The German locative-directional alternation

Theta-head binding in the German locative alternation

In this paper, we analyze the locative alternation of the spray/load-type with beprefixation in German on the basis of the analysis of free datives proposed in Hole (2008, 2012, 2014). We argue that both structures involve obligatory variable binding in a local domain, triggered by a functional theta head. The core of our analysis elaborates upon Kratzer’s (2009) proposal to implement reflexivi...

Towards a Lexical-Constructional Account of the Locative Alternation

Following Fillmore’s (1968) discussion of verbs exhibiting different argument realization patterns, a number of syntactic studies have analyzed the spray-load alternation (e.g., Pinker 1989, Levin 1993, Dowty 2000) in different ways. One account that differs from primarily syntactically oriented analyses is Goldberg’s (1995) Construction Grammar approach. It proposes that multiple argument real...

A Frame-Based Semantics of Locative Alternation in LTAG

In this paper we present an analysis of locative alternation phenomena in Russian and English within a frame-based LTAG syntax-semantics interface. The combination of a syntactic theory with an extended domain of locality and frames provides a powerful mechanism for argument linking. Furthermore, the concept of tree families and unanchored trees in LTAG allows for a decomposition of meaning int...

Theta-Head Binding in German Locative Alternations

On the German locative: a study in symbols

The internal structure of the locative predicate-complement form-class in German is described within the framework of a generative grammar consisting of a phrase-structure (PS) component, a semantic (S) component , and a transformation (T) component. The S-component is in-terposed between the PS-component and the T-component. The PS-component generates the deep internal structure of the locativ...