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On a post-syntactic account of the generic Middle Construction Markus Steinbach, Middle Voice: a comparative study in the syntax–semantics interface of German (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002. Pp. xii+340.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2006

KJARTAN OTTOSSON  and
JOAN MALING
KJARTAN OTTOSSON
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
JOAN MALING
Affiliation:
Brandeis University
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Abstract

A perennially challenging topic in generative syntax, the Middle Construction, has been the topic of several recent dissertations, including the book under review. Although not acknowledged as such in the published book, this is a moderately revised version of the Dr. Phil. (Promotion) dissertation, Middles in German: the syntax and semantics of transitive reflexive sentences, defended at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin in 1998. Steinbach's book is clearly the fullest treatment of the Middle Construction in German published in recent times. It presents an original and challenging analysis of this construction and offers a wealth of penetrating observations. As is natural for a review article, however, we will focus more on what we see as the problems and weaknesses of Steinbach's analysis than on the book's virtues.

Type
Review Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , July 2006 , pp. 423 - 437
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We are grateful to Heike Wiese and Knud Lambrecht for their native speaker judgments on German sentences and for insightful discussion of the issues. We are also indebted to two anonymous JL referees and to Rex Sprouse, Craige Roberts, and Anneliese Pitz for suggestions and discussion. Special thanks are due to Markus Steinbach for his very useful comments on a draft of this article. A part of the first author's work was carried out within the project ‘Linguistic theory and grammatical change’ at the Centre for Advanced Study, Drammensveien 78, N-0271 Oslo, Norway, during the academic year 2004–05. The material is based in part on work done while the second author was serving as Director of the Linguistics Program at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.