Universal Semantic Syntax: A Semiotactic Approach

Syntactic theory has been dominated in the last decades by theories that disregard semantics in their approach to syntax. Presenting a truly semantic approach to syntax, this book takes as its primary starting point the idea that syntax deals with the relations between meanings expressed by form-meaning elements and that the same types of relations can be found cross-linguistically. The theory provides a way to formalize the syntactic relations between meanings so that each fragment of grammar can be analyzed in a clear-cut way. A comprehensive introduction into the theoretical concepts of the theory is provided, with analyzes of numerous examples in English and various other languages, European and non-European, to illustrate the concepts. The theory discussed will enable linguists to look for similarities between languages, while at the same time acknowledging important language specific features. INDICE: Part I. The Semiotactic Theory: 1. Basic theoretical principles; 2. Semiotactic relations and symbols; 3. Nexus: subject-predicate relation; 4. Valences; 5. Set expression 'SE'; 6. Nexus relation as entity (Bahuvrihi); 7. Negation; 8. The auxiliary verb 'do'; 9. Appositions; 10. Formal and syntactic sentences; 11. Abstraction; 12. The basic principles of the formalization; Part II. Application of the Theory: 1. Noun modifications; 2. Verb constructions; 3. Impersonal constructions; 4. Other constructions in non-European languages; 5. Word order and propositional contents; Conclusion: the syntactic theory from a semantic perspective.

• ISBN: 978-1-108-47680-5
• Editorial: Cambridge University Press
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 206
• Fecha Publicación: 09/05/2019
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés