Nouns and the Morphosyntax / Semantics Interface

This edited book seeks to bridge a gap in the existing literature on nouns, by exploring the exact relationship between their formal and semantic characteristics. The introductory chapter offers a thorough state of the art on the morphosyntactic and semantic angles in definitions of nouns, provides evidence of misalignments between morphosyntactic and semantic features, and argues that a multi-criterial angle is in fact inherent in the definition of the class of nouns. The following chapters bring together a representative cross-section of international-level research on the morphosyntax/semantics interface for nouns, covering a wide variety of languages from French-based creoles, German and Japanese to English, French, Italian, Russian and Uzbek. The focus of the volume is to take a special focus on the currently underestimated dynamic interplay between morphosyntax and semantics, at both language and discourse levels. It will be of interest primarily to academics (specialists of nouns, as well as anyone interested in the interplay between morphology, syntax and semantics) and graduate students in areas such as syntax, semantics, morphology, theoretical linguistics and discourse analysis. 

“This is an important collection of essays combining studies of well-known hard nuts with analyses of new grammatical puzzles. Through its focus on nominal structures, it enables a detailed examination and will thus be essential reading for anyone interested in the syntax-semantics interface.”

-Horst J. Simon, Professor of Historical Linguistics, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and co-editor of Headedness and/or Grammatical Anarchy?

“This volume fully reflects the breadth and depth of current functional-cognitive research on nouns, noun phrases and their form-function mapping…highly recommended!”

- Lotte Sommerer, Assistant Professor for English Linguistics at the University of Freiburg, Germany and author of Article Emergence in Old English: a Constructionalist Perspective

"This book provides several studies on the classification of word according to their semantics and morphosyntax, a crucial point of grammar, which has nevertheless been somewhat neglected in recent decades. The focus is on nouns, and the studies concentrate on the examination of data, rather than just developing previously chosen theories. A first-rate contribution to the development of a grammatical theory more based on hard facts.“

-Mário A. Perini, Professor Emeritus, UFMG, Brazil

 

Laure Gardelle is Professor of English Linguistics and Dean of the doctoral school of languages and literature (ED LLSH) at Grenoble Alpes University, France, and Chair of the French society for English linguistics (ALAES). Her research interests include the morphosyntax/semantics interface in the grammatical categories of gender and number, especially the tension between transparency and the opacification caused by language-internal parameters (such as grammaticisation or morphological attraction).  

Elise Mignot is Professor of English Linguistics and Head of the research centre CELISO (Centre de Linguistique en Sorbonne) at Sorbonne University, France. Her research focuses on the morpho-syntax /semantics interface in processes of noun-formation, studied in relation with the cognitive operation of categorization.  

Julie Neveux is a Senior lecturer in English Linguistics at Sorbonne University, France, and chair of the French association of English stylistics (SSA). Initially trained in philosophy, she develops a phenomenological approach of language, semantics and style, defining style as a phenomenon whose effects rely on the perceptibility, in discourse, of the speaker’s motivation (embodied cognition).