Project Details
Projekt
Constraintbasierte Analyse von Relativsätzen im Englischen und Deutschen
Subject Area
Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Term
from 2011 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 202630811
CON strives for a constraint-based analysis of relative clauses in English and German within the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). The project attempts to solve open problems in the analysis of relative clauses by a theory-evaluating synthesis of existing proposals. HPSG permits the integration of concepts from other theories as well as a precise modeling of the interaction of syntactic and semantic requirements, as they are essential in the empirical domain of relative clauses.During the first funding period the modification theory of restrictive relative clauses showed itself to be empirically and conceptually more successful than a raising theory or a matching theory. For data on idioms and binding in relative clauses, which, at first sight, seem problematic for a modification theory, we were able to gain a more differentiated picture of the empirical facts and to sketch an analysis that is semantically oriented and based on a modification theory.Semantic approaches to data on idioms, binding, and scope will be further pursued in the second phase (such as Continuations, unrestrained beta-reduction, underspecification) and they will be integrated with the syntactic analysis of the first phase. The analysis will be extended to nonrestrictive relative clauses, focusing on the above-named phenomena. Empirical studies will help to clarify the empirical basis.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Subproject of
FOR 1783:
Relative Clauses
Participating Person
Professor Dr. Gert Webelhuth
