What Are Un Acceptability And Un Grammaticality How Do They Relate To One Another And To Interpretation

What are (Un)Acceptability and (Un)Grammaticality? How do They Relate to One Another and to Interpretation?

Inconsistency in Linguistic Theorising

It is widely believed that inconsistency is one of the greatest sins a scholar can commit. This issue is especially relevant in linguistics due to the rich diversity of data types, exceptions to the rules, counterexamples to the hypotheses, and background assumptions which constantly come into conflict with methodological principles. Bringing together ideas from linguistics and philosophy of science, this groundbreaking book seeks to answer the following questions: which kinds of inconsistency arise in linguistic theorising? Under which conditions can inconsistencies be tolerated? And how can inconsistencies be resolved? It is the first study to develop a novel metatheoretical framework that accounts for the emergence and the resolution of inconsistency in linguistic theorising, and to reveal the strategies of inconsistency resolution in theoretical linguistics. Supported by detailed case studies, the findings of this metatheoretical analysis can be applied to improve the effectiveness of the working linguist's problem-solving activity.

Sentential Negation in French

This is the first full-length study of sentential negation phenomena in French. Paul Rowlett assesses, from a generative perspective, the respective contribution made to the expression of clausal polarity by ne, pas, and elements such as jamais and personne. His conclusions have far-reaching implications, leading to the controversial hypothesis that, despite widespread belief, French is not a negative concord language.