Examines the question of the transitivity of the part-whole relation in grammar, in the context of the sentence and its semantic structure. (AM)

Describes and compares restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses and shows that, when studying their superficial differences, there is no need for construction-specific stipulations that distinguish between them. All the superficial differences between the two are derived from the single basic difference that one is a modifier and the other is not.…

Considers several difficulties, both empirical and conceptual, that arise from the formulation of the classical Binding Theory that states the following: (1) an anaphor must be locally bound, (2) a pronoun must not be locally bound, and (3) an R-expression must not be bound. Ways of overcoming these difficulties are presented. (39 references) (GLR)

The performative analysis claims that every sentence we utter refers to our utterance of it, and has a higher performative clause of the form "I plus Verb plus You." This paper deals with data that have been used to support this analysis, and shows that they do not confirm it. (CHK)

Discusses certain unknown constraints" active in the use of specific quantifiers in English. (VM)

David Lightfoot's "How to Set Parameters: Arguments from Language Change" (1991), which adopts the principles and parameters approach developed by Chomsky as part of the theory of government and binding, is reviewed. (Contains 34 references.) (LB)

It is argued that the restrictions on "wh"-movement out of negative and factive islands cannot be explained solely by the Empty Category Principle but that embedded properties assigned by matrix verbs also intervene. (Contains 48 references.) (LB)

The results of a survey in which 50 British university students were asked to assess the acceptability of 40 indirect object sentences are analyzed, and some problems inherent in English indirect object constructions are discussed. (DS)

Describes a specific class of indirectly conveyed meanings which are definitional, or partly definitional, that is, although conveyed by the utterances of sentences, they are not part of the meaning of those sentences. The study considers Strawson's topic-centered approach to presupposition, thematic predicates, and the pragmatics of…

Argues that Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) languages exhibit properties that are consistent with the typology of Lehmann and Venneman in which the basic dichotomy is between Object-Verb and Verb-Object languages and that there is no reason to believe that there are fewer exceptionless generalizations to be made about SVO languages than there are about…

Discusses the accentuation of two types of sentence in English: (1) straightforward intransitive sentences, and (2) intransitive sentences embedded in the frame "It's just NP noun phrase[ V verb[-ing." Modifications to Gussenhoven's (1983) Sentence Accent Assignment Rule (SAAR) are suggested based on large groups of exceptions of the SAAR.…

Discusses 'rather than' sentences with tensed or untensed verb in second clause as having underlying form of comparative sentences. Concludes 'rather than' preceding a tensed clause represents the truth-functional connective 'and not' which contradicts claim that this connective cannot be represented lexically in natural language and raises…

Argues that in an unmarked sentence the verbs will be stressed, and that in determining patterns of sentence stress the vital consideration should be the speaker's point of view. (AM)

Expands on an earlier article that explained how a Gricean theory of implicature might provide a systematic partial reduction of the Binding Conditions, and introduces a radical alternative that uses the same pragmatic framework but gives an account better adjusted to some languages. (113 references) (GLR)