About the Speaker: Towards a Syntax of Indexicality
Alessandra Giorgi
Abstract
This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses vario ... More
This book considers the syntax of the left periphery of clauses in relation to the extra‐sentential context. The prevailing point of view, in the literature in this field is that the external context does not intervene at all in the syntax of the sentence, and that the interaction between sentence and context takes place post‐syntactically. This monograph challenges this view and proposes that reference to indexicality is syntactically encoded in the left‐most position of the clause, where the speaker's temporal and spatial location is represented. To support this hypothesis, it analyses various kinds of temporal dependencies in embedded clauses, such as indicative versus subjunctive, and proposes a new analysis of the imperfect and the future‐in‐the‐past. The book also compares languages such as Italian and English with languages which have different properties of temporal interpretation, such as Chinese. Finally, analysis of the literary style known as Free Indirect Discourse also supports the hypothesis, showing that it may have a wide range of consequences.
Keywords:
left periphery,
extra‐sentential context,
speaker,
temporal dependencies,
Free Indirect Discourse,
indicative,
subjunctive,
imperfect,
future‐in‐the‐past,
Italian,
English,
Chinese
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199571895 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571895.001.0001 |
