Overview

One of the central issues in modern linguistics has been the relationship between syntax and semantics. Within the framework of generative grammar, established by Chomsky in the early 1960s, it has been assumed that syntax is distinct from, and independent of, semantics. This premise has been challenged recently by Chomsky himself; he now proposes semantics, and in particular thematic roles, as the basis for generating syntactic structures. Yael Ravin argues that thematic roles are not valid semantic entities, and that syntax and semantics are indeed autonomous and independent of one another. She advocates a Decompositional approach to lexical semantics, in the spirit of Katz's semantic theory. In the course of her argument she discusses theoretical issues such as indeterminacy and ambiguity, lexical configuration rules, and lexical projection, and analyses the semantic content of event concepts such as causation, action, and change.

Full Product Details

Author:   Yael Ravin (Research Staff Member, Research Staff Member, Thomas J. Watson Research Center of IBM, New York)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Clarendon Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.40cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.10cm
Weight:   0.446kg
ISBN:  

9780198248316

ISBN 10:   0198248318
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   06 September 1990
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

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Reviews

'Ravin's book is ... timely and important ... it addresses the yet bigger theoretical issue of the autonomy of the several components of the grammar, in particular the autonomy of semantic representation. Ravin is to be applauded for directly addressing this central, and often controversial matter.' Linguistics, Volume 28, 1992

'Ravin's book is ... timely and important ... it addresses the yet bigger theoretical issue of the autonomy of the several components of the grammar, in particular the autonomy of semantic representation. Ravin is to be applauded for directly addressing this central, and often controversial matter.' Linguistics, Volume 28, 1992

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