Showing papers in "Linguistic Inquiry in 2009"
TL;DR: The authors developed a theory of pronouns that predicts the typology and individual characteristics of both referential and bound variable pronouns from the semantics of pronominal features and derived a space of possible paradigms for referentials and bound-variable pronouns.
Abstract: This article argues that natural languages have two binding strategies that create two types of bound variable pronouns. Pronouns of the first type, which include local fake indexicals, reflexives, relative pronouns, and PRO, may be born with a "defective" feature set. They can acquire the features they are missing (if any) from verbal functional heads carrying standard λ-operators that bind them. Pronouns of the second type, which include long-distance fake indexicals, are born fully specified and receive their interpretations via context-shifting λ-operators (Cable 2005). Both binding strategies are freely available and not subject to syntactic constraints. Local anaphora emerges under the assumption that feature transmission and morphophonological spell-out are limited to small windows of operation, possibly the phases of Chomsky 2001. If pronouns can be born underspecified, we need an account of what the possible initial features of a pronoun can be and how it acquires the features it may be missing. The article develops such an account by deriving a space of possible paradigms for referential and bound variable pronouns from the semantics of pronominal features. The result is a theory of pronouns that predicts the typology and individual characteristics of both referential and bound variable pronouns.
319 citations
TL;DR: Squeezing gapping into across-the-board movement has its own discomforts, however, which it is suggested can be remedied by retailoring the authors' syntax to include string-based output constraints.
Abstract: Pseudogapping is no misnomer. Despite their many tempting similarities, gapping and pseudogapping are distinct constructions. Pseudogapping is a special instance of VP-ellipsis, while gapping, I argue, is a special instance of across-the-board movement. Squeezing gapping into across-the-board movement has its own discomforts, however, which I suggest can be remedied by retailoring our syntax to include string-based output constraints. I sketch one such alteration that involves apparent Left Branch Condition violations.
156 citations
TL;DR: A novel way to distinguish between agreement and clitic doubling is proposed and the analysis of Basque provides a new perspective on the typological status of the Basque agreement system, as well as evidence against the traditional analysis of unergatives in Basque as being underlyingly transitive.
Abstract: In this article, I propose a novel way to distinguish between agreement and clitic doubling. The innovation lies in examining what happens when the relation between the relevant agreement morphology and the full noun phrase fails to obtain: whether the agreement morpheme still shows up, bearing default φ-features, or disappears altogether.The workings of the proposed diagnostic are demonstrated using a family of constructions in “substandard” Basque (Etxepare 2006). Besides supporting the proposed diagnostic, the analysis of Basque provides a new perspective on the typological status of the Basque agreement system, as well as evidence against the traditional analysis of unergatives in Basque as being underlyingly transitive.
149 citations
TL;DR: The authors show that children disallow local pronoun binding with both referential and quantificational antecedents when Principle B is at issue, but not when principle B is neutralized.
Abstract: Children have repeatedly been found to exhibit Principle B violations, with some reports that these violations occur only with nonquantified antecedents. This quantificational asymmetry (QA) in the delay of Principle B effect (DPBE) has been taken as support for a theory that restricts the scope of binding theory to bound variable anaphora (Reinhart 1983). However, the QA has been challenged, on the basis of discrepant findings and methodological concerns (Elbourne 2005). Here, we resolve the status of the QA with 3 studies and a review of over 30 previous studies. Using improved experimental materials, we show that children disallow local pronoun binding with both referential and quantificational antecedents when Principle B is at issue (Experiment 1), but not when Principle B is neutralized (Experiment 2). When methodological flaws are reintroduced, we replicate the QA (Experiment 3). Drawing on evidence from adult language processing, we suggest that the role of Principle B as a filter on representatio...
128 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that many presuppositional elements are anaphoric to previous discourse or contextual elements, and that these can be other clauses of the sentence, and thus need a theory of presuppoSitional anaphora analogous to the corresponding pronominal theory.
