Review of W. Detmar Meurers & Tibor Kiss (eds.): Constraint-Based Approaches to Germanic Syntax

This volume contains eight papers on German and Danish syntax, an introduction by the editors, and an index. The papers provide constraint-based analyses of a range of phenomena characteristic of Germanic syntax, presenting empirical and theoretical challenges to existing transformational analyses. Six of the papers are cast within the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG, Pollard & Sag (1994)) and two within Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG, Bresnan (2000)). BF.RMAN "On the Cooccurrence of Es with a Finite Clause in German: An LFG Analysis' (pp. 7-30). Berman's paper presents a detailed, comprehensive, and insightful analysis of the distribution of the proform es 'it' under various types of extraction from and of embedded finite clauses in German. The analysis involves three types of constraints: constraints on the mapping from a(rgument)-structure to f(unctional)-strueture (determining the grammatical function of the embedded CP). constraints on extraction (argument-adjunct asymmetries and linear precedence relations) and the Subject Condition (the LFG principle that clauses must have an fstructure subject). One advantage of Berman's analysis over existing transformational analyses is that it accounts for the behavior of psych-verbs (e.g. storen 'bother'). However, the added empirical coverage comes at the cost of assuming a second nonthematic es which is subcategorized for only by certain verbs (including psych-verbs). As Berman herself points out (p. 19. fn. 28). non-thematic es must further be distinguished from the expletive es found in impersonal constructions. DE KUTHY "Splitting PPs from NPs" (pp. 31-76). This paper examines a construction in German, where a PP is dislocated from the NP it modifies, showing that the construction is limited to adjunct PPs and subject to lexical restrictions. The author critically examines analyses where the PP extracts directly from NP to its surface position, and argues that the construction involves re-analysis of a complex NP (as two sister categories: a simple NP and a PP) followed by extraction of the PP from VP. To formalize re-analysis in HPSG. de Kuthy employs a technique known as dependent raising, which, when applied to an NP containing a PP adjunct, raises the PP to be a co-argument of the NP. either of which can extract. While restricting dependent raising to adjunct PPs is largely a technical matter, the lexical restrictions are more challenging. De Kuthy suggests that the lexical description of a noun encodes the set of relations the objects denoted by the noun typically enter into, and that only when occurring as the argument of a verb expressing one of these relations can an NP be split. The challenge is how to characterize the set of typical relations for a given noun independently of the NP-PP split construction. De Kuthy suggests (p. 52) that typical relations are more common and contextually unmarked than atypical ones. This characterization fails to account for the contrast in her example (p. 54). casting doubt on its general empirical validity. HOLLER-FELDHAUS "An HPSG Analysis of German Wh-Interrogatives" (pp. 77109). This paper analyzes n/i-interrogatives in German, focusing on the obligatory fronting of a it/f-phrase. the position of the finite verb which differs in embedded and root clauses and the possibilities of pied-piping material along with a n/z-word. The author argues that u/i-interrogatives are composed under a special immediate-