The papers in this volume examine the current role of grammatical functions in transformational syntax in two ways: (i) through largely theoretical considerations of their status, and (ii) through detailed analyses for a wide variety of languages. Taken together the chapters in this volume present a comprehensive view of how transformational syntax characterizes the elusive but often useful notions of subject and object, examining how subject and object properties are distributed among various functional projections, converging sometimes in particular languages.

Inhalt

List of Contributors. Foreword. Acknowledgements. Part I: Overview. 1. Remarks on Grammatical Functions in Transformational Syntax; W.D. Davies, S. Dubinsky. 2. Phrase Structure as a Representation of `Primitive' Grammatical Relations; M.C. Baker. 3. Grammatical Functions, Thematic Roles, and Phrase Structure: Their Underlying Disunity; F.J. Newmeyer. 4. Is Case Another Name for Grammatical Function? Evidence from Object Asymmetries; A. Alsina. Part II: Objects. 5. Subjects, Objects, and the EPP; H. Lasnik. Derived Objects in Malagasy; L. deMena Travis. Part III: Subjects. 7. The Distribution of Subject Properties in Irish; J. McCloskey. The EPP in Spanish; G. Goodall. On Predication and the Status of Subjects in Niuean; D. Massam. 10. Functional Architecture and the Distribution of Subject Properties; W.D. Davies, S. Dubinsky. References. Author Index. Subject Index.