Abstract: Writers on presupposition, and on the “projection problem” of determining the presuppositions of compound sentences from their component clauses, traditionally assign presuppositions to each clause in isolation. I argue that many presuppositional elements are anaphoric to previous discourse or contextual elements. In compound sentences, these can be other clauses of the sentence. We thus need a theory of presuppositional anaphora, analogous to the corresponding pronominal theory.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a substantially expanded theory of late merger, which is available not only for the well-known case of adjuncts, but also for restrictors of determiners (wholesale late merger).
Abstract: In this article, we develop a substantially expanded theory of late merger. Adopting related insights by Fox (2002), we argue that late merger is permitted whenever an output representation can be interpreted in the semantic component. A consequence of our approach is that late merger is available not only for the well-known case of adjuncts, but also for restrictors of determiners (wholesale late merger). We demonstrate that this theory can explain the different reconstruction possibilities of A-movement and Ā-movement, as well as various otherwise puzzling facts about movement and ellipsis, while still maintaining the copy theory of movement.
80 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the syntax of the notorious tough-movement construction (TC) in English is addressed, and the phase-based implementation of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2000, 2001, 2004) permits a reanalysis of null-operators capable of circumventing the previous theoretical difficulties.
Abstract: This article addresses the syntax of the notorious tough(-movement) construction (TC) in English. TCs exhibit a range of apparently contradictory empirical properties suggesting that their derivation involves the application of both A-movement and Ā-movement operations. Within previous principles-and-parameters models, TCs have remained “unexplained and in principle unexplainable” (Holmberg 2000:839) because of incompatibility with constraints on θ-role assignment, locality, and Case. This article argues that the phase-based implementation of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2000, 2001, 2004) permits a reanalysis of null wh-operators capable of circumventing the previous theoretical difficulties. Essentially, tough-movement consists of A-moving a constituent out of a “complex” null operator that has already undergone Ā-movement, a “smuggling” construction in the terms proposed by Collins (2005a,b).
73 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that in V1-XP-V2 and V1V2-XP series, V1 merges in the functional domain of the lexical verb (V2) and V2 introduces the internal argument and is embedded under an AspP whose head is endowed with an EPP feature.
Abstract: This article argues that in V1-XP-V2 and V1-V2-XP series, V1 merges in the functional domain of the lexical verb (V2). V2 introduces the (internal) argument and is embedded under an AspP whose head is endowed with an EPP feature. Surface word order variations in Kwa (and Khoisan) result from the EPP licensing that triggers V2-object inversion, sometimes followed by V2 movement past the shifted object.
73 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the relevant literature on Icelandic A-movement is presented, and it is shown that unlike their claims, PRO in Icelandic receives structural rather than default (nominative) case, leaving the movement theory with no account for the distinction between PRO and lexical subjects.
Abstract: A rich literature on Icelandic syntax has established that infinitival complements of obligatory control verbs constitute a case assignment domain independent from the matrix clause, and in this differ systematically from all types of A-movement, which manifest case dependence/preservation. As Landau (2003) has observed, these facts provide significant counterevidence to the movement theory of control (Hornstein 1999 and subsequent work). Boeckx and Hornstein (2006a) attempt to defend this theory in light of data from Icelandic. We offer here a review of the relevant literature, and we show that Boeckx and Hornstein's reply fails on several counts. We further argue that contrary to their claims, PRO in Icelandic receives structural rather than default (nominative) case, leaving the movement theory with no account for the distinction between PRO and lexical subjects.
55 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative theory based on Agree is proposed, arguing that an approach to pied-piping in terms of feature percolation is problematic under minimalist assumptions.
Abstract: In this article, I argue that an approach to pied-piping in terms of wh-feature percolation is problematic under minimalist assumptions. I propose an alternative theory based on Agree, arguing that...
54 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the satiation effect reported in Snyder 2000 is the result of a response strategy in which participants attempt to equalize the number of yes and no responses, a strategy enabled by the design features of Snyder's original experiment.
Abstract: This reply revisits the topic of syntactic satiation as first discussed in Snyder 2000. I argue that the satiation effect reported in Snyder 2000 is the result of a response strategy in which participants attempt to equalize the number of yes and no responses, a strategy enabled by the design features of Snyder's original experiment. Four predictions differentiate the response strategy from a true satiation effect. Nine experiments are presented to test these predictions. The results are discussed with respect to the nature of satiation, the stability of acceptability judgments, and the consequences for linguistic methodology.
