Showing papers in "Natural Language and Linguistic Theory in 1995"

The lexical integrity principle: Evidence from Bantu

Abstract: The lexical integrity principle has been called into question by recent work which hypothesizes a syntactic phrasal source for inflected words. Bantu morphology provides a particularly rich empirical domain for this issue because it straddles the boundary between morphology and syntax, inviting syntactic analyses in both the earliest missionary grammars and recent theoretical works in generative grammar (Myers 1987; Baker 1988a,b; Kinyalolo 1991, Carstens 1991). In this study we show that the morphology and syntax of Bantu noun class markers strikingly support the lexical integrity principle, once the morphemic structure of words is factored apart from their prosodic and functional structures.

On the syntactic category of pronouns and agreement

Abstract: This paper provides support for the claim that there are two functional projections in full noun phrases, Determiner Phrase (DP) and Number Phrase (NumP), based on an analysis of the dual marker in Modern Hebrew. The assumption of two nominal functional categories permits a structural account of differences in the distribution of elements that function as first/second person pronouns and those that function as third person pronouns. It is hypothesized that 1st/2nd person pronouns are DPs which contain only the head D and that this head is specified for person, number and gender. In contrast, 3rd person pronouns have a more complex structure, where D is specified for person and Num is specified for number and gender. Similarities between past tense agreement and 1st/2nd person pronouns on the one hand and between present tense agreement and 3rd person pronouns on the other suggest that the same nominal functional categories that act as pronouns also act as agreement. In other words, the difference between pronouns and agreement lies not in their category, but in their role in the syntax. Finally, this view of pronouns and agreement is applied to complex null subject phenomena in Modern Hebrew. In order to account for the fact that the distribution of null subjects varies across persons and across tenses, we propose a matching condition on both the category and content of the null pronoun and agreement.

Feature structure of Romance clitics

Abstract: The combination of pronominal clitics in Romance often triggers the appearence of unexpected (opaque) form, which always coincide with clitics that exist independently in the language. In this article, which analyzes opaque forms in Italian, Spanish, and, especially, Catalan, it is proposed that pronominal clitics constitute hierarchical structures of monovalent morphological features. This hierarchy reflects markedness relations. Most opaque forms are obtained through morphological rules that delink or insert morphological features, thus rendering the target structure identical to the structure of another clitic. Morphological rules take place within the Morphology Component, between S-structure and PF (cf. Halle 1990, 1991). Phonological information, not present in the syntax, is introduced by spell-out rules very late in the Morphology Component and provides the input to PF. Clitic order is determined through mapping to a template. Some other opaque forms arise at that point.

The order of verbal complements: a comparative study

Abstract: Hebrew and Italian manifest a relative freedom in the ordering of complements in double complement constructions. Hypothesizing that the base order is NP PP, we proceed to delineate the transformational processes involved in the derivation of the alternative PP NP order. This leads us to identify a strategy of structural focalization involving a Focus projection which we take to be responsible for the derivation of a subset of the structures displaying the order PP NP. We discuss the interaction of this strategy with ‘subject inversion’ which we interpret as also involving structural focalization. Differences between Hebrew and Italian are correlated with the linear position of Spec/FocusP in the clause structure and the availability or non-availability ofpro in object position. It is observed that the range of options open to heavy objects is greater than that available to non-heavy or light objects. We claim that the order PP NPheavy does not submit to a uniform analysis and that a process of heavy NP Shift must be admitted alongside a process shifting the PP over NPheavy.

Laryngeal neutralization and syllable wellformedness

Abstract: This paper examines the phenomenon generally described as syllable-final laryngeal neutralization and argues for an analysis based on a positive wellformedness constraint on the presence of feature specifications. Part of the evidence that laryngeal neutralization is the result of a constraint comes from the fact that in some languages neutralization is a morpheme structure constraint: there is no evidence that distinctions occur at any level in the positions in question, so the analysis should not involve a derivation deleting such distinctions. The constraint also accounts for languages in which neutralization is a productive process: violations of the constraint are repaired by delinking, an automatic repair strategy that introduces no new information. The paper shows that the constraint must be stated positively rather than negatively to correctly account for all and only the environments in which neutralization occurs: not all environments where neutralization occurs are syllable-final. It also argues that some languages allow word-edge exceptions similar to final extrametricality: word-final consonants are specially licensed in these languages. Finally, the paper shows that only this combination of mechanisms makes the correct cross-linguistic predictions.

Negation in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract: This paper proposes an analysis of Mandarin Chinese negation in whichbu ‘not’ is an adverb in Spec,AuxP or Spec, VP which may occur only with unbounded aspectual situations and which must cliticize to the following element at S-structure. Evidence comes primarily from the facts that (1)bu does not normally occur with perfective aspect markers or with telic situations (such as achievements), and (2) whilebu occurs with preverbal adjuncts, it cannot cooccur with certain types of postverbal adjuncts: it is argued that postposing the latter from their base preverbal position leaves a trace which preventsbu from cliticizing, as it must. Evidence comes also from (3) the untenability of alternative analyses invoking scope or overt head movement. This analysis supports the views that morphological requirements of functional items may have important consequences for syntax and that the distribution of such items can be accounted for, in part, by ‘Affix Checking’, i.e., head movement at LF rather than in overt syntax.

The thematic hierarchy and causativity

Abstract: Chinese resultative compounds provide evidence that the thematic hierarchy is not the only factor determining the link between theta roles and syntactic arguments. Rather, it interacts with the causative hierarchy and when in conflict, can be overridden by the latter. This “asymmetrical” interaction between the two factors is shown to be responsible for the complex and, in some cases, totally unexpected patterns of ambiguity that resultative compounds demonstrate in various syntactic contexts. To the extent that the presence/absence of the causative hierarchy can be accurately predicted and its interaction with the thematic hierarchy explicitly specified, this paper lends support to the multi-dimensional nature of human language.

Wordhood and lexicality: Noun incorporation in Hindi

Abstract: This paper examines the syntactic, semantic, morphological, and phonological properties of a certain type of noun-verb sequence in Hindi, and argues that it is an instance of noun incorporation. The sequence must be analysed as a lexical category; yet paradoxically, verb agreement and negation show that this noun is on par with a syntactically independent argument. The paper proposes a solution to this dual behaviour of the noun by recognizing grammatical categories and grammatical functions as belonging to distinct but co-present dimensions of syntactic representation. This factorization of dimensions yields an account of the facts of Hindi Incorporation which are not amenable to analysis in terms of head movement (Baker 1988) or coanalysis (Sadock 1991). When combined with the idea of different notions of wordhood, the dual representation leads to a distinction between categorial word and functional word, central to the untangling of numerous issues surrounding lexicality.

Parameters for wh-movement types: evidence from child english*

Abstract: In this paper we report on a longitudinal study investigating Wh-constructions in children ranging initially from 2;11 to 5;7. We found that, in addition to accepting English-type Wh-movement, some children, for a period of time, also acceptpartial Wh-movement, Wh-copying, andmultiple Wh-movement, constructions that exist in languages like German and Romani, in which a Wh-phrase occurs in a [-Wh] SpecCP. Importantly, none of the children who accept these construction types manifest the That-Trace Effect. To account for this correlation, we propose an analysis whereby grammars allowing the Wh-constructions do not have the [pred] feature of Rizzi (1990) that distinguishes the specifier of relative clauses from other SpecCPs. We suggest that children are born with their parameter set in this way and later, if they are learning a language like English, switch to a grammar that includes the [pred] feature.

The ups and downs of Hebrew verb movement

Abstract: This paper puts forth a hypothesis on the nature of the transition from VSO word order to SVO word order and, more specifically, on the status of grammars which are in a state of transition. I argue that among such grammars one expects to find one in which [SPEC,IP] is never a so-called A-position and in which syntactic verb movement to I is optional and that Modern Hebrew is an example of such a language. The first part of the paper is dedicated to evidence in favor of the optional nature of verb movement, while the second part explores the properties of [SPEC,IP] and the consequences which its non-A-status has for quantification, movement and word order.

Action nominalizations and the lexicalist hypothesis

Abstract: This paper provides an account of the mixed verbo-nominal properties of the action nominalization construction in Hebrew and Arabic. Such an account is achieved by postulating an underlying representation in which a VP is the complement of an abstract nominal head, a nominalizer, and a derivation in which the verb is adjoined to the nominalizing morpheme to derive the action nominal that is the head of the construction. A central assumption of this analysis concerns the thematic properties, the argument structure, of the nominalizer and the way these interact with the overall thematic structure of action nominalizations. Finally, the article discusses the issue of lexicalism and develops arguments in favor of the non-lexicalist approach to action nominalizations developed in this work.

Epenthesis and syllable weight

Abstract: A standard assumption in the moraic theory of syllable weight is that a syllable must contain at least one mora, which is usually associated with a vowel. This paper presents arguments and evidence against this assumption. The evidence is drawn primarily from the behavior of epenthetic syllables in Mohawk and Iraqi Arabic with brief reference to Selayarese and Yapese. It is demonstrated that weight-sensitive phenomena such as stress assignment, vowel lengthening, and the bimoraicity of the minimal word consistently treat certain epenthetic syllables in these languages as lacking weight. To explain the behavior of epenthetic syllables, the paper proposes a revision to the theory of epenthesis to permit ‘stranded’ or unlicensed consonants to project (or be mapped) to syllables that have no weight. Such syllables may remain without a vocalic nucleus throughout the phonology and as such are interpreted as weightless by various phonological processes.

Negation and verb second in Breton

Abstract: This paper provides an analysis of Breton phrase structure and examines its consequences for the reformulation of the ECP in Rizzi (1990b). Particularly, I argue that subjects must be antecedent governed. I demonstrate that a number of aspects of Breton syntax, particularly subject agreement phenomena in V2 root clauses, are thus explained. In the course of the argument, I present an alternative to the standard analysis of a V2 language, in which I treat V2 not as an absolute characterization of a language containing certain rules, but rather as one relative to the instantiation of an abstract feature [Aff] (see Laka 1990) and the nature of C0 (Platzack 1986, Rizzi 1990a).

On participial relatives and complementizer D0 : a case study in Hebrew and French

Abstract: A new facet of D0 is brought to light in this paper; its ability to act as the relative complementizer of participial clauses. Participial relatives in certain languages (e.g., Hebrew) are headed by a particle homophonous to the definite article. The particular behavior of these relatives and their cross-linguistic distribution indicate that this particle is a complementizer-like D0. Moreover, various considerations suggest that participial relatives in other languages (e.g., French), which do not show an overt element of this type, also contain an equivalent (null) D0. The participial clause in both cases is shown to be an AGRP which does not have an internally determined tense. Consequently, it is proposed that it is the presence or absence of tense that defines the choice between C0 and D0 as the relative complementizer. Finally, as participial relatives seem to involve an operator-variable chain, like regular relatives, the licensing of the variable in an apparently Caseless position is briefly discussed.

Comparative ellipsis and logical form

Abstract: This paper is a study of the syntactic process of Comparative Ellipsis (CE) and its semantic interpretation. Concentrating on CE constructions in Modern Hebrew containing the morphemeaSer, the paper argues for an analysis of these constructions as sentential structures undergoing ellipsis, rather than base-generated PPs that are assigned sentential meaning by semantic interpretation. The paper argues that CE differs from other rules of ellipsis in comparatives on the basis of a distinction between deep and surface anaphora. Following work by Sag (1976) and Pesetsky (1982) on gapping, the paper claims that CE involves LF copying of IP, from the main clause into the comparative clause which is base-generated as a reduced CP. This analysis accounts for various properties of CE, in particular the fact that it cannot occur in comparative clauses containingma ‘what’. The paper presents both syntactic and semantic arguments in favor of a clausal analysis of CE constructions withaSer and against an analysis of direct semantic interpretation.

Labial opacity and roundness harmony in Nawuri

Abstract: Recently, a number of linguists (cf. Clements, 1991; Odden, 1991; Hume, 1992; Clements and Hume 1992) have proposed models of segment structure in which the place features of consonants and vowels are arrayed on different planes. As a consequence of this arrangement, these models predict that vowel-to-vowel place feature assimilation processes should not be blocked by intervening plain consonants (i.e., consonants with no distinctive secondary articulation).

Cyclic syllabification in Mongolian

Abstract: Mongolian is a language with a rich suffix-based morphology. Underlying forms can contain long consonant strings into which schwa vowels must be epenthesized in order to create well-formed syllables. Syllabification (including epenthesis) is governed by universal principles (the sonority law, maximality, and directionality) and a few language specific rules. Syllabification is cyclic in relation to the morphology, as is shown directly by minimal pairs having the same underlying segments but different syllabifications due to different morphological structure.