Cross-Linguistic Study of the Syntax and Semantics of Reciprocal Constructions

9319371 Peters这个项目将对句法和语义之间的关系进行比较研究，并以案例研究为基础，深入研究相互结构的句法实现和解释可能性。往复式结构特别适合于语法-语义接口的研究，因为它们提炼和组合了许多其他结构的特征。从句法上讲，往复关系可以作为代词、词缀或状语来实现。在前两个方面，它们与代词和不及物反身结构有很多共同之处。在语义上，互向作为语义操作符，与量词共享特征。该项目有两个总体目标：探索互反的句法实现与其解释之间的相关性，并检查互反的语义和互反作为语义算子的地位。由于互反的复杂性和多面性，对互反的研究将阐明其他结构的语法和语义，这些结构具有相同的特征：回指关系的语法和语义和句法降价操作，复数名词短语的语义，以及其他具有范围的操作符（如否定和量化）的语法和语义。

9319371 Peters This project will undertake a comparative study of the relation between syntax and semantics, taking as a case study an intensive investigation of the syntactic realizations and interpretive possibilities for reciprocal constructions. Reciprocals are particularly well-suited for an investigation of the syntax-semantics interface because they distill and combine characteristics of a number of other constructions. Syntactically, reciprocals may be realized as pronouns, as verbal affixes, or as adverbials. In the first two respects, they have much in common with pronominal and intransitivizing reflexive constructions. Semantically, reciprocals behave as semantic operators, sharing characteristics with quantifiers. The project has two overall aims: to explore correlations between the syntactic realization of the reciprocals and its interpretation, and to examine the semantics of reciprocity and the status of the reciprocal as a semantic operator. Because of the complex, multifaceted nature of reciprocals, an investigation of reciprocity will illuminate the syntax and semantics of other constructions whose characteristics they share: the syntax and semantics of anaphoric relations and syntactic valence-reducing operations, the semantics of plural noun phrases, and the syntax and semantics of other scope-bearing operators such as negation and quantification.