TL;DR: In this paper, Potts and Ash Ash Asudeh discuss the expressive and identity conditions of Germanic Germanic linguistics and their relation to the German Mittelfeld, VP and X-bar theory.
Abstract: EXPRESSIVES AND IDENTITY CONDITIONS Christopher Potts Ash Asudeh Seth Cable Yurie Hara Eric McCready Luis Alonso-Ovalle Rajesh Bhatt Christopher Davis Angelika Kratzer Tom Roeper Martin Walkow Müller, Gereon. 2004. Verb-second as vP-first. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 7:179–234. Nilsen, Øystein. 2003. Eliminating positions. Doctoral dissertation, OTS, Utrecht. Pafel, Jürgen. 1998. Skopus und logische Struktur. Arbeitspapiere des Sonderforschungsbereichs 340, Bericht 129. Tübingen/Stuttgart: University of Tübingen/University of Stuttgart. Reinhart, Tanya. 1983. Anaphora and semantic interpretation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sauerland, Uli, and Paul Elbourne. 2002. Total reconstruction, PF movement, and derivational order. Linguistic Inquiry 33: 283–319. Thiersch, Craig. 1985. Some notes on scrambling in the German Mittelfeld, VP and X-bar theory. Ms., University of Connecticut, Storrs, and University of Cologne.
TL;DR: FOCUS, CONTRAST, and STRESS in RUSSIAN Ad Neeleman University College London Elena Titov University college London Moravcsik, Edith.
Abstract: FOCUS, CONTRAST, AND STRESS IN RUSSIAN Ad Neeleman University College London Elena Titov University College London Moravcsik, Edith. 1978. Reduplicative constructions. In Universals of human language. Vol. 3, Word structure, ed. by Joseph H. Greenberg, 297–334. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Raimy, Eric. 2000. The phonology and morphology of reduplication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Shaw, Patricia A. 2005. Non-adjacency in reduplication. In Studies on reduplication, ed. by Bernhard Hurch, 161–210. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Urbanczyk, Suzanne. 2000. The bases of double reduplication. In WCCFL 19: Proceedings of the 19th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. by Roger Billerey and Brooke Danielle Lillehaugen, 173–183. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the where, when, and how are inherently nominal, rather than prepositional, though they are NPs with a peculiar property: they are always base-generated as the complement of a preposition (P), which is often silent.
Abstract: In this squib, we argue that the wh-words where, when, and how are inherently nominal, rather than prepositional, though they are NPs with a peculiar property: they are always base-generated as the complement of a preposition (P), which is often silent. Our main evidence comes from the behavior of embedded noninterrogative wh-clauses known as free relatives (FRs). We show that this behavior can be easily accounted for if where, when, and how are inherently nominal. We bring further empirical support to our proposal by extending it to wh-interrogatives and by discussing the similarities between FRs and the NPs that have been called bare-NP adverbs or adverbial NPs (Emonds 1976, 1987, Larson 1985, McCawley 1988). We also show that potential alternative accounts that make different assumptions about the nature of where, when, and how are unable to account for the data.
TL;DR: These hierarchies make a clear and testable prediction: movement aside, and disregarding exceptional word orders linked to marked information structures, if two adjectives belong to different classes, only one relative order of the two should be possible.
Abstract: The main interest of these heterogeneous and apparently arbitrary hierarchies stems from the hypothesis that the heads regulating adjective order may form part of the linear functional sequence often assumed to regulate nominal morphosyntactic and semantic properties, a connection that Cinque (1999) investigated with respect to adverbials and clausal functional structure. Viewed in this light, these hierarchies make a clear and testable prediction: movement aside, and disregarding exceptional word orders linked to marked information structures, if two adjectives belong to different classes, only one relative order of the two should be possible. Section 1 will test this prediction against data gathered from www.google.co.uk. The data attest to a far greater freedom with respect to order among multiple adjectives than predicted by the models in (1). In section 2,
TL;DR: This squib presents new data from possessive phrases in Chol (Mayan) and proposes an analysis along the lines of that proposed in Cable 2007, in which feature percolation is eliminated from the grammar and wh-movement to Spec,CP is always the result of a relationship between C and a projection called Q(uestion)P.
