Mismatches Between Meaning and Form in Concealed Questions. The Syntactic Analysis From the Perspective of Meaning

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20420/PhilCan.2019.258

Keywords:

concealed questions, emphatic determiner, grammar teaching, propositional meaning, mismatch

Abstract

Concealed questions are definite noun phrases that have a propositional meaning, instead of the typical referential use of the phrases headed by the definite article. In this paper we offer first a review of the most important aspects about concealed questions: types, meaning, syntactic behavior, and analysis. Our main objective, however, is to investigate how grammar can be taught in a different way (from meaning to form). We show here why concealed questions are a good instrument for this purpose. We explain, in particular, how these phrases can be used to think about concepts such as compositionality, selection, the difference between grammaticality and acceptability, or to understand the different meaning of a nominal phrase and a sentence. We also propose activities using innovative methods that favor reflection and the scientific study of language.

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Author Biographies

Edita Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Edita Gutiérrez Rodríguez holds a PhD in Linguistics and teaches at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

Pilar Pérez Ocón, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Pilar Pérez Ocón holds a PhD in Linguistics and teaches at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.

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Published

2019-07-27

How to Cite

Gutiérrez Rodríguez, E., & Pérez Ocón, P. (2019). Mismatches Between Meaning and Form in Concealed Questions. The Syntactic Analysis From the Perspective of Meaning. Philologica Canariensia, 25, 66–85. https://doi.org/10.20420/PhilCan.2019.258

Issue

Vol. 25 (2019)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2019 Edita Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Pilar Pérez Ocón

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