Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns and Adjectives (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, Series Number 102)

For decades, generative linguistics has said little about the differences between verbs, nouns, and adjectives. This book seeks to fill this theoretical gap by presenting simple and substantive syntactic definitions of these three lexical categories. Mark C. Baker claims that the various superficial differences found in particular languages have a single underlying source which can be used to give better characterizations of these 'parts of speech'. These new definitions are supported by data from languages from every continent, including English, Italian, Japanese, Edo, Mohawk, Chichewa, Quechua, Choctaw, Nahuatl, Mapuche, and several Austronesian and Australian languages. Baker argues for a formal, syntax-oriented, and universal approach to the parts of speech, as opposed to the functionalist, semantic, and relativist approaches that have dominated the few previous works on this subject. This book will be welcomed by researchers and students of linguistics and by related cognitive scientists of language. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 12 1.1 A theoretical lacuna......Page 16 1.2 Unanswerable typological questions concerning categories......Page 18 1.3 Categories in other linguistic traditions......Page 26 1.4.1 Goals......Page 32 1.4.2 Background theoretical assumptions......Page 34 1.4.3 Outline of leading ideas......Page 35 2.1 Introduction......Page 38 2.2 Initial motivations......Page 39 2.3 The distribution of Pred......Page 49 2.4 Copular particles......Page 54 2.5 Inflection for tense......Page 61 2.6 Morphological causatives......Page 68 2.7 Word order differences......Page 75 2.8.1 Italian......Page 77 2.8.2 Mohawk......Page 85 2.8.3 Hebrew......Page 87 2.8.4 Japanese......Page 89 2.8.5 Conclusion......Page 91 2.9 Adjectives in the decomposition of verbs......Page 92 2.10 Are there languages without verbs?......Page 103 3.1 What is special about nouns?......Page 110 3.2 The criterion of identity......Page 116 3.3 Occurrence with quantifiers and determiners......Page 124 3.4 Nouns in binding and anaphora......Page 140 3.5 Nouns and movement......Page 147 3.6 Nouns as arguments......Page 157 3.7 Nouns must be related to argument positions......Page 168 3.8 Predicate nominals and verbalization......Page 174 3.9 Are nouns universal?......Page 184 3.9.1 Languages that putatively have no words that are ever nouns......Page 185 3.9.2 Languages that putatively have no words that are always nouns......Page 188 4.1 The essence of having no essence......Page 205 4.2.1 Framing the issues......Page 207 4.2.2 Explaining the basic restrictions......Page 210 4.2.3 Further consequences of the analysis......Page 215 4.2.4 On adjectives that are always or never used attributively......Page 220 4.3 Adjectives and degree heads......Page 227 4.4.1 The basic analysis......Page 234 4.4.2 Crosslinguistic variations......Page 241 4.5 Adjectives and adverbs......Page 245 4.6 Are adjectives universal?......Page 253 4.6.1 Are there languages with two kinds of adjectives?......Page 255 4.6.2 Are there languages that have nouns instead of adjectives?......Page 260 4.6.3 Are there languages with verbs instead of adjectives?......Page 264 5 Lexical categories and the nature of the grammar......Page 279 5.1 What has a category?......Page 280 5.2.1 Syntax, morphology, and the lexicon......Page 290 5.2.2 Syntax and semantics......Page 305 5.3 Why are the lexical categories universal?......Page 313 5.4 Final remarks......Page 316 A.1 Evidence that adpositions are functional......Page 318 A.2.1 PPs are adjuncts......Page 326 A.2.2 PPs are not predicates......Page 329 A.2.3 PPs are not arguments......Page 331 A.2.4 A fuller typology of categories......Page 339 References......Page 341 Index......Page 354 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations 12 1 The problem of the lexical categories 16 1.1 A theoretical lacuna 16 1.2 Unanswerable typological questions concerning categories 18 1.3 Categories in other linguistic traditions 26 1.4 Goals, methods, and outline of the current work 32 1.4.1 Goals 32 1.4.2 Background theoretical assumptions 34 1.4.3 Outline of leading ideas 35 2 Verbs as licensers of subjects 38 2.1 Introduction 38 2.2 Initial motivations 39 2.3 The distribution of Pred 49 2.4 Copular particles 54 2.5 Inflection for tense 61 2.6 Morphological causatives 68 2.7 Word order differences 75 2.8 Unaccusativity diagnostics 77 2.8.1 Italian 77 2.8.2 Mohawk 85 2.8.3 Hebrew 87 2.8.4 Japanese 89 2.8.5 Conclusion 91 2.9 Adjectives in the decomposition of verbs 92 2.10 Are there languages without verbs? 103 3 Nouns as bearers of a referential index 110 3.1 What is special about nouns? 110 3.2 The criterion of identity 116 3.3 Occurrence with quantifiers and determiners 124 3.4 Nouns in binding and anaphora 140 3.5 Nouns and movement 147 3.6 Nouns as arguments 157 3.7 Nouns must be related to argument positions 168 3.8 Predicate nominals and verbalization 174 3.9 Are nouns universal? 184 3.9.1 Languages that putatively have no words that are ever nouns 185 3.9.2 Languages that putatively have no words that are always nouns 188 4 Adjectives as neither nouns nor verbs 205 4.1 The essence of having no essence 205 4.2 Attributive modification 207 4.2.1 Framing the issues 207 4.2.2 Explaining the basic restrictions 210 4.2.3 Further consequences of the analysis 215 4.2.4 On adjectives that are always or never used attributively 220 4.3 Adjectives and degree heads 227 4.4 Resultative secondary predication 234 4.4.1 The basic analysis 234 4.4.2 Crosslinguistic variations 241 4.5 Adjectives and adverbs 245 4.6 Are adjectives universal? 253 4.6.1 Are there languages with two kinds of adjectives? 255 4.6.2 Are there languages that have nouns instead of adjectives? 260 4.6.3 Are there languages with verbs instead of adjectives? 264 5 Lexical categories and the nature of the grammar 279 5.1 What has a category? 280 5.2 Categories and the architecture of the grammar 290 5.2.1 Syntax, morphology, and the lexicon 290 5.2.2 Syntax and semantics 305 5.3 Why are the lexical categories universal? 313 5.4 Final remarks 316 Appendix: Adpositions as functional categories 318 A.1 Evidence that adpositions are functional 318 A.2 The place of adpositions in a typology of categories 326 A.2.1 PPs are adjuncts 326 A.2.2 PPs are not predicates 329 A.2.3 PPs are not arguments 331 A.2.4 A fuller typology of categories 339 References 341 Index 354

Mark C. Baker investigates the fundamental nature of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. He claims that the various superficial differences found in particular languages have a single underlying source which can be used to provide better definitions of these parts of speech. The new definitions are supported by data from languages from every continent. Baker's book argues for a formal, syntax-oriented, and universal approach to the parts of speech, as opposed to the functionalist, semantic, and relativist approaches that have dominated the subject.

Mark C. Baker investigates the fundamental nature of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. He claims that the various superficial differences that are found in particular languages have a single underlying source which can be used to give better definitions of these 'parts of speech'