Word grammar and the semantics of compound nouns.

This investigation is a mentalistic inquiry into the study of semantic structure for compound nouns in English. The phenomenon of compounding entails competence in both semantic and pragmatic aspects of knowledge. These two aspects of language are generally described by separate grammatical models with the result that traditional analyses have been unable to provide a descriptively adequate account of the meanings of English compound nouns. This inquiry adopts the grammatical model of Word Grammar which incorporates a systematic representation of grammatical competence within a model of performance. The underlying hypothesis of this model is that all prepositional content of language is organised in relation to the word. Therefore, no unit larger than the word itself is required to describe the production and comprehension of compound constituency. The inclusion of pragmatic competence into the framework introduces an indeterminate feature in terms of experiential knowledge but this is offset by knowledge of the word as a common denominator with which all knowledge is projected. It is shown that Word Grammar's mentalistic framework provides an observationally adequate description of speaker competence for the meanings of compound nouns and an alternative approach that offers a credible description of the interrelation between semantic and pragmatic knowledge exploited in the comprehension of compound noun meaning

Topics in diachronic English syntax.

Abstract not availabl

The infinitive and the gerund-participle as complements of verbs of risk

Ce mémoire, puisant à même certains principes de la linguistique cognitive et de la psychomécanique du langage, porte sur la complémentation verbale de l'anglais avec l'infinitif et le gérondif. Par l'entremise d'un corpus de données attestées, nous expliquons les divers effets de sens et les principes qui sous-tendent l'usage des structures 'verbe principal + complément' avec l'infinitif et le gérondif comme compléments de verbes comportant une idée de risque, soit risk, venture, adventure, hazard, chance, dare, face, jeopardize, endanger et imperil. Plus particulièrement, les problèmes de temporalité et de contrôle sont examinés. Trois paramètres permettent d'expliquer les effets de sens 'et le contraste entre les structures à l'étude : 1) le sens grammatical du complément, 2) sa fonction en relation avec le verbe principal, et 3) le sens lexical du verbe principal. L'analyse des deux premiers paramètres est fondée sur les hypothèses proposées par Duffley (2000 ; 2006)

Indefinite pronouns

This book is a comprehensive cross-linguistic study of indefinite pronouns ('someone', 'anything', 'nobody') in the world's languages. The PDF file deposited here is the manuscript version submitted to the publisher. The final published book is available in open access at http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198235606.001.0001/oso-9780198235606