Delia Bentley | The University of Manchester (original) (raw)
Papers by Delia Bentley
Linguistics, Nov 27, 2018
... 24 Nigel Vincent & Delia Bentley ions on past events/situations (18) as well as t... more ... 24 Nigel Vincent & Delia Bentley ions on past events/situations (18) as well as the so-called future in the past (FNP)(19 ... However, the introduction of a third term of comparison, namely Salvatore, a subject from Palermo who had previously been excluded because he does not ...
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, May 15, 2019
Glossa, Nov 6, 2018
It is a commonly held view that, in the absence of an overt locative or temporal phrase, broad fo... more It is a commonly held view that, in the absence of an overt locative or temporal phrase, broad focus subject inversion in Romance requires a null locative in preverbal position, thus being comparable to locative inversion (Benincà 1988 and subsequent work). The (in)compatibility of a number of verbs and verb classes with this construction, however, has not yet received a principled explanation. Analysing the event structure of the predicates that occur in bare broad focus subject inversion in Italian, we argue that this construction requires a covert Subject of Predication, and this requirement can be satisfied by a thematic goal argument of the verb or a non-thematic situational argument that is inferred when a bounded eventuality is predicated. We explain which predicates take which type of Subject of Predication, and we make falsifiable predictions on the relative compatibility of different verb classes with the construction under investigation. Our predictions are cogent in the null-subject SVO languages that allow broad focus in VS order and rule it out in VOS/VSO order (Leonetti 2017). With our study, we shed light on the lexical-semantic underpinnings of this restriction. Following Bianchi (1993) and Bianchi & Chesi (2014), we propose that this is a thetic construction, in which the postverbal DP remains in its first-merged thematic position. In our analysis, the silent Subject of Predication takes Cardinaletti's (2004) SubjP position, satisfying Rizzi's (2005) Subject Criterion.
De Gruyter eBooks, Sep 12, 2016
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, Oct 1, 2013
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2013
Following a tradition which is well established in the semantic literature, we use the term pivot... more Following a tradition which is well established in the semantic literature, we use the term pivot to refer to the noun phrase which, in English existentials, occurs in immediately post-copular position. The pivot can be followed by a coda, i.e., an addition, for example a locative phrase. The existential constructions of some languages also exhibit a putatively adverbial form, which can be etymologically locative. This is referred to here as the proform. Only the pivot is universally available, and obligatory, in existential constructions. The other components of the construction may not be present. In (2) we provide examples of existentials in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Observe that the Spanish existential copula exhibits a lexicalized postcopular proform (2d).
Presentational constructions, i.e., structures which introduce an event into the universe of disc... more Presentational constructions, i.e., structures which introduce an event into the universe of discourse, raise the question of what it means for a predication to be entirely new in information structural terms. While there is growing consensus that these constructions are not topicless, there is no agreement on how to analyse their topic. The Romance languages of Northern Italy have figured prominently in this debate because the presentational constructions of many such languages exhibit VS order and an etymologically locative clitic in subject clitic position. This clitic has been claimed to be a subject of predication in a syntactic subject position. Adducing primary compara-tive evidence from Milanese and Turinese, we discuss patterns of microvariation which suggest that the etymologically locative clitic need not be a syntactic subject and can mark an aboutness topic provided by the discourse situation alone. We propose a parallel-architecture, Role and Ref-erence Grammar, account whereby the microvariation under scrutiny is captured in terms of the interfaces that are involved in the parsing of utterances. This account considers discourse to be an independent module of grammar, which, alongside the semantic and syntactic modules, is directly involved in linguistic variation and change.
To be published in: Edward Gibson & Moshe Poliak (eds) From Fieldwork to Linguistic Theory: A Tribute to Dan Everett. Language Science Press., 2024
In this article we discuss corpus evidence from Italian which suggests that the causative alterna... more In this article we discuss corpus evidence from Italian which suggests that the causative alternation cannot be reduced to a single principle, be it semantic, syntactic or at the interface between these two levels of analysis. We argue that the boundaries of the causative alternation are established in grammar through (i) the acquisition of inchoative and causative logical structures, which are stored in the lexicon alongside non-templatic facets of meaning, (ii) general semantics-syntax mapping principles, which are subject to alignment variation, and (iii) constructional instructions, which determine which subclasses of verbs can enter the constructions that are relevant to the causative alternation in each individual language. Two such constructions are identified in our study of Italian, the one being marked by the morpheme SE, the other being labile, though we suggest that the -SE intransitives of alternating verbs are not necessarily anticausative. Our study reveals the causative alternation to be a prime illustration of the parallel architecture of grammar, where the default principles that govern the interplay of a rich lexical module with syntax interact with language specific constructional requirements.
