Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Record:   Prev Next
Resources
More Information
Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Davis, Joseph, 1958- author.

Title The substance and value of Italian si / Joseph Davis.

Publication Info. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2017]

Item Status

Description 1 online resource.
text file
Series Studies in functional and structural linguistics ; volume 74
Studies in functional and structural linguistics ; v. 74.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary This book offers an original treatment of the Italian clitic si. Sharply separating encoded grammar from inference in discourse, it proposes a unitary meaning for si, including impersonals, passives, and reflexives. Si signals third-person participancy but makes no distinctions of number, gender, or case role. The analysis advances the Columbia School framework by relying on just these straightforward oppositions, attributing variety of interpretation largely to language use rather than to grammar. The analysis places si within a network of oppositions involving all the other clitics. Data come primarily from twentieth-century and more recent published and on-line literature. The book will be of interest to functional linguists, students of reflexivity, and scholars of the Italian language.
Contents Intro -- The Substance and Value of Italian Si -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1. What is si? -- A. A disconnect between category and use -- B. The traditional distinction transitive/intransitive, and an alternative view -- a. The traditional distinction transitive/intransitive -- b. An alternative view: Introduction to Columbia School -- c. The rendering of Italian si + verb into English intransitives -- C. Si and the traditional category impersonal -- D. Si and the traditional category passive -- E. Si and the traditional category reflexive -- F. Conclusion -- Chapter 2. Opting out of sex and number: Si vs. other impersonals -- A. The traditional category impersonal -- B. A multiplicity of forms used impersonally -- C. Si vs. uno used impersonally -- D. Si vs. other pronouns used impersonally -- E. Conclusion -- Chapter 3. The system of Focus on Participants -- A. The failure of the traditional category subject and the need for a new hypothesis -- B. New categories: Focus and Degree of Control -- C. The three degrees of Focus in Italian -- D. The status of si- in the System of Focus on Participants -- E. Another view of the System of Focus on Participants -- Chapter 4. The system of Degree of Control -- A. The three Degrees of Control -- B. The status of si and Degree of Control -- C. Order of clitics and Degree of Control -- Appendix to Chapter 4. The interlock of the systems of Participant Focus and Degree of Control -- Chapter 5. Scale of Degree of Control: The view from the bottom -- A. Subversion of the Focus-Control interlock: Si for Focus on low-controllers -- B. That passive and impersonal are not categories of Italian grammar -- C. That intransitive is not a category of Italian grammar.
D. Absence of si with Focus on mid-controllers (no passivization of datives) -- E. Si vs. the participle -- Chapter 6. Scale of Degree of Control: The view from the top -- A. The traditional reflexive -- B. Pronouns other than si that can be reflexive -- a. Si vs. sé -- b. Si vs. lui/lei -- c. Why si is the only reflexive among the third-person clitics -- C. Subversion of the Focus-Control interlock: Passive people -- D. Neutralization of Degree of Control: People under the influence -- E. Neutralization of Degree of Control: Self-regulated and self-interested people -- a. Neutralization of high and low control -- b. Neutralization of high and mid control -- F. Si interpreted reciprocally -- Chapter 7. Grammatical constancy and lexical idiosyncrasy -- A. Aprire 'open' -- B. Alzare 'raise' -- C. Voltare 'turn' -- D. Cambiare 'change' -- E. Conclusion -- Chapter 8. Grammar constrained by lexicon: The "inherently reflexive" verbs -- A. The ostensible problem -- B. Data coverage -- C. Morphology -- a. Infinitives -- b. Gerunds -- c. Participles -- d. Inherently reflexive verbs with non-reflexive clitics -- D. Semantics: Opting out of distinctions of Degree of Control -- Chapter 9. Number and gender with si used impersonally -- A. An apparent problem -- B. Verb number in general -- C. Verb number with impersonal si-w -- D. Number of predicate nominative with impersonal si -- E. Gender of predicate nominative with impersonal si -- F. Further on Number and Gender with si used impersonally -- G. Remarks on Number and Gender of participles with impersonal si -- Chapter 10. Other related matters -- A. Auxiliaries avere and essere in compound tenses -- B. Ci si: The "impersonal reflexive" -- C. A morphemic re-analysis of si and se -- D. Some properties of outer-Focus (e)ne -- a. Lack of co-occurrence of (e)ne and (e)l+.
B. Purported association of (e)ne with direct object -- c. Adverbial (e)ne -- Chapter 11. Background and theory -- A. Background -- a. Diver on Latin (1969-1995) -- b. García on Spanish (1975) -- c. García (1983) -- d. García (2009) -- e. Gorup on Serbo-Croatian (2006) -- f. Stern on English (2001-2006) -- g. Other treatments -- B. Theory -- a. Previous theoretical statements -- b. Theoretical contributions of the present work -- Sources of data and translation, with abbreviations -- References -- Index of names -- Subject index.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Si (The Italian word)
Si (The Italian word)
Italian language -- Etymology.
Italian language -- Etymology.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Davis, Joseph, 1958- Substance and value of Italian si. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2017] 9789027215840 (DLC) 2017018283
ISBN 9789027265272 (pdf)
9027265275
9789027215840 (hardcover ; acid-free paper)
9027215847