The Even Yearbook 9 (2010)
#84
volume: 9 (2010)
author: Mark Newson
title: Syntax first, words after: A possible consequence of doing Alignment Syntax without a lexicon
keywords: Syntax, Alignment Syntax, Optimality Theory, Lexicon, Word Categories, Argument/Event Structure, Tense and Aspect, Causative Construction, Light Verbs, Auxiliary Verbs
abstract: In this paper I explore the possibility of doing away with the traditional lexicon within the Alignment Syntax system and follow up on some of the consequences of doing so. Following similar attempts at lexical reduction, such as in Distributed Morphology, I note that one immediate consequence is that the grammatical system does not operate with a notion of syntactic category, but instead input elements, i.e. abstract elements of conception, come in two basic types: roots and functional conceptual units. Unlike Distributed Morphology, however, Alignment Syntax, operating without recourse to constituent structure, is able to go further and operate without the notion of ‘word’. The syntactic system simply orders the input conceptual units and it is only during the process of vocabulary item insertion that any notion of word arises. What this enables is an account of inter- and intra-linguistic differences in terms of which vocabulary items realise which conceptual notions. This feature is explored with an analysis of certain aspects of the realisation of verb related meanings, such as argument/event structure and tense and aspect.
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