Information Structuring of Spoken Language from a Cross-linguistic Perspective, 2015
Journal of Linguistics
This article investigates the morphosyntax of verbs of internally caused scalar change and the ma... more This article investigates the morphosyntax of verbs of internally caused scalar change and the main facets of their meaning. Availing ourselves of primary evidence from Italian, French, and Spanish corpora, we argue that the verbs under scrutiny divide into three subclasses whose common denominator is that they encode ‘change by inner predisposition’ or change that is possible because of inherent propensities of specific entities. We understand inner predisposition as a feature of the content of the verbs investigated, which has relevance to the choice of the undergoer, alongside the cause of two of the subclasses. Apart from this feature verbs of change by inner predisposition are indistinguishable from other verbs of change. We argue against an agentive or generalized causative analysis, and we advance a proposal for the lexical semantics of representatives of each of the three subclasses and for the alternations in which they participate.
Le but de l'A. est de remettre partiellement en cause l'opinion repandue selon laquelle l... more Le but de l'A. est de remettre partiellement en cause l'opinion repandue selon laquelle le systeme verbal du dialecte sicilien est base exclusivement sur l'opposition passe/non passe, avec absence totale de forme pour l'expression du futur. Il retrace l'evolution de l'expression du futur en sicilien et construit une hypothese sur les causes possibles de la disparition presque totale de la forme synthetique de l'expression du futur en sicilien contemporain
Linguistics, Nov 27, 2018
... 24 Nigel Vincent & Delia Bentley ions on past events/situations (18) as well as t... more ... 24 Nigel Vincent & Delia Bentley ions on past events/situations (18) as well as the so-called future in the past (FNP)(19 ... However, the introduction of a third term of comparison, namely Salvatore, a subject from Palermo who had previously been excluded because he does not ...
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, May 15, 2019
Glossa, Nov 6, 2018
It is a commonly held view that, in the absence of an overt locative or temporal phrase, broad fo... more It is a commonly held view that, in the absence of an overt locative or temporal phrase, broad focus subject inversion in Romance requires a null locative in preverbal position, thus being comparable to locative inversion (Benincà 1988 and subsequent work). The (in)compatibility of a number of verbs and verb classes with this construction, however, has not yet received a principled explanation. Analysing the event structure of the predicates that occur in bare broad focus subject inversion in Italian, we argue that this construction requires a covert Subject of Predication, and this requirement can be satisfied by a thematic goal argument of the verb or a non-thematic situational argument that is inferred when a bounded eventuality is predicated. We explain which predicates take which type of Subject of Predication, and we make falsifiable predictions on the relative compatibility of different verb classes with the construction under investigation. Our predictions are cogent in the null-subject SVO languages that allow broad focus in VS order and rule it out in VOS/VSO order (Leonetti 2017). With our study, we shed light on the lexical-semantic underpinnings of this restriction. Following Bianchi (1993) and Bianchi & Chesi (2014), we propose that this is a thetic construction, in which the postverbal DP remains in its first-merged thematic position. In our analysis, the silent Subject of Predication takes Cardinaletti's (2004) SubjP position, satisfying Rizzi's (2005) Subject Criterion.
De Gruyter eBooks, Sep 12, 2016
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, Oct 1, 2013
The Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2013
Following a tradition which is well established in the semantic literature, we use the term pivot... more Following a tradition which is well established in the semantic literature, we use the term pivot to refer to the noun phrase which, in English existentials, occurs in immediately post-copular position. The pivot can be followed by a coda, i.e., an addition, for example a locative phrase. The existential constructions of some languages also exhibit a putatively adverbial form, which can be etymologically locative. This is referred to here as the proform. Only the pivot is universally available, and obligatory, in existential constructions. The other components of the construction may not be present. In (2) we provide examples of existentials in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Observe that the Spanish existential copula exhibits a lexicalized postcopular proform (2d).
Presentational constructions, i.e., structures which introduce an event into the universe of disc... more Presentational constructions, i.e., structures which introduce an event into the universe of discourse, raise the question of what it means for a predication to be entirely new in information structural terms. While there is growing consensus that these constructions are not topicless, there is no agreement on how to analyse their topic. The Romance languages of Northern Italy have figured prominently in this debate because the presentational constructions of many such languages exhibit VS order and an etymologically locative clitic in subject clitic position. This clitic has been claimed to be a subject of predication in a syntactic subject position. Adducing primary compara-tive evidence from Milanese and Turinese, we discuss patterns of microvariation which suggest that the etymologically locative clitic need not be a syntactic subject and can mark an aboutness topic provided by the discourse situation alone. We propose a parallel-architecture, Role and Ref-erence Grammar, account whereby the microvariation under scrutiny is captured in terms of the interfaces that are involved in the parsing of utterances. This account considers discourse to be an independent module of grammar, which, alongside the semantic and syntactic modules, is directly involved in linguistic variation and change.
To be published in: Edward Gibson & Moshe Poliak (eds) From Fieldwork to Linguistic Theory: A Tribute to Dan Everett. Language Science Press., 2024
In this article we discuss corpus evidence from Italian which suggests that the causative alterna... more In this article we discuss corpus evidence from Italian which suggests that the causative alternation cannot be reduced to a single principle, be it semantic, syntactic or at the interface between these two levels of analysis. We argue that the boundaries of the causative alternation are established in grammar through (i) the acquisition of inchoative and causative logical structures, which are stored in the lexicon alongside non-templatic facets of meaning, (ii) general semantics-syntax mapping principles, which are subject to alignment variation, and (iii) constructional instructions, which determine which subclasses of verbs can enter the constructions that are relevant to the causative alternation in each individual language. Two such constructions are identified in our study of Italian, the one being marked by the morpheme SE, the other being labile, though we suggest that the -SE intransitives of alternating verbs are not necessarily anticausative. Our study reveals the causative alternation to be a prime illustration of the parallel architecture of grammar, where the default principles that govern the interplay of a rich lexical module with syntax interact with language specific constructional requirements.
Information Structuring of Spoken Language from a Cross-linguistic Perspective, 2015
Journal of Linguistics
This article investigates the morphosyntax of verbs of internally caused scalar change and the ma... more This article investigates the morphosyntax of verbs of internally caused scalar change and the main facets of their meaning. Availing ourselves of primary evidence from Italian, French, and Spanish corpora, we argue that the verbs under scrutiny divide into three subclasses whose common denominator is that they encode ‘change by inner predisposition’ or change that is possible because of inherent propensities of specific entities. We understand inner predisposition as a feature of the content of the verbs investigated, which has relevance to the choice of the undergoer, alongside the cause of two of the subclasses. Apart from this feature verbs of change by inner predisposition are indistinguishable from other verbs of change. We argue against an agentive or generalized causative analysis, and we advance a proposal for the lexical semantics of representatives of each of the three subclasses and for the alternations in which they participate.
Le but de l'A. est de remettre partiellement en cause l'opinion repandue selon laquelle l... more Le but de l'A. est de remettre partiellement en cause l'opinion repandue selon laquelle le systeme verbal du dialecte sicilien est base exclusivement sur l'opposition passe/non passe, avec absence totale de forme pour l'expression du futur. Il retrace l'evolution de l'expression du futur en sicilien et construit une hypothese sur les causes possibles de la disparition presque totale de la forme synthetique de l'expression du futur en sicilien contemporain
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxfo... more Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. Contents List of figures and tables viii List of abbreviations ix Dialect maps xiii 1 Existentials and locatives in Romance dialects of Italy: Introduction Delia Bentley 1.1 An overview of existentials and other there sentences 1.1.1 Existentials: Romance and beyond 1.2 Scope and objectives of the volume 1.3 Authorship, methodology, theoretical underpinnings of the research 1.3.1 The Manchester projects on existential constructions 1.3.2 Role and Reference Grammar 1.4 Acknowledgements 1.5 Outline of the volume 2 Focus structure Silvio Cruschina 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 The notions of focus and topic 2.1.2 Focus structure types 2.2 Sentence-focus existentials with no overt topic 2.2.1 Morphosyntactic properties 2.2.2 Stage-level topics and contextual domain 2.3 Existentials with an overt topic 2.3.1 Locative aboutness topics 2.3.2 Partitive topics and the split-focus structure 2.4 Argument-focus there sentences 2.4.1 Inverse locatives 2.4.2 Deictic locatives 2.5 Presentational there sentences 2.6 Conclusion 3 Predication and argument realization Delia Bentley 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The locative hypothesis 3.2.1 The correspondence of copulas and proforms 3.2.2 The definiteness effect on word order 3.3 The pivot-as-predicate hypothesis 3.3.1 Finite agreement 3.3.2 Supporting evidence 3.3.3 Challenges 3.3.4 Synopsis 3.4 Predication and argument realization in there sentences 3.4.1 Two types of existential construction 3.4.2 The correspondence of copulas and proforms revisited 3.4.3 Argument structure and predication in other there sentences 3.4.4 Synopsis 3.5 Conclusion 4 Definiteness effects and linking Delia Bentley 4.1 Definiteness effects: the Romance puzzle 4.2 Subject canonicality and word order 4.3 Subject canonicality and agreement 4.3.1 The differential marking of the post-copular noun phrase 4.3.2 The case of pivots with inde-cliticization 4.3.3 Specificity effects 4.3.4 Beyond existential sentences 4.3.5 Agreement and the impersonal hypothesis 4.3.6 Synopsis 4.4 Semantics-syntax linking in there sentences 4.4.1 Linking in existential there sentences 4.4.2 Linking in other there sentences 4.5 Conclusion 5 Historical context