Book contents
- Exploring Interfaces
- Exploring Interfaces
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Road to Interfaces
- I Syntax–Lexicon Interface
- II Syntax–Semantics Interface
- III Linearization
- 8 Merge, Restructuring, and Clitic Climbing in Spanish
- 9 Linearization When Multiple Orderings Are Possible: Adjective Ordering Restrictions and Focus
- 10 Dialectal Variation in VOS Word Order in Spanish
- Index
- References
9 - Linearization When Multiple Orderings Are Possible: Adjective Ordering Restrictions and Focus
from III - Linearization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2019
Book contents
- Exploring Interfaces
- Exploring Interfaces
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Road to Interfaces
- I Syntax–Lexicon Interface
- II Syntax–Semantics Interface
- III Linearization
- 8 Merge, Restructuring, and Clitic Climbing in Spanish
- 9 Linearization When Multiple Orderings Are Possible: Adjective Ordering Restrictions and Focus
- 10 Dialectal Variation in VOS Word Order in Spanish
- Index
- References
Summary
A common observation in the literature is that unmarked or canonical readings of certain syntactic objects have different linearization requirements from marked, or focused, constituents of the same syntactic objects. Using the linear ordering of prenominal adjectives in English as a case study of marked and unmarked constituent orderings, I seek a deeper explanation for the underpinnings of linear ordering based on the hypothesis that the structural complexity of some specifier is the same as that of its sister, leading to a functional hierarchy of projections for adjectives that parallels that of noun phrases (Prinzhorn, 1996, as cited in Vergnaud, 2014a). I propose that dimensional adjectives are syntactically more complex than absolute adjectives along the semantic dimension of intersectivity, which derives the linear ordering observed. Second, once that hierarchy is established, putting narrow focus on an adjective permits multiple linear orderings, typically accounted for by movement of an adjective phrase to the Specifier position of a focus phrase (Laenzlinger, 2005; Scott, 2002; Svenonius, 2008; etc.).
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- Chapter
- Information
- Exploring Interfaces , pp. 232 - 267Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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