Chapter 7
Some aspects of dependency in Otto Jespersen’s structural syntax
This paper aims to challenge the assumption according to which
Otto Jespersen’s syntactic model represents an anticipation of the immediate
constituent analysis. In our opinion, there are elements that rather align
with a more dependency-oriented framework, as it is the case of Jespersen’s
notorious theory of three ranks (1913, 1921, 1937). This was
developed over more than twenty years and was meant to constitute the
necessary presupposition (and thus the theoretical base) for the very
distinction between junction and nexus,
grounding it on a pure functional base. Albeit not always consistently or
exhaustively fleshed out, the theory of three ranks
represents one of Jespersen’s most interesting ideas. The model will be
described in detail, focusing on the latest and more formalized version
given in Analytic Syntax
(1937), by discussing the notation adopted and checking if it
fits the five basic requirements for a dependency-based model, as per Mazziotta & Kahane (2017).
Finally, it will be shown how Jespersen’s model was taken over by Louis
Hjelmslev (1928), in order to develop a purely relations-oriented
morphosyntactic theory.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Basic structures
- 2.1Nexus and junction
- 2.2The functional model of ranks
- 2.2.1Objects
- 2.2.2Predicatives
- 2.2.3Verbs: Life-givers or trouble-makers?
- 3.Jespersen’s notation
- 3.1Connection-basedness
- 3.2Binarity
- 3.3Headedness
- 3.4Node-to-word mapping
- 3.5Flatness
- 4.A case of critical reinterpretation
- 5.Concluding remarks
-
Notes
-
References
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