Abstract
This article provides an overview of the various means that languages use to represent interpretive dependencies and reflexive predicates. These means are exemplified on the basis of a broad variety of languages. The patterns are prima facie complex, involving semireflexives, full reflexives, and affixal reflexives. Yet they can be accounted for on the basis of the morphosyntactic properties of the elements involved, together with the way these elements interact with a number of universal principles and the syntactic environment. The central principles involved are (a) a principle restricting chain formation by Agree and (b) a general principle applying to reflexive predicates that requires them to be licensed, either through the addition of structural complexity for protection or through a lexical bundling operation, governed by (c) an economy principle. Although I conclude that there is no unified notion of what a reflexive is, reflexives do have a shared core, namely their role in the licensing of reflexivity.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
