Paradigms and Periphrastic Expression: A Study in Realization-based Lexicalism

Our intention in this paper is to develop an explanatory account of the special characteristics of periphrastic expressions by refining the traditional notion of PARADIGM employed within inferential-realizational approaches to morphology (Anderson 1992, Aronoff 1994, Zwicky 1990, Stump 1993, 2001). Our proposal draws on this notion in order to develop a substantive reconceptualization of the form and function of the lexicon in constraint-based theories of syntax. In particular, we argue that the paradigms defined by a language's morphology sometimes include periphrastic combinations (PERIPHRASES). As we show, this conclusion affords a simple resolution of a number of neglected problems which periphrases pose for theories of syntax; it also necessitates a radical rethinking of the relation between the form and content of syntactic structures. The proposals developed here are intended to be relatively neutral with respect to the choice among alternative lexicalist theories of syntax (including Lexical Functional Grammar, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, and Construction Grammar); for concreteness, however, we articulate the details of our claims in the terminology of LFG .