Semantically Charged Syntax and the Construction of Meaning

Abstract

Bowers (1993) proposes that the subject–predicate relation is formed by a predication operator (op.), i.e. a function from a property to a propositional function or predicate. This operator heads an independent functional predication projection, as shown for instance in (1a), and it is also lexicalized in certain cases, for instance as in (1b). (1) a....make [PrP John [Pr ' [Pr op.] [AP crazy]]] b....regard [PrP John [Pr ' [Pr op./as] [AP crazy]]] In this paper we will first show, mainly using data from Norwegian, that several types of element may lexicalize the predication operator (section 1). Next, we investigate how meaning is constructed – i.e. how a given projection is determined as to its syntactico-semantic content – in a situation where a semantically uniform operator like the predication operator is variously lexicalized by different visible elements, each with its own specific amount of inherent content (section 2). We then go on to argue that a given visible element is often multifunctional in that it may potentially lexicalize different types of functional operator (section 3). Last, we propose that syntactic representations should be construed as structured objects essentially consisting of functional operators that are made visible by various types of element by insertion and movement, thus suggesting a program for a semantically charged syntax (section 4). 1 Lexicalization of the Predication Operator The Norwegian counterpart to as in structures like (1b) is som. Thus, we find structures like (2), where we assume that som is the lexicalization of the predication operator. (2) a....anse [Jon [som gal]]....consider Jon as crazy ‘...consider Jon crazy.’ b....anse [Jon [som forbryter]].

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