Subject: syntax / syntax - semantics interface

potsdam , eric ; syntactic issues in the english imperative ; 0-8153 - 3129 - 0 , cloth ; pages , $ 97 ; garland publishing ; outstanding dissertations in linguistics this book investigates long-standing problems in the syntactic analysis of the english imperative . most earlier works within the generative tradition have claimed that the syntax of imperatives idiosyncratically and irreducibly differs from that of other english clauses . this work argues that , on the contrary , the imperative has a largely regular syntax which is fully compatible with current formal grammars of english . the putative differences reside primarily in three domainsthe behavior of the auxiliary verbs " have " and " be , " the options for subjects , and the word order in negative and emphatic clauses . this study addresses each of these controversial domains in turn and argues that the behavior of the imperative is unexceptional in each case . the work is unique in attempting to assimilate the syntax of the english imperative to better-established analyses of english originally developed for other areas of the language . in defending this thesis , the work analyzes word order , constituent structure , and semantic restrictions in the imperative . analyses of two core phenomena in english syntax , adverb placement and vp ellipsis , are also defended . this in-depth investigation of syntactic and semantic aspects of the modern english imperative will be of interest to scholars of syntactic theory , english linguistics , and english grammar . e - mail : info @ garland . com
