A synchronic and diachronic study of phase theory and the structure of predication

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00644
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Yokogoshi Azusa 名古屋工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (80508391)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 叙述 / 通時的変化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Under the basic assumption that predication is always established by a functional category that selects a subject and a predicate as its specifier and complement, respectively, I proposed structures for several types of predication relations by examining them from syntactic and semantic perspectives on the basis of Bower's (1993) PrP analysis, which claims that properties shared among various constructions involving predication are reduced to the existence of the specific category Pr. In addition to small clauses, I conducted diachronic and synchronic studies on secondary predication constructions under the current minimalist theory and proposed syntactic structures that embody the conclusion that they constitute phases. Though surveys of historical facts, I also provided additional evidence for the hypothesis that small clauses changed from lexical to functional categories in the history of English, as I had been claiming in my previous studies.

Free Research Field

統語論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Chomsky (2000)以降、統語構造の派生は位相と呼ばれる範疇を単位として進められるという見解が広く受け入れられており、主語を備えて叙述関係を確立し、命題を構成するPrPが位相を形成すると考えられている。そこに見られる言語現象に妥当な分析を与えることは、言語理論全体の発展に対しても大きく寄与する。本研究は、共時的なデータに加え、叙述関係がどのような歴史的変化を経ながら保持されているのか歴史的コーパスを検証しながら分析を行う。位相理論の見地からは今まで余り注目されてこなかった観点からのデータ採取も行うことになり、それ自体もまた、理論研究にとって貴重な貢献をなすものであると考える。