Surveys trends in linguistic thought over the past 50 years, with particular reference to structuralism and generative grammar. (AM)

Research supported by the Contrastive Semantics Project at the University of California, Berkeley. (DD)

Discusses noun phrases which involve typically predicative nouns, focusing on those anaphoric noun phrases that apparently have to be derived from predicates dominating an entire sentence. The ensuing modification of Bach's hypothesis provides evidence for a particular theory of relativization referred to as "the promotion analysis." (DS)

Revised version of a paper read at the summer meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Buffalo, New York, July 31, 1973. Preparation of the paper was supported by a National Science Foundation grant. (VM)

All modern Romance languages except Rumanian have a class of causative + infinitive construction in which the infinitive subject surfaces as an agentive. This article investigates the question of how agentivization of the infinitive subject is to be handled in these languages. (DS)

The Spanish feminine article /el/, ordinarily the singular masculine definite article, has been used as evidence of the need for obligatory disagreement rules. Others explain the anamoly by means of referral rules. A third solution is suggested: an allomorphy rule which can be interpreted syntactically or phonologically. (LMO)

Refutes the theory that indirect requests are ambiguous. Arguments for it are examined and an attempt is made to expose the weaknesses in the kinds of tests generally used to detect "illocutionary" ambiguity. An alternative analysis in the framework of semantics and the pragmatics of directive speech acts is suggested. (AMH)

Examines the theory of empty categories in a Government and Binding analysis of Modern Greek syntax. No empty subject category is found and so the pro-drop parameter is a misnomer here. Further support for the correlation between parametric variation and inflexional or morphological properties of a language is presented. (Author/LMO)