Abstract: IN CHOL Jessica Coon MIT In this squib, I present new data from possessive phrases in Chol (Mayan) and discuss the problem they present for standard analyses of pied-piping (see Heck 2004 and references cited therein). I argue that a theory of pied-piping in which features of a wh-word ‘‘percolate’’ up to a higher maximal projection is unable to straightforwardly account for the ordering facts found in interrogative possessive constructions in Chol (also described for Tzotzil (Aissen 1996) and San Dionicio Zapotec (Broadwell 2001)). I will show that in certain derivations, feature percolation would have to both occur and not occur from the same wh-word at different stages in a single derivation. A derivation in which percolation happens consistently at each step results in ungrammaticality. I argue that these facts provide evidence against an account involving feature percolation. I adopt instead an analysis along the lines of that proposed in Cable 2007, in which feature percolation is eliminated from the grammar and wh-movement to Spec,CP is always the result of a relationship between C and a projection called Q(uestion)P. Under this analysis, so-called pied-piping is simply an instance of more familiar phrasal movement. Furthermore, while additional stipulations are required to prevent incorrect ordering under a feature percolation account, I will show that in the QP account the ungrammatical forms are ruled out as a natural consequence of the semantics of Q. I propose further that the apparent free choice between possessor extraction and pied-piping constructions in Chol can be explained as a result of where the Q head is merged, rather than by a special operation of feature percolation.
TL;DR: The authors argue that both prosodie principles and narrow-syntactic principles play a role in the linearization of syntactic structures, and take Kayne's Linear Correspondence Axiom as a starting point: (asymmetric) c-command maps onto precedence relations.
Abstract: The overarching question addressed here is how syntactic structures based on constituency (dominance, c-command) are to be mapped onto linear phonetic strings. I argue that both prosodie principles and narrow-syntactic principles play a role in the linearization of syntactic structures. I take Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom as a starting point: (asymmetric) c-command maps onto precedence relations. Two wide-ranging predictions of Kayne's theory are that specifiers precede their heads and that a head can only have one specifier or adjunct. Although abundant evidence supports these predictions, there is nonetheless a well-known class of apparent counterexamples: Romance languages allow both rightward and multiple dislocations. I take the LCA to be a soft constraint, overruled by a constraint of the Wrap family that seeks to combine a verb and its extended projection in one intonational phrase. Apparent rightward movement is the outcome of rightward linearization forced by Wrap. The possibility o...
TL;DR: The authors argued that Theme and Agent are on equal footing, insofar as neither has the property that Kratzer's conjecture requires of a natural relation, whereas Theme is not cumulative, in contrast to Agent.
Abstract: According to Kratzer (2003), the thematic relation Theme, construed very generally, is not a “natural relation.” She says that the “natural relations” are “cumulative” and argues that Theme is not cumulative, in contrast to Agent. It is therefore best, she concludes, to remove Theme from the palette of semantic analysis. Here I oppose the premises of Kratzer's argument and then introduce a new challenge to her conclusion, based on the resultative construction in Mandarin. The facts show that Theme and Agent are on equal footing, insofar as neither has the property that Kratzer's conjecture requires of a natural relation.
TL;DR: It is shown that Error-Driven Constraint Demotion (EDCD), an error-driven learning algorithm proposed by Tesar (1995) for Prince and Smolensky's (1993/2004) version of Optimality Theory, can fail to converge to a correct totally ranked hierarchy of constraints, unlike the earlier non-error- driven learning algorithms.
