Ps at the interfaces : on the syntax, semantics, and morphology of spatial prepositions in German

Abstract

This dissertation spells out the syntax, semantics, and morphology of spatial prepositions in German. I do this by using a parsimonious model of grammar with only one combinatorial engine that generates both phrases and words: syntax (Marantz 1997, Bruening 2016). I follow the tenets of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995) with Bare Phrase Structure as its phrase structural module. I show that using Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993, Embick 2015) to model Phonological Form and Discourse Representation Theory (Kamp and Reyle 1993, Kamp et al. 2011) to model Logical Form makes it possible to gain deeper and new insights into the system of German spatial prepositions. Spatial prepositions are classified along a widely accepted typology (Jackendoff 1983, Piñón 1993, Zwarts 2005, a.o.): (i) place prepositions denote static locations and (ii) path prepositions denote dynamic locations that can be directed, as in the case of goal and source prepositions, or undirected, as in the case of route prepositions. In addition, I propose a classification of spatial prepositions that is orthogonal to the above typology: (i) geometric prepositions express geometric locative relations, which I spell out in a parsimonious, perception-driven model of space (Kamp and Roßdeutscher 2005); (ii) pseudo-geometric prepositions look like geometric prepositions but express functional locative relations instead of geometric ones; and (iii) non-geometric prepositions express a special type of functional locative relations. The fine-grained syntacticosemantic analysis presented in this thesis not only makes it possible to spell out Phonological Form and Logical Form for spatial prepositions, but it also serves as input to a morphological case approach (Marantz 1991, McFadden 2004) that accounts for the case assignment of spatial prepositions.