Description
Syntactic theory has been dominated in the last decades by theories that disregard semantics in their approach to syntax. Presenting a truly semantic approach to syntax, this book takes as its primary starting point the idea that syntax deals with the relations between meanings expressed by form-meaning elements and that the same types of relations can be found cross-linguistically. The theory provides a way to formalize the syntactic relations between meanings so that each fragment of grammar can be analyzed in a clear-cut way. A comprehensive introduction into the theoretical concepts of the theory is provided, with analyzes of numerous examples in English and various other languages, European and non-European, to illustrate the concepts. The theory discussed will enable linguists to look for similarities between languages, while at the same time acknowledging important language specific features.
Table of Contents
Part I. The Semiotactic Theory: 1. Basic theoretical principles; 2. Semiotacti relations and symbols; 3. Sentences: nexus (subject-predicate relation); 4. Valences; 5. Set expression 'SE'; 6. Nexus relation as entity (Bahuvrihi); 7. Negation; 8. The auxiliary verb 'do'; 9. Appositions; 10. Formal and syntactic sentences; 11. Abstraction; 12. The basic principles of the formalization; Part II. Application of the Theory: 1. Noun Modifications; 2. Verb constructions; 3. Impersonal Constructions; 4. Other constructions in non-European languages; 5. Word order and propositional contents; Conclusion: the syntactic theory from a semantic perspective.
