Studies in Relational Grammar 1

Abstract

This collection of nine original syntactic studies carried out within the framework for syntactic theory and description known as Relational Grammar provides a state-of-the-art survey of this and allied fields. In relational theory, grammatical relations such as subject, direct object, and predicate are taken to be theoretical primitives which permit the definition of formal objects called Arcs, the fundamental building blocks of syntactic structures. Edited by Paul M. Postal and Brian D. Joseph, this volume is the third in a series highlighting work in Relational Grammar. It extends the foundational studies of the first two volumes to refine and modify the insights, analyses, and theoretical devices developed in earlier connections, while at the same time providing support for some of the earlier constructs and claims. Of the nine papers, four treat various aspects of advancements to and demotions from indirect object; three deal with raising and clause union constructions, in which initial immediate constituents of one structure are nonimmediate constituents of another; and two are concerned with problems in the description and formalization of verbal agreement systems. The nine articles cover languages ranging from Chamorro to English, French, Georgian, Greek, Japanese, Kek'chi, Korean, Southern Tiwa, Spanish, and Tzotzil.