Headedness and/or grammatical anarchy?
α’αααΈααααα βα’αα‘α·α ααααΌαα·αααα
Linking to the seminal discussions led in Zwicky (1985) and Corbett, Fraser, & Mc-Glashan (1993), this volume intends to look more closely upon phenomena that are considered problematic for an analysis in terms of grammatical heads. The aim of this book is to approach the concept of βheadednessβ from its margins. Thus, central questions of the volume relate to the nature of heads and the distinction between headed and non-headed structures, to the process of gaining and losing head status, and to the thought-provoking question as to whether grammar theory could do without heads at all.
The contributions in this volume provide new empirical findings bearing on phenomena that challenge the conception of grammatical heads and/or discuss the notion of head/headedness and its consequences for grammatical theory in a more abstract way. The collected papers view the topic from diverse theoretical perspectives (among others HPSG, Generative Syntax, Optimality Theory) and different empirical angles, covering typological and corpus-linguistic accounts, with a focus on data from German.
α’αααΈβα’ααααα·αααα
Ulrike Freywald studied Music in Weimar, and German and Historical Linguistics as well as Public Relations and Communication Studies at Humboldt-UniversitΓ€t zu Berlin, Freie UniversitΓ€t Berlin, and in Vienna. While working at the University of Potsdam and in the Berlin-Potsdam Collaborative Research Centre on Information Structure, she did her doctorate in German Linguistics at Humboldt-UniversitΓ€t zu Berlin. After her postdoc phase in Potsdam, where she also led a project in the Collaborative Research Centre on βLimits of Variability in Languageβ, she took up a professorship in German Linguistics with a Special Focus on Grammar and Didactics at the TU Dortmund.
Her main research areas are morphology and syntax of German where she studies non-canonical and often under-researched structures. Another topic is language variation and change, with a focus on different varieties of German, including multilingual environments. A more recent interest concerns the application of modern linguistic theorising in teacher training contexts.
Horst J. Simon studied German and English Literature and Linguistics in Passau, Amsterdam and Glasgow. He obtained his doctorate in German Linguistics at Humboldt University Berlin, where he also worked as a postdoc. He was a Feodor-Lynen-Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Vienna and (Senior) Lecturer in German and General Linguistics at Kingβs College London before taking up his current position as Professor of Historical Linguistics at Freie UniversitΓ€t Berlin. He has held various visiting posts, e.g. at Peking University.
His research interests range from historical grammar and pragmatics via theories of language change and variation to the history of ideas about language(s). He thinks a lot on methodological issues of linguistic research and on the diversity of the German language today. A particular interest lies in linguistic politeness.
Stefan MΓΌller studied Computer Science, Computational Linguistics and Linguistics at the Humboldt University at Berlin and in Edinburgh. He worked at the German Research Center of Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in SaarbrΓΌcken and for the company Interice. He worked as acting chair for German and Computational Linguistics in Jena and for Theoretical Computational Linguistics in Potsdam. He had an assistant professorship in Bremen for theoretical linguistics and computational linguistics, a full professorship for German and General Linguistics at the Freie UniversitΓ€t Berlin and is now professor for German language with specialization in syntax at the Humboldt-UniversitΓ€t zu Berlin.
His main reΒsearch topic is GerΒman gramΒmar. He works both emΒpirΒiΒcalΒly and theΒoΒretΒiΒcalΒly. TopΒics of inΒterΒest are morΒpholΒoΒgy, synΒtax, seΒmanΒtics, and inΒforΒmaΒtion strucΒture. He pubΒlished mainΒly about GerΒman, but he also works on other lanΒguages as for inΒstance ManΒdarin ChiΒnese, DanΒish, Maltese, and PerΒsian. The theΒoΒretΒiΒcal work is carΒried out in the framework of Head-βDrivΒen Phrase StrucΒture GramΒmar (HPSG) and the theoretΒiΒcal analΒyΒses are imΒpleΒmentΒed in comΒputΒer-βproΒcessΒable gramΒmar fragments. The gramΒmar fragΒments that are implemented in the CoreGram Project use a comΒmon core. One goal of his reΒsearch is to unΒderΒstand lanΒguage and to find out what lanΒguages in genΒerΒal and cerΒtain lanΒguage classΒes in parΒticΒuΒlar have in comΒmon.
