Generative Approaches to the Syntax and Semantics of the Reciprocal Constructions

In this chapter, the author delineates surveys on the generative approaches available for reciprocal constructions. The discussion begins with the syntactic properties, highlighting the contrasts between reflexives and reciprocals in terms of long-distance binding. The chapter explores proposals for a syntactic derivation of verbal reciprocals against a lexical derivation hypothesis. The author argues that a voice head-based analysis (Kratzer, Phrase Structure and the Lexicom, Kluwer, 1996, The Event Argument and the Semantics of the Verb, Manuscript, 2002) and Bruening (Verbal Reciprocals and the Interpretation of Reciprocals, University of Delaware, 2004) is more syntactically viable than the gap marker-based analysis proposed by Lidz (Dimensions of Reflexivity, University of Delaware, 1996). Proposals related to the argument structure and the linearization of verbal reciprocal suffixes are also examined. The author reprises the semantic proposals of nominal reciprocity and discusses proposals related to weak reciprocity as a primary condition for deriving reciprocal semantics in subsequent sections.