raymondaliasapollyon
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2019
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Hi,
Formal syntax literature has discussed a test known as the one-substitution test, whereby "one" is said to contain a complement. Robert D. Borsley in his Syntactic Theory: A Unified Approach gives the following examples:
a. This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one.
b. This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one from China.
c. * This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one of psychology from China.
Since one contains a complement, the one in b must be understood as "student of linguistics." And c is ungrammatical precisely because one is superfluously followed by another complement, i.e., of psychology.
Having said that, I'd like to draw your attention to a variant of a sentence I mentioned in a previous thread:
d. You know about addictions to drugs and cigarettes, but here's one you may not be cognizant of: fitness addiction.
The one-substitution test would suggest that one would contain a complement and be equal to "addiction to drugs and cigarettes" here, If so, the sentence should be ungrammatical. (It would be equal to "You know about addictions to drugs and cigarettes, but here's an addiction to drugs and cigarettes you may not be cognizant of: fitness addiction.")
Do you find sentence d ungrammatical?
Formal syntax literature has discussed a test known as the one-substitution test, whereby "one" is said to contain a complement. Robert D. Borsley in his Syntactic Theory: A Unified Approach gives the following examples:
a. This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one.
b. This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one from China.
c. * This student of linguistics from Korea is more dedicated than that one of psychology from China.
Since one contains a complement, the one in b must be understood as "student of linguistics." And c is ungrammatical precisely because one is superfluously followed by another complement, i.e., of psychology.
Having said that, I'd like to draw your attention to a variant of a sentence I mentioned in a previous thread:
d. You know about addictions to drugs and cigarettes, but here's one you may not be cognizant of: fitness addiction.
The one-substitution test would suggest that one would contain a complement and be equal to "addiction to drugs and cigarettes" here, If so, the sentence should be ungrammatical. (It would be equal to "You know about addictions to drugs and cigarettes, but here's an addiction to drugs and cigarettes you may not be cognizant of: fitness addiction.")
Do you find sentence d ungrammatical?
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