Showing papers in "Natural Language and Linguistic Theory in 2015"

Recursion in prosodic phrasing: evidence from Connemara Irish

Abstract: One function of prosodic phrasing is its role in aiding in the recoverability of syntactic structure. In recent years, a growing body of work suggests it is possible to find concrete phonetic and phonological evidence that recursion in syntactic structure is preserved in the prosodic organization of utterances (Ladd 1986, 1988; Kubozono 1989, 1992; Fery and Truckenbrodt 2005; Wagner 2005, 2010; Selkirk 2009, 2011; Ito and Mester 2013; Myrberg 2013). This paper argues that the distribution of phrase-level phrase accents in Connemara Irish provides a new type of evidence in favour of this hypothesis: that, under ideal conditions, syntactic constituents are mapped onto prosodic constituents in a one-to-one fashion, such that information about the nested relationships between syntactic constituents is preserved through the recursion of prosodic domains. Through an empirical investigation of both clausal and nominal constructions, I argue that the distribution of phrasal phrase accents in Connemara Irish can be used as a means of identifying recursive bracketing in prosodic structure.

Adjectival participles, event kind modification and pseudo-incorporation

Abstract: Due to their hybrid nature, German adjectival participles display properties of both adjectives and verbs. In particular, their verbal behaviour is evidenced by the restricted availability of manner and other event-related modifiers. I propose that German adjectival participles denote degrees (state kinds), which accounts for their adjectival behaviour, and that an adjectival passive construction refers to the instantiation of a consequent state kind of an event kind, which accounts for the verbal properties. Event-related modifiers that name event participants, i.e. phrases headed by by or with, are analysed in terms of pseudo-incorporation. This account is motivated by the fact that the nouns in such phrases display properties of pseudo-incorporated nouns, such as discourse opacity and the requirement of naming an institutionalised or conventionalised activity or state, together with the verb/participle these phrases incorporate into. The restrictions on event-related modification, then, follow from general restrictions on kind modification and on pseudo-incorporation.

Degrees as kinds

Abstract: This paper argues that a variety of constructions in a variety of languages suggest a deep connection between kinds, manners, and degrees. We articulate a way of thinking about degrees on which this connection is less surprising, rooted in the idea that degrees are kinds of Davidsonian states. This enables us to provide a cross-categorial compositional semantics for a class of expressions that can serve as anaphors to kinds, manners, and degrees, or introduce clauses that further characterize them. A consequence of this is that equatives emerge as a special case of a more general cross-categorial phenomenon. The analysis is undergirded by independently motivated assumptions about free relatives and type shifting. It provides evidence for a view of degrees on which they are significantly more ontologically complex than is typically thought.

Being progressive is just a phase: celebrating the uniqueness of progressive aspect under a phase-based analysis

Abstract: The identity of phasal boundaries has mostly been considered in light of minimal CP-TP-vP-VP structures. The question this paper addresses is where the clause-internal phase boundary lies in light of more complex structures in which aspectual projections intervene between TP and vP. I claim progressive aspect to be unique amongst aspectual forms in English in that it is part of the clause-internal phase, whilst perfect aspect and all higher functional items are contained within the CP/TP phase. This claim accounts for many peculiar quirks of progressive aspect in English, namely in VP ellipsis, fronting phenomena, idioms and existential constructions. On the theoretical front I argue that this division in the aspectual hierarchy is best understood through a variable approach to phases in which the highest projection within a sub-numeration acts as the phase, irrespective of what that projection is. This denies vP of its exclusivity as the clause-internal phase, and allows the progressive layer to project the phase when present. This approach generally sits in line with the move towards a dynamic understanding of phases, as per Bobaljik and Wurmbrand (2005), Wurmbrand (2012, 2013) and Boskovic (2013, 2014).

Middle Voice and reflexive interpretations: afto-prefixation in Greek

Abstract: This paper investigates in detail the properties of a particular morphological reflexivization strategy in Greek, named afto-prefixation. The basic building blocks of afto-prefixation are the prefix afto-, shown to be an anti-assistive intensifier, and Middle Voice, a non-active syntactic Voice that gives rise to an existential interpretation of the implicit external argument, like the canonical Passive, but exhibits no Disjoint Reference Effects, unlike the Passive. The reflexive interpretation of afto-prefixation is the result of semantically composing these two elements. We argue that neither the prefix nor non-active morphology is a reflexivizer, i.e. neither imposes identity between two arguments of the predicate. The results of our analysis are rather surprising to the extent that they show that there exist reflexivization strategies that involve no reflexivization at all. We show that Voice and the class of intensifiers are integral elements of certain reflexivization strategies and demonstrate how and why they interact compositionally in deriving reflexive interpretations. This interaction points towards an account of both anaphoric and morphological reflexivization strategies that depends crucially on properties of predicates (rather than anaphors), and is crucially based on a dissociation of intensification from reflexivization.

Intensification without degrees cross-linguistically

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the semantics of two cross-categorial modifiers that receive an interpretation of intensification: -issimo in Italian, and semu in Washo. Given that both modifiers can combine with a wide range of categories, including those not typically considered grammatically gradable, we argue against an analysis of these modifiers along the lines of e.g., Kennedy and McNally (Language 81(2):345–381, 2005) for very, as uniformly boosting a degree standard. Rather, we argue that the type of modification found with -issimo and semu is one that manipulates a contextual parameter present in the modified expressions, and more specifically universally quantifies over possible contexts of evaluation. Such an analysis allows us to account for the wide distribution of these modifiers, and their co-occurrence with categories that do not encode degree variables. We therefore argue for a typological split in the landscape of intensifiers, both across and within languages, between those that track degree variables, and those that do not.

Case in Sakha: are two modalities really necessary?

Abstract: Baker and Vinokurova (2010) argue that the distribution of morphologically observable case in Sakha (Turkic) requires a hybrid account, which involves recourse both to configurational rules of case assignment (Bittner and Hale 1996; Marantz 1991; Yip et al. 1987), and to case assignment by functional heads (Chomsky 2000, 2001). In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is under-motivated, and present an alternative account of case in Sakha that is entirely configurational. The central innovation lies in abandoning Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) assumptions regarding the interaction of case and agreement, and replacing them with Bobaljik’s (2008) and Preminger’s (2011) independently motivated alternative, nullifying the need to appeal to case assignment by functional heads in accounting for the Sakha facts.

Bare Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese: more on the DP/NP analysis

Abstract: In this paper we claim that Bare Nominals in Brazilian Portuguese come in two shapes. Real BNs, by which we mean bare count nouns not specified for number and definiteness, correspond to NPs that can only occur as objects of a reduced class of predicates (namely, those that express a have-relation) and are interpreted as property-type expressions. Other BNs can be definite and, although not morphophonologically specified for number, they are DPs with null Determiners morphosyntactically specified for Number features and are interpreted as entity-type expressions. We base our analysis on the distribution and meaning of BNs, by comparing BrP with other Romance languages, mainly (Old and Modern) French on the one hand, and Spanish and Catalan on the other.

Ergativity and the complexity of extraction: a view from Mayan

Abstract: Researchers using different methods have converged on the result that subject relative clauses are easier to process than object relative clauses. Cross-linguistic evidence for the subject processing advantage (SPA) has come mostly from accusative languages, where the covariance of grammatical function and case prevents researchers from determining which of these two factors underlies the SPA. Languages with morphological ergativity allow for the separation of case and grammatical function, since the subject position is associated with two cases: absolutive (intransitive subjects) and ergative (transitive subjects). Prior experimental results on the processing of ergative languages suggest that grammatical function and surface case may be equally important in relative clause processing. On the one hand, as a syntactic subject, the ergative DP has a processing advantage over the absolutive object. On the other hand, the appearance of an ergative serves as a cue for the projection of the absolutive object, which gives processing preference to that object. This paper further tests these findings by examining the processing of relative clauses in Ch’ol and Q’anjob’al, two languages that mark ergativity via agreement on the predicate (head-marking). We address two main questions: (a) does the SPA hold in ergative languages? And (b) are case and agreement equally able to license grammatical functions, and if so, is this reflected in processing? With regard to (a), our results support the SPA, suggesting that it is present in both ergative and accusative languages. With respect to (b), we do not find evidence for a cueing effect associated with the ergative agreement marker. We conclude that dependent-marking is superior to head-marking in tracking grammatical function; in the absence of case cues, universal structural preferences such as the SPA become more pronounced. We also consider and reject a processing explanation for syntactic ergativity, according to which some languages categorically avoid A-bar movement of the ergative with a gap because it imposes a heavy processing load. Our results show that the processing of ergative gaps is not associated with greater cost than the processing of absolutive object gaps; this suggests that an explanation for syntactic ergativity should be sought outside processing.

Syntactic and prosodic scrambling in Japanese

Abstract: This paper presents evidence that Japanese has prosodic scrambling of phonological phrases (ϕ) in addition to the well-studied syntactic scrambling of XPs. All cases of scrambling in Japanese involve fronting constituents, be they syntactic XPs or phonological ϕs. If the syntax cannot move XPs, the phonology is forced to move their prosodic equivalents: these ϕs are fronted to the left edge of the intonational phrase (ɩ) that contains them and join to make a single recursive ϕ, the domain for tonal downstep (Ito and Mester 2012, 2013). Syntactic scrambling ‘bleeds’ prosodic scrambling, adding support for a uni-directional, feed-forward model of syntax-phonology interactions. Syntactic scrambling fronts XPs and obeys syntactic conditions on movement, and the scrambled XP exhibits interpretive effects in its surface position. Prosodic scrambling fronts ϕs and is blind to syntactic conditions on movement, and the scrambled ϕs are interpreted in situ, as expected.

The syntax of Why-Stripping

Abstract: This study investigates a clausal ellipsis construction involving the adverbial wh-phrase why and a non-wh-remnant, hereafter Why-Stripping. We show that Why-Stripping exhibits movement properties such as connectivity effects in the same way as Sluicing (with argument wh-phrases) and Stripping, and claim that Why-Stripping involves movement of the focused phrase (e.g. Mary) followed by clausal ellipsis. Furthermore, based on the fact that Why-Stripping does not show strict locality restrictions, unlike Sluicing with why, we claim that why in Why-Stripping is base-generated in the Spec_CP position while Sluicing with why involves adjunct wh-movement. According to this view, there are two types of why: one that moves and the other that does not move. It is shown that the latter induces focus association and participates in Why-Stripping. Thus, the investigation of Why-Stripping contributes to revealing the nature of the syntax of why itself.

Comparison classes and the relative/absolute distinction: a degree-based compositional account of the ser / estar alternation in Spanish

Abstract: The notion of comparison class has figured prominently in recent analyses of the gradability properties of adjectives. We assume that the comparison class is introduced by the degree morphology of the adjective and present a new proposal where comparison classes are crucial to explain the distribution of adjectives in Spanish copular sentences headed by the verbs ser ‘beSER’ and estar ‘beESTAR’. The copula estar ‘be estar ’ appears whenever a gradable adjective merges with a within-individual comparison class, a modifier expressing a property of stages. The copular verb ser ‘be ser ’ appears when a gradable adjective merges with a between-individuals comparison class, a modifier expressing a property of individuals. The distinction between relative and absolute adjectives can be reduced to the semantic properties of the modifier expressing the comparison class that is merged in the functional structure of the adjective.

Aspect splits without ergativity

Abstract: This paper looks at two different aspect splits in Neo-Aramaic languages that are unusual in that they do not involve any ergativity. Instead, these splits are characterized by agreement reversal, a pattern in which the function of agreement markers switches between aspects, though the alignment of agreement remains consistently nominative-accusative. Some Neo-Aramaic languages have complete agreement reversal, affecting both subject and object agreement (Khan 2002, 2008; Coghill 2003). In addition to this, we describe a different system, found in Senaya, which we call partial agreement reversal. In Senaya, the reversal only affects the marker of the perfective subject, which marks objects in the imperfective. We show that a unifying property of the systems that we discuss is that there is additional agreement potential in the imperfective. We develop an account in which these splits arise because of an aspectual predicate in the imperfective that introduces an additional φ-probe. This proposal provides support for the view that aspect splits are the result of an additional predicate in nonperfective aspects (Laka 2006; Coon 2010; Coon and Preminger 2012), because it allows for the apparently disparate phenomena of split ergativity and agreement reversal to be given a unified treatment.

Empathy and Chinese long distance reflexive ziji—remarks on Giorgi (2006, 2007)

Abstract: With the assumption that long distance anaphors (LDAs) are unsaturated positions, Giorgi (Nat. Lang. Linguist. Theory 24:1009–1047, 2006, Linguist. Inq. 38(2):321–342, 2007) argues that the machinery independently needed for temporal anchoring—i.e., the syntactic representation of the coordinate of the bearer-of-attitude and that of the speaker—can also account for long distance binding. In this paper, we claim that the interpretative similarity between temporal anchoring and anaphoric binding suggested by Giorgi cannot be maintained, especially for Chinese, after pointing out the limitations of Giorgi’s theory concerning Chinese LDA ziji. With the recognition of the fact that Chinese long distance reflexive ziji also has an empathic use based on Kuno and Kaburaki’s (Linguist. Inq. 8(4):625–672, 1977) notion of empathy, we argue that a minimal revision to Giorgi’s theory, namely replacing the speaker’s coordinate with the empathy locus which encodes the information of the speaker’s empathy in the embedded clause, will help account for all the difficulties that Giorgi’s theory faces concerning Chinese LDA ziji.

Psych verbs in English and Mandarin

Abstract: Psych verb constructions show peculiar properties. They appear to project the same θ-relations into inverse configurations (John fears sharks/Sharks frighten John). Furthermore, Experiencer Object psych verb constructions admit backward binding in apparent violation of familiar c-command conditions (Pictures of himself anger John). We offer a solution to both puzzles drawing crucially on data from English and Mandarin. We argue that apparent θ-role inversion is an illusion, and that Experiencer Subject psych verb constructions like John fears sharks are not in fact simple transitive constructions but instead involve a concealed clause with a silent predicate (John fears [cp sharks PRED]). Regarding backward binding, we argue for an updated version of Belletti and Rizzi’s (1988) analysis of Experiencer Object psych verbs in which the putative Theme is a Source that is underlyingly c-commanded by the Experiencer.

Event modifiers in (German) adjectival participles: remarks on Gehrke (this issue)

Abstract: This commentary discusses four main claims about German adjectival participles made by Gehrke (this issue): (i) that events in adjectival participles are uninstantiated kinds, not tokens, (ii) that DPs in modifiers and by-phrases in participles are referentially opaque, (iii) that modifiers/by-phrases pseudo-incorporate into the participles, and (iv) that participle+modifier/by-phrase combinations refer to established (nameworthy) event-kinds. I defend claims (i)–(iii) in the face of potential counterevidence, but argue against claim (iv). I also motivate the generalisation that modifiers/by-phrases are licit only if they contribute to the description of the state expressed by the participle.

Problems in Kuria H tone assignment

Abstract: In the Buguumbe dialect of Kuria, the assignment of inflectional H tones to the verb poses at least two theoretically significant problems. First, the principles of tone assignment count to four and are not amenable to a metrical analysis, which is problematic for theories of locality. Second, for at least some speakers, the principles of tone assignment are phrase-level processes that refer to the internal structure of the verbal word, which is problematic for the notion of Bracket Erasure within Lexical Phonology.

Meter as faithfulness

Abstract: In this paper I propose a theory of meter that treats meter as Optimality-Theoretic (OT) faithfulness. At the core of the proposal is the notion of meter as similarity between an abstract metrical template consisting of prosodic structure without segmental content, and the prosodic structure of a line of verse. Faithfulness is the measure of similarity in OT. I develop a general theory of faithfulness between prosodic structures using standard OT tools, and apply it to meter. I test the theory by investigating two aspects of English iambic meters, phrasal peaks in weak positions, and stressed syllables in weak positions. Because many analytically interesting aspects of meter involve gradient preference rather than absolute metricality, the theory is embedded in the multiple-grammars theory of variation. The chief advantage of the present approach is its commitment to the grounding hypothesis, viz. the claim that rule-governed aspects of meter can be analyzed using the same tools as ordinary grammar.

On silent elements: A case study of grand and its silent entourage.

Abstract: Recent work in syntax has seen a proliferation of silent elements (SEs), e.g., van Riemsdijk (2002, 2005) and Kayne (e.g., Kayne 2005, 2006, 2012). This paper offers a feature-based taxonomy of lexical items, in which SEs are non-canonical items without phonological features. An SE and its pronounced counterpart, if any, are thus semantically equivalent, but SEs are not the result of ellipsis, which suppresses the pronunciation of pronounceable elements. Under this contextualization, the SEs in Kayne’s (2012) and Law’s (2012) accounts of the monetary expression grand are reexamined. For ten grand, Kayne (2012) proposes for its underlying source: ten THOUSAND BUCKS IN grand TOTAL, where capitalized items are SEs, while Law (2012) argues for a simpler source form: ten THOUSAND grand BUCKS, where grand remains an adjective. Yet, their starting assumptions that grand does not pluralize and is not used as a noun elsewhere are incorrect. The SE accounts also make a number of incorrect predictions syntactically and semantically and have difficulty explaining acquisition. A nominal account of grand with the same lexical status as G and nickel is far simpler and applies to all dialects. Though the feature-based taxonomy of lexical items predicts the existence of SEs, a proposed SE must still be justified syntactically and semantically. Thus, some of the SEs proposed may not be warranted upon closer scrutiny.

Parenthetical verb constructions, fragment answers, and constituent modification

Abstract: I argue that parenthetical verb clauses (PVCs) (Urmson in Mind 1952) such as John reckons, I confess, and she hopes always modify (that is, ‘have an interpretative effect upon’) propositions that may express illocutionary force. I illustrate that the apparent ability of PVCs to modify subclausal constituents is illusory, and that insights into how PVCs interact with the proposition that they modify are gained from exploring the syntactic mechanisms that maintain this illusion—the most important of which is the insight that constructions in which a PVC is observed modifying a subclausal constituent are best understood as fragment amalgams.

Assimilation, dissimilation, and surface correspondence in Sundanese

Abstract: Much recent work has approached long-distance agreement effects using the notion of correspondence between surface segments, driven by relative phonological similarity. This theory of correspondence also has consequences for dissimilatory interactions. Sundanese exhibits a complex [r]∼[l] alternation, which may arise by assimilation or dissimilation. This alternation is analyzed as the result of constraints on surface correspondence, which give rise to both assimilation and dissimilation in complementary distribution, with the choice between them determined by the structural configuration of the interacting liquids. Harmony occurs where surface correspondence between liquids is permitted; dissimilation occurs where such correspondence is prohibited. Dissimilation is argued to emerge from the interaction of constraints that require similar consonants to correspond, and constraints that limit this correspondence, rather than being an effect of anti-similarity constraints.

Reduplication in Hawaiian: variations on a theme of minimal word

Abstract: The article explores a database of over 1600 reduplicated words in Hawaiian and gives the first comprehensive account of the empirical generalizations concerning reduplicant form and associated vowel length alternations. We argue that the observed output patterns and length alternations can be cogently analyzed by recognizing a minimal word target for reduplicant shape. Realizing a minimal word, or a single well-formed foot, is predicted by the integration of standard constraints on prosodic well-formedness and faithfulness constraints in Optimality Theory. We further show that all variant realizations of the reduplicant, and a myriad of exceptional patterns, can be accounted for by re-ordering only faithfulness constraints defined on distinct correspondence relations, documenting that one especially rich dataset can be analyzed with this limitation on constraint systems.

On Swiping in English

Abstract: This paper examines the syntax of clauses in which prepositions undergo Swiping/Sluice-Stