a Formosan VOS languageArthur Holmer | pp. 175–201
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VP-internal structure in a VOS languageLisa deMena Travis | pp. 203–224
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Part II. Categories, Information Structure, and Prosodic factors
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Lexical categories, lack of inflection, and predicate-fronting in NiueanDiane Massam | pp. 227–242
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Word order without syntactic categories: How Riau Indonesian does itDavid Gil | pp. 243–263
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Nominal properties of vPs in Breton: A hypothesis for the typology of VSO languagesMélanie Jouitteau | pp. 265–280
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On the parallelism of DPs and clauses: Evidence from Kisongo MaasaiHilda Koopman | pp. 281–301
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Ordering clitics and postverbal R-expressions in Tagalog: a unified analysis?Loren Billings | pp. 303–339
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The syntax of Chalcatongo Mixtec: Preverbal and postverbalMonica Macaulay | pp. 341–366
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Accounting for verb-initial order in an Australian languageMary Laughren, Robert Pensalfini and Tom Mylne | pp. 367–401
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Index | pp. 427–431
“This books presents valuable insights into the syntax of a variety of verb-initial languages and as such is a great contribution to our understanding of syntax. Accounting for word order across languages is one of the main goals of syntactic theory, yet it is the word order problems that often present the toughest challenges for syntacticians. The research represented in this book goes a long way in elucidating the issues related to a particular subset of word orders, those where the verb comes first.
As such, this book not only provides an overview of the cutting-edge research on this subject, but also sets goals for future research.”
As such, this book not only provides an overview of the cutting-edge research on this subject, but also sets goals for future research.”
Asya Pereltsvaig, Cornell University, on Linguist List
16.2503, 2005
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publicationsMAKI, HIDEKI & D^|^Oacute;NALL P. ^|^Oacute; BAOILL2007. Deriving the Verb-Initial Order (A. Carnie, H. Harley and S. A. Dooley (eds.), Verb First: On the Syntax of Verb-Initial Languages). ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 24:2 ► pp. 485 ff. PEARSON, MATTHEW2022. Vera Lee-Schoenfeld & Dennis Ott (eds.), Parameters of predicate fronting (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. vii + 225.. Journal of Linguistics 58:3 ► pp. 690 ff. Sabbagh, Joseph2014. Word Order and Prosodic-Structure Constraints in Tagalog. Syntax 17:1 ► pp. 40 ff. This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 march 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General