Reviews

140 Links & Letters 1, 1994 Reviews JAMAL OUHALLA, Functional Catego- A(djective) or V(erb) are assurned to be riesandpdrametric hriation. L~~- an open class and to have uniforrn properties across languages, functional eledon: Routledge. 1991. 240 Pages. rnents constitute a limited and well-defined group associated with a clo- One of interesting developsed ser of lexical properties and are the ments in generative s~ntactic theO~ ones &at, in interaction with general re~resented the Y. of pkYed principies of U(niversal) G(rammar), acby functional elernents in syntactic dericount for language variarion -they disvations. Since Chomsky (1986), categoplay varying properties in different ries like C(ornplernentiser) and languages or groups of Ianguages. Para- I(nflection) had been regulafised '' ter?' rneters, &en, can be seen as instantiations ofx'-theO~ as full s~ntactic pr0jections . of the properties that functional catego- A ste~ further has been in a nurnber ries have in the lexicon. In this sense, the of recent studies (Fukui and Speas (1986), theory ofparametrisation put forward by Baker (1988)j ChornskY (1988) and the author departs radically from more llock (1 989), among others), where diffel traditional approaches like the typologient inflectional affixes previously seen as cal studies ofthe ~~~~~b~~~i~~ tradition, features of 1 are taken to constitute synwhere the emphasis is put on substantactic categories in their own right with a tives: what was formerly considered a difcrucial contribution to syntactic proference in t~e behaviour of a given subscesses. Ouhalla's book falls into this line tantive element rnust be viewed now as a of research and explores its irnplications surface phenornenon derived from the to its limits. Although the work is ~onceived properties of functional categories. At the within the Principles and Parameters fratirne it departs from the view that rnework (see Chomsky (1981) and subparameters are associated with the princisequent works), it should be accessible to pies of uG3. Following BorerS (1983) anY linguist acquainted with s~ntactic proposals, Ouhalla will pursue the idea theory in general. Moreover, the that parametric variation affects only the concepts of the theory relevant to the "infleCtiond system" of lmguages. Since discussion are clearly explained in the inin hiS framework pararneters rely on troduction (4 1.4). lexical properties of individual iterns, a The main hypothesis of the book is language can instantiate more than one that functional categories are responsible value ofa certain parameter iffor a given for most grammatical Processes and relafunctional category we have more than tions and for crosslinguistic or pararnetric one lexical entry with different lexical variation. While substantive categories specifications. According to him, this (or, simply, substantives) like N(oun), approach provides a new and highly constrained theory of Lexical Pararnetrisation which allows for a restricted range of pos- 1. Functional elements include the whole set of grammatical categories that are normally spelled sible variation. out as bound rnorphemes expressing agreement, The lexical information encoded in tense, aspect and so on. The complementiser is functional elements can be of three kinds: considered to be a functional category as well. (i) c(ategoria1)-selectional properties (those referring to selection in terms of 2. It means that, like the rest of syntactic categories, they head a maximal projection (X" o X Phrase) which takes another maximd projection 3. Remember, for instance, the Head - pararneter as its complement (the sister ofXo) and may have ofX'- theorywhich determines the directionality a S~ecifier (The sister of X'). X'- theory is the of the relations berween a head and its complemodule of granmar which constrains the expenment giving rise to tovalues: Head-first or Headsion of lexical categories to in phrase markers. last. Reviews Links & Letters 1, 1994 141 4 syntactic categories, that is, to the syntacattention, as well . tic category required as the complement The core of Chapter 3 is devoted to of the functiond category in question); the demostration of how this approach m(orphologica1)-selectional properties can provide an account of the sutface (those which specify whether a given caordering variation of substantive eletegory is free or bound and, in the latter ments, more specifically, of the linearisacase, the categorial nature of the item it tion of subject and verb that has given rise has to attach or adjoin to), and (iii) to a supposedly typologicd distinction grammaticd features/properties (person, between SVO and VSO languages. number and gender features, tense featu- Ouhalla concludes that the parameter res, wh-features, Case features, and cateinvolved amounts to c-selectional gorial features of the type [+NI [+VI). properties of AGWTNS: in a given lan- Lan uage variation is explained through guage either TNS c-selects AGR (TNS- the that huictionaí categories VT with initi4 language) or AGR c-selects TNS resPect to &ese hree tYPes of pr0perties, (AGR-initial language), which in the gewhile interacting with the general principles neral case results in a vso or in a svo of UG. surface ordering, respectively This is claimed Cha~ter devOted t0 the general to be the basic property from which a ''sues concerning the proposa' cluster of properties follows. outlined above. It also includes a com- T~ support the validity of the proPoprehensive introduction to the theoretical sals made, Ouhalla shows that Celtic lanframework within which the research enguages, traditionally classified as VSO terprise is undertaken. languages, display the properties ofAGR- In Chapter Ouha1la proceeds initial languages, that is those displaying justify the categorial status of a num- a surface SVO ordering in the unmarked ber of afixes normallJ' appear case. Thus he reinforces the hypothesis tached to theV(erb). In standard analyses, elements like negation (NEG), tense that the overt ordering of substantive ele- (TNS), agreement (AGR), aspect (ASP) depends On the deeper and and passive morpheme (PASS), as well as basic hierarchical arrangement of fünctional modals (MOD), were supposed to belong categories. to the 1 node. It is argued on theoretical Another important part of Chapter 3 and empirical grounds that they constideals with the parametric differences intute independent syntactic categor-ies volving the c-selectional and m-selection- which head a full projection in the sense al pr0perties of the NEG The of ~'-~h~~~~ ~h~ argumentation conposition of NEG in the clause structure cerning the empirical evidente, as in the wi11 vary according to whether this caterest of book, is illustrated with data gOry c-selects V(erbal) P(hrase) or rather from a wide range of languages which are AGWTNS. On the 0th~ hand, its (non) discussed in more detail in other pieces of afixal ~haracter (m-selectional ProPerwork by the autor (see references therein). ties) will determine the nmvement possi- Among the appealing aspects of the bilities of the verbal complex. chapter is the derivation of the distinction In Chapter 4 the author extends the between periphrastic and morphological general approach to noun phrases and expressions of aspect and passive, which is convincingly shown to stem from the categorial features of the Lwo functional 4. Periphrastic constructions consist of an auxiliary inflected for tense and agreement and a and (that from main W inflected for aspect or passive. On the their [+NI 01 [+VI character) in combinahand, the morphological expression as astion with the m-selectional properties of pect or passive involves a single verbal complex the TNS category. The analysis of passive inflected for those categories as well as for tense constructions as such receives special and agreement, without the need for an auxiliary. 142 Links & Letters 1, 1994 Reviews demonstrates that they can be argued to sentation. MIT Working Papers in display a number of functional categories Linguistics 1 O. 43-74. which partially paralel those ofsentences. POLLOCK, J.-Y. (1989). Verb Movement, In English, for example, noun phrases can UG, and the Structure ofII? Linguistic be analysed as D(eterminer)Ps when they Inquiry 20.3. 365-424. contain a Det element acting as the head of the whole constituent or as AGRPs Josep Quer when they contain an AGR element that Department de Filologia Catalana normdly surfaces as genitive subject. Tak- Universitat ~~~o~~~~ de Barcelona ing into account the role played by these elements, many idiosyncratic behaviours of substan-tives (mainly, of the head noun and its subject) receive a principled explanation. MARGARET SPEAS, Phrase Structure in The final part 0f this last chapter is Natural Language. J-JDordrechr: devoted to motivate the idea that Comp elements are nominalisers in the sense Kluwer, 1 990. 306 pages. that their projection on the top of sentential clauses allows for the latter to function T~mSf~rmational grammar (Chomsky as arguments. 1965), the Gouernmentand Binding (GB) As has been noted in the previous m~del in particular (Chomsky 198 11, is a paragraphs, Ouhalla's work draws on theo~ of Universal G~~~~ar (UG), the mainstream research in current syntactic set of principies and parameters that are Studies and rnakes a very important conclaimed to be an innate part of the human tribution to the developrnent of some of language faculv Central to GB theory is the ideas put fonvard in the literature. phrase structure (PS), the hierarchical The &eory of parameters and language representation of the structure of the senvariation is one of the central issues at tence; it is to elements in this structure stake in the present stage of linguistic that the transformation move alphais clairned theory and as such Ouhalla's book should to apply deriving from one PS reprebecome a point of reference in the debate. sentation a new PS representation constrained by universal structural and licensing requirements. A central ques- Referentes tion, intuitively stated, is how does PS start, or where does it come from? A se- BAKER, M. C. (1988). Incorporation: A cond question regards the universalit~ of Theory af Grammatical Function the hierarchical representations which Changing. Chicago: Chicago Univerhave been successful in describing confisity Press. gurational (Con) languages like English: BORER, H. (1983). Parametric S'ntax: do n~nconfi~urational (NCon) langua- Case Studies in Semitic and Romance ges like e.g. Warlpiri, which have beeri Languages. Dordercht: Foris. argued not to have a hierarchical PS (Hale FUKUI, N. and M. SPEAS. (1986). Speci- 1983), differ in some fundamental way in fiers and Projections. MIS Working their syntax? NCon languages pose a se- Papers in Linguistics 8. 128- 172. rious challenge to GB theory since in CHOMSKY, N. (1981). Lectures on Gougeneral the evidence in favor of a hierarernment and Binding. Dordrecht: Fochical PS is weak and further, the evidence ris. a ainst such structure is strong. It is this CHOMSKY, N. (1986). Barriers. Camc allenge that Margaret Speas' (1990) bridge (Mass.): The MIT Press. F, Phrase Structure in Natzdral Language CHOMSKY, N. (1988). Some Notes on addresses. The claim Speas (S) defends is Economy of Derivation and Reprethat PS is projected from lexical items