Possessives in English An Exploration in Cognitive Grammar

by Taylor, John R.

• ISBN13: 9780198299820
• ISBN10: 0198299826
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The possessive morpheme in English occurs in a variety of constructions - prenominal possessives (the man's hat, the plane's arrival), postnominal possessives (a friend of mine), -ing nominalizations (without my saying so), and possessive compounds (a girls' school). What does this morphemeactually mean, what is its syntactic category, what is its semantic contribution to the expressions in which it occurs, and how can various restrictions on its use be accounted for? Dr Taylor proposes a unitary account of the possessive morpheme. He takes as his theoretical framework Cognitive Grammar, as developed over the past 15 years by Ronald Langacker and others. In the earlier chapters of the book he introduces and motivates the conceptual apparatus of the theory, and inlater chapters he develops a coherent account of the full range of possessive constructions in English. A special feature of the book is that it offers a wide-ranging critique of both traditional and more recent accounts of possessive expressions. Focusing particularly on Government and Binding theory, the author highlights the profound conceptual differences underlying the two theoretical approachesrepresented by GB and Cognitive Grammar, while also observing some points of convergence between them.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xii
Preliminaries	1	(20)
The Challenge of possessives	3	(12)
Possessive nominalizations	3	(2)
Semantic issues	5	(6)
The language specificity of the English prenominal possessive	11	(4)
The meaning of the prenominal possessive: a first sketch	15	(4)
Structure of the book	19	(2)
Theoretical Orientation	21	(37)
Cognitivism	21	(3)
The language faculty	24	(2)
Modularity	26	(2)
The modularity of the language faculty	28	(8)
Functionalism	36	(1)
Mental processing	37	(3)
The scope of semantics	40	(6)
Conventionality	46	(2)
Lexicalism and constructionism	48	(3)
Learnability	51	(7)
Some Basic Notions of Cognitive Grammar	58	(23)
Symbolic units	58	(3)
The symbolic thesis	61	(8)
The symbolic thesis: some further issues	69	(4)
Semantic representations	73	(8)
Syntax in Cognitive Grammar	81	(28)
Things and relations	81	(8)
Kinds of relation	89	(4)
Valence	93	(4)
Determiners	97	(5)
Case	102	(7)
The Constituent Structure of Prenominal Possessives	109	(37)
Some basic facts	109	(7)
POSS as a case marker	116	(10)
From genitive to possessive	126	(2)
POSS as a case marker: generative accounts	128	(4)
POSS as a relational predicate	132	(4)
POSS as a determiner	136	(10)
Prenominal Possessives: Some Generative Approaches	146	(38)
Chomsky's `Remarks on nominalization' (1970)	147	(4)
Constraints on possessive nominalizations	151	(6)
Explaining the constraints	157	(2)
Possessives and thematic roles	159	(6)
Safir (1987)	165	(4)
Giorgi and Longobardi (1991)	169	(4)
Aspectual accounts	173	(11)
Specificity and Definiteness of Prenominal Possessives	184	(21)
Kinds of reference	184	(3)
Definiteness and specificity of possessives	187	(8)
Generic possessors	194	(1)
Woisetschlaeger (1983)	195	(3)
Lyons (1985, 1986a)	198	(7)
Possessors as Topics	205	(31)
Reference points, topics, and possessors	205	(5)
The topicworthiness of possessor nominals	210	(11)
Discourse-conditioned topicality	211	(8)
Inherent topicality	219	(2)
Some consequences	221	(15)
The Affectedness and Experiencer Constraints	222	(5)
Control phenomena	227	(3)
Embedded possessives	230	(2)
Plural possessors	232	(1)
Possessives and relative clauses	233	(2)
Reversability of possessor and possessee	235	(1)
The Cue Validity of the Possessor	236	(29)
Cue validity	236	(2)
Relational nouns in possessives	238	(4)
Semantic structure of deverbal nouns	242	(3)
Informativity	245	(4)
Intrinsicness	249	(6)
Comparison with alternative accounts	255	(3)
Representational nouns	258	(3)
Possession and uniqueness	261	(4)
Ing-nominalizations	265	(22)
V-ing and nominalization	267	(6)
The `verbal' vs. `nominal' character of ing-nominalizations	270	(3)
Type A: the enemy's destroying of the city	273	(4)
Type B: the enemy's destroying the city	277	(4)
Type C: the enemy destroying the city	281	(6)
Possessive Compounds	287	(28)
Possessive compounds: a characterization	288	(6)
The fudging of possessives and compounds	294	(7)
Onomastic possessives	295	(2)
Indefinite and generic possessors	297	(3)
Status as NP or N	300	(1)
Possessive and non-possessive compounds	301	(11)
Syntactic constructions as prototype categories	312	(3)
Other Possessive Constructions	315	(24)
The pronominal possessive	316	(4)
The predicative possessive	320	(7)
The postnominal possessive	327	(12)
Possession	339	(13)
Possession	339	(4)
Prototype accounts of possessive relations	343	(5)
The subjectification of possession	348	(4)
References	352	(11)
Index of Names	363	(4)
Subject Index	367