Springer - Predicates and Their Subjects (Linguistics, 74)

Explore the deep connection between syntax and semantics in Predicates and Their Subjects. Published by Springer as part of the Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy series, this book offers an in-depth study of the structure of the subject-predicate relation. Building upon the foundations of the author's 1983 dissertation, this work presents a detailed argument regarding syntactic constraints in clause construction. It examines how both small and tensed clauses are built from a one-place unsaturated expression, known as the predicate, which requires a syntactic argument to serve as its subject. This text provides a rigorous analysis showing that the predication relation is a purely syntactic constraint. It demonstrates that this relation cannot be reduced to a thematic relation or a projection of argument structure. This book is an essential resource for those studying the mechanics of linguistic structure and the relationship between syntax and meaning.