Syntax and Semantics of Split Constructions: A Comparative Study

Split constructions are widespread in natural languages. The separation of the semantic restriction of a quantifier from that quantifier is a typical example of such a construction. This study addresses the problem that such discontinuous strings exhibit—namely, a number of locality constraints, including intervention effects. These are shown to follow from the interaction of a minimalist syntax with a semantics that directly assigns a model-theoretic interpretation to syntactic logical forms. The approach is shown to have wide empirical coverage and a conceptual simplicity. The book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of syntax and semantics.

Butler (formal language games, U. of Amsterdam) and Mathieu (phonetics and linguistics, U. College, London) strive to provide a principled account of the intervention effects split constructions exhibit, arguing that all constructions sensitive to weak islands are really split constructions. Their analysis is posed in semantic terms, but does not obliterate the role of syntax, and they draw data from many languages to make the study comparative. They append the definitions of the predicate logic system used for the semantic account. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Alastair Butler is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Formal Language Games Research Group at the Institute for Logic, Language and Information, University of Amsterdam. Eric Mathieu is an affiliated Researcher in the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at University College, London.