1. Pronominalization in Bengali
- Author
-
Kabir, H.
- Subjects
410 - Abstract
This work is the first investigation into the syntax of pronouns in Standard Colloquial Bengali using a transformational generative model of syntax. The model used is an adaptation of that proposed in Chomsky (1965) and Fillmore (1968a), and resembles the model developed in Stockwell et al (1973). One claim made in this work is that not everything which can be used to refer deictically or anaphorically is a pronoun. This work makes a clear distinction between pronouns and other elements which can function pronominally. Pronominalization, in a broad sense, has been taken to mean the derivation of pronouns in syntactic structures. This can be either pronouns introduced in the underlying structure or pronouns introduced in a transformational derivation. The process of pronominalization has been broken mainly into pronominalization proper, reflexivization and relativization. This work proposes a transformational treatment of anaphoric pronouns, but attempts to show that not all anaphoric pronouns arise due to transformational reduction of core referential noun phrases. The basic condition for the application of any sort of pronominalization rule is coreference, which has been treated in a Chomskyan (1965) fashion. This work deals also with so-called 'sentence pronominalization', and 'reciprocal pronominalization'. It shows that the concept of 'sentence pronominalization' is untenable, and reciprocal structures in Bengali do not involve pronominalization. Moreover, this work shows that head noun deletion under lexical identity is a sort of, nonanaphoric, pronominalization.
- Published
- 1976