A Fine-Grained Approach to Lexical and Functional Syntactic Categories

Most syntactic theories have come to rely on the
distinction between lexical and functional
categories: nouns and verbs are lexical , while
determiners and inflection are functional . A
growing body of research challenges this binary
division, suggesting there are semi-lexical
elements with both lexical and functional
properties. This book develops a fine-grained
approach where lexical and functional are not
taken as ends of the same continuum, but are seen as
two separate and distinct features, creating a
two-dimensional binary distinction ([±Lexical,
±Functional]). This analysis is applied to the
domain of prepositions, and resolves most of the
contradictions manifest in that domain. Support is
drawn from parallels in syntactic and semantic
behavior, as well as evidence from a longitudinal
study of five children s early spontaneous
production. This monograph should be useful to
researchers in a variety of domains, including
syntax, aphasia, first- and second-language
acquisition. Anyone interested in the
nature of syntactic categories in general, and the
nature of prepositions and prepositional-elements in
particular, will find this book useful.

Autorentext
Heather Littlefield earned her MA and PhD in Applied Linguistics at Boston University, with research interests in first language acquisition and the syntactic properties of lexical and functional categories. She is currently an Assistant Academic Specialist and the Head Advisor in the Linguistics Program at Northeastern University.

Klappentext
Most syntactic theories have come to rely on the distinction between 'lexical' and 'functional' categories: nouns and verbs are 'lexical', while determiners and inflection are 'functional'. A growing body of research challenges this binary division, suggesting there are 'semi-lexical' elements with both 'lexical' and 'functional' properties. This book develops a fine-grained approach where 'lexical' and 'functional' are not taken as ends of the same continuum, but are seen as two separate and distinct features, creating a two-dimensional binary distinction ([±Lexical, ±Functional]). This analysis is applied to the domain of prepositions, and resolves most of the contradictions manifest in that domain. Support is drawn from parallels in syntactic and semantic behavior, as well as evidence from a longitudinal study of five children's early spontaneous production. This monograph should be useful to researchers in a variety of domains, including syntax, aphasia, first- and second-language acquisition. Anyone interested in the nature of syntactic categories in general, and the nature of prepositions and prepositional-elements in particular, will find this book useful.