This work presents the first sustained examination of Dependency Syntax. In clear and stimulating analyses Mel'cuk promotes syntactic description in terms of dependency rather than in terms of more familiar phrase-structure. The notions of dependency relations and dependency structure are introduced and substantiated, and the advantages of dependency representation are demonstrated by applying it to a number of popular linguistic problems, e.g. grammatical subject and ergative construction. A wide array of linguistic data is used - the well-known (Dyirbal), the less known (Lezgian), and the more recent (Alutor). Several "exotic" cases of Russian are discussed to show how dependency can be used to solve difficult technical problems. The book is not only formal and rigorous, but also strongly theory-oriented and data-based. Special attention is paid to linguistic terminology, specifically to its logical consistency. The dependency formalism is presented within the framework of a new semantics-oriented general linguistic theory, Meaning-Text theory.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Mark Aronoff Acknowledgments List of Commonly Used Abbreviations and Symbols I. Dependency Syntax: An Overview Introduction I. The Case "Dependency vs. Phrase Structure" II. Organization of the Presentation 1. Basic Elements of Dependency Representation in Syntax I. Introductory Remarks II. Dependency Language vs. Phrase-Structure Language III. The Rationale behind Syntactic Dependencies IV. Current Fallacies Concerning Syntactic Dependencies V. Some Insufficiencies of Syntactic Dependencies VI. Some Advantages of Syntactic Dependencies Notes 2. The Meaning-Text Linguistic Model as the Framework for Dependency Syntax I. Basic Postulates and Main Properties of a Meaning-Text Model II. Utterance Representation at Different Levels III. Major Components of a Meaning-Text Model Appendix: Two Sample Entries of the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionaries of French and Russian I. Sample entries II. Translating Means of an ECD Notes II. An Important Concept of Dependency Syntax: Surface-Syntactic Relations 3. Types of Syntagmatic Dependencies Between Wordforms of a Sentence and Surface Syntactic Relations I. Possible Types of Syntagmatic Dependencies between Wordforms of a Sentence 1. Morphological Dependencies 2. Syntactic Dependencies 3. Semantic Dependencies II. Possible Combinations of Syntagmatic Dependency Types between two Wordforms of a Sentence III. Syntactic Dependency: A Logical Analysis of an Important Concept Notes III. Syntactic Theory: The Ergative Construction 4. Is There an Ergative Construction in Dyirbal? I. Introductory Remarks II. A Few Facts About Dyirbal III. Grammatical Subject in Dyirbal 1. Toward the Concept of Grammatical Subject 2. Subjecthood Properties in Dyirbal IV. "Transitive" Verbs in Dyirbal V. "Accusative" in Dyirbal VI. No Ergative Construction in Dyirbal VII. Active, Passive and Other Voices and "Near-Voices" in Dyirbal VIII. Analysis of Possible Counterarguments Notes 5. Is There an Ergative Construction in Lezgian? I. Introductory Remarks II. A Few Facts About Lezgian III. Grammatical Subject in Lezgian 1. Subjecthood Properties in Lezgian 2. Absence of Voice in Lezgian 3. Rejecting Possible Counterarguments VI. No Ergative Construction in Lezgian Notes 6. Toward a Definition of the Concept "Ergative Construction" I. Introductory Remarks II, The Term Ergative III. Levels of Representation in the Study of te Ergative Construction IV. Typology of Predicative Constructions V. The Ergative Construction: Attempt at a Definition VI. Origins of the Ergative Construction Note IV. Syntactic Descriptions: Surface-Syntactic Models and Notions 7. Toward a Formal Model of Alutor Surface Syntax: Predicative and Completive Constructions I. A Few Facts about Alutor II. Formalism and Notations Used III. Nine Surface-Syntax Rules of Alutor 1. Predictive Constructions (Rules 1-3) 2. Completive Constructions with a Finite Transitive Verb in the Non-Resultive (Rules 4-9) IV. Discussion of Predicative and Completive Constructions in Alutor 1. The Ergative Construction in Alutor 2. The Special Cases of Object Agreement of the Main Verb Notes 8. Syntactic, or Lexical, Zero I. The Problem Stated: Questions 1-3 II. From Morphological to Syntactic Zeroes III. Syntactic, or Lexical, Zeroes in Russian IV. "Zero" Terminology in Linguistics V. Answers to Questions 1-3 Notes V. Syntactic Methodology: Some Thorny Questions of Russian Syntax 9. On a Class of Russian Verbs that Can Introduce Direct Speech: Lexical Polysemy or Semantic Syntax? (Constructions of the type "Ostav'te Menja!" --Ispugalsja Bufetčik) I. The Russian Direct Speech Sentences with Verbs of Emotion II. The Problem Stated III. Alternative Solutions: Lexical vs. Syntactic IV. Three Arguments against the Lexical Solution V. A Residual Case: Verbs of Emotion Having a Speech Semantic Component Notes 10. Animacy in Russian Cardinal Numerals and Adjectives as an Inflectional Category: A Problem of Agreement I. Introductory Remarks II. The Problem Stated III. Alternative Solutions: Animacy vs. a Specific Case IV. Seven Arguments to Support the Animacy Solution V. Important Residual Cases 1. In What Inflectional Forms of Adj and Num in Animacy Relevant? 2. For What Lexemes of Adj and Num in Animacy Relevant? Notes 11. The Grammatical Case of the Numerical Expressions in Russian: Phrases of the Type (Bol'še) Na Dva Mal'čika or Po Troe Bol'Nyx: A Problem of Government I. Constructions with "Difficult" Case Forms II. The Problem Stated III. Alternative Solutions: Nominative vs. Inanimate Accusative IV. Four Arguments in Favor of the Accusative Solution V. EXCURSUS: The Nominative Noun as a Syntactically Dependent Element in Russian Notes Four Methodological Principles of Linguistic Research References Indexes Index of Names Index of Languages Index of Subject and Terms