Syntactic Relations: A Critical Survey Book

Preface     ix
Introduction     1
Relations     1
Where shall we start?     9
What beginners are told     11
The doctrine of phrases     11
What is a head?     23
Heads and dependents     27
Dominance     27
Where arguments are complementary     30
Markers     35
'Complementisers'     39
Prepositions     49
Verb phrases     55
Must phrases have heads?     61
'Determiners'     61
Determiners and pronouns     69
Where does this lead us?     75
'Universals'     78
What is universal?     81
Asymmetries     90
Types of construction     90
One head or two?     95
Types of dominance     100
Subjects     104
Constituents     110
Phrase structure     110
Phrase structure and dependency     112
How far is there equivalence?     115
Layering in noun phrases     119
Why should constituency be thought fundamental?     126
Structures andcategories     133
'Movement'     137
Must constructions reduce to tree structures?     143
How reduction is achieved     143
Compositionality     149
Group-verbs     156
Complex predications     159
'Small clauses'     163
Coordination     169
Simplicity     178
Should syntax not be simpler?     178
'Theories'     181
Glossary     186
References     199
Index     205