Abstract: This article shows that Error-Driven Constraint Demotion (EDCD), an error-driven learning algorithm proposed by Tesar (1995) for Prince and Smolensky's (1993/2004) version of Optimality Theory, can fail to converge to a correct totally ranked hierarchy of constraints, unlike the earlier non-error-driven learning algorithms proposed by Tesar and Smolensky (1993). The cause of the problem is found in Tesar's use of “mark-pooling ties,” indicating that EDCD can be repaired by assuming Anttila's (1997) “permuting ties” instead. Proofs show, and simulations confirm, that totally ranked hierarchies can indeed be found by both this repaired version of EDCD and Boersma's (1998) Minimal Gradual Learning Algorithm.
TL;DR: It is shown that there is an alternative representation of OT grammars that allows for efficient computation of optimal surface forms and provides deeper insight into the sources of complexity of OT.
Abstract: Idsardi (2006) claims that Optimality Theory (OT; Prince and Smolensky 1993, 2004) is “in general computationally intractable” on the basis of a proof adapted from Eisner 1997a. We take issue with this conclusion on two grounds. First, the intractability result holds only in cases where the constraint set is not fixed in advance (contra usual definitions of OT), and second, the result crucially depends on a particular representation of OT grammars. We show that there is an alternative representation of OT grammars that allows for efficient computation of optimal surface forms and provides deeper insight into the sources of complexity of OT. We conclude that it is a mistake to reject OT on the grounds that it is computationally intractable.
TL;DR: The authors showed that all agreement in Algonquian is agreement with Ā-positions and showed that Ritter and Rosen (2005) claim that this proposal can not be true.
Abstract: Ritter and Rosen (2005) claim that Algonquian languages lack A-movement and A-binding, and they theorize that all agreement in Algonquian is agreement with Ā-positions I show that this proposal ca
TL;DR: In this article, a reformulation of the connection between the structure and interpretation of multiple wh-questions that relies on the structural adjacency of two or more wh-items at LF was proposed.
Abstract: I point out that the generally accepted theory of single-pair versus pair-list readings for multiple wh-questions in the Slavic family, as instantiated in Boskovic 2001a, predicts the wrong result for Russian multiple wh-questions and for coordinated multiple wh-questions in several languages. I suggest a reformulation of the connection between the structure and the interpretation of multiple wh-questions that relies on the structural adjacency of two or more wh-items at LF, and I discuss a number of cases in which this reformulation appears to make the right predictions for multiple wh-questions containing clitics.
TL;DR: In this article, Davies observes that despite their superficial similarities, GCR and PO constructions cannot be conflated, and the pronominal copy in the PO construction need not be a subject and the matrix DP must be thematic.
Abstract: Potsdam and Runner propose that GCR involves a nonmovement A-chain, subject to standard locality conditions, while ACR involves simple coindexation between two thematic positions. Discussing the proleptic object (PO) construction in Madurese and English, in which an embedded pronominal copy is linked to a matrix DP, Davies (2005) observes that despite their superficial similarities, GCR and PO constructions cannot be conflated. Thus, the pronominal copy in the PO construction need not be a subject and the matrix DP must be thematic.
TL;DR: This article examined glottalization and lenition in Nuu-chah-nulth using features introduced via affixation, features that are sometimes compatible with the final segment of the stem and sometimes incompatible.
Abstract: This article examines glottalization and lenition in Nuu-chah-nulth. These processes involve features introduced via affixation, features that are sometimes compatible with the final segment of the stem and sometimes incompatible. An understanding of the intricacies of these patterns requires a focus on featural representations, with lexical representations involving floating features and variable specifications for features. Both of these properties follow from the postulation of a rich base, with features freely combining in inputs. The analysis argues for covert features, for constraints holding more strongly in small domains than large domains, and for the importance of a markedness scale on glottalizability.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a general theory of inductive inference for Javanese lexicon and present a lexicon based on context-free grammars through transformation.
Abstract: THE IMPLICIT EXTERNAL ARGUMENT IN NOMINALIZATIONS Ivy Sichel The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Lieber, Rochelle. 1980. On the organization of the lexicon. Doctoral dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA. Mohri, Mehryar, and Mark-Jan Nederhof. 2001. Regular approximation of context-free grammars through transformation. In Robustness in language and speech technology, ed. by JeanClaude Junqua and Gertjan van Noord, 153–163. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Moore, Gordon. 1965. Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Electronics 38:114–117. Nettle, David. 1995. Segmental inventory size, word length, and communicative efficiency. Linguistics 33:359–367. Rissanen, Jorma, and Eric Ristad. 1994. Language acquisition in the MDL framework. In Language computations, ed. by Eric Ristad, 149–166. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. Solomonoff, Ray J. 1960. A preliminary report on a general theory of inductive inference. Report ZTB-138. Cambridge, MA: Zator Co. Swingley, Daniel. 2003. Phonetic detail in the developing lexicon. Language and Speech 46:265–294. Whitney, William Dwight. 1879. Sanskrit grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yip, Moira. 1995. Repetition and its avoidance: The case of Javanese. In Proceedings of the 1995 Southwestern Optimality Theory Workshop, ed. by Keiichiro Suzuki and Dirk Elzinga, 238–263. Tucson: University of Arizona, Department of Linguistics.
TL;DR: Bruening (2001) provides strong support for this view by investigating the effect of "scope freezing": the scopal relations between two quantifiers one of which c-commands the other do not change when each of them undergoes QR.
Abstract: In recent minimalist theorizing, the operation of quantifier raising (QR) changing scopal properties of quantifiers is commonly viewed as having essentially a syntactic origin but a semantic effect. Bruening (2001 ) provides strong support for this view by investigating the effect of "scope freezing": the scopal relations between two quantifiers one of which c-commands the other do not change when each of them undergoes QR. This is the case, in particular, in English double object constructions: the two quantifiers in (la) do not exhibit scopal ambiguity. By a similar token, pair-list (P-L) answers expected when a quantifier moves over (a trace of) a w/i-phrase (May 1985) are not elicited by w/i-questions like (2a) (for those speakers who accept (2a) at all).
TL;DR: The authors compare various definitions of the "base" for reduplication and compare their empirical adequacy, and collate various cases from the literature which show that reduplicative allomorphy in certain languages is best dealt with by allowing for the differential assignment of bases for reduction in different morphological and sometimes even phonological contexts in those languages.
Abstract: of various theoretical perspectives, relatively little attention has been paid to the issue of what is able to be copied when a reduplication process applies. While much work has focused on the nature of reduplicants as theoretical objects, the possibility that languages may vary with respect to what may serve as a base for reduplication has rarely been addressed. In fact, comparatively little has been explicitly stated or claimed about the exact nature of reduplicative bases. The purpose of this squib is twofold: first, to contrast various proposed definitions of the ‘‘base’’ for reduplication and compare their empirical adequacy, and second, to collate various cases from the literature which show that reduplicative allomorphy in certain languages is best dealt with by allowing for the differential assignment of bases for reduplicative copying in different morphological and sometimes even phonological (prosodic) contexts in those languages. Theories that do not allow for this differential base assignment fail to make the correct generalizations about what gets copied in such languages.
TL;DR: A Puzzle for Remnant Movement Analyses of Verb-Second (V2) Analyses as discussed by the authors Theodorakopoulos et al. address some implications of an unspectacular yet critical consequence of remnant movement (RM) approaches toward verb movement (in particular, verb-second) indicating that it is hard for these analyses to express elementary generalizations about the relation between word order and interpretation.
Abstract: A Puzzle for Remnant Movement Analyses of Verb-Second Winfried Lechner University of Athens In this squib, I address some implications of an unspectacular yet critical consequence of remnant movement (RM) approaches toward verb movement (in particular, verb-second (V2)) indicating that it is hard for these analyses to express elementary generalizations about the relation between word order and interpretation.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that specific versions of phonological theory, as formulated in computational and theoretical work, are incapable of characterizing humanphonology inasmuch as they lead to NP-hard
Abstract: Twodecadesaftertheintroductionofcomplexity-theoreticmethodsforthestudyofnaturallanguagegrammars,therearestillmanytechnicallyincorrectargumentspurportingtoshowthe untractability of various formalisms. Here we analyze two such arguments, one old andone recent, both aimed at demonstrating that specific versions of phonological theory, asformulated in computational and theoretical work, are incapable of characterizing humanphonology inasmuch as they lead to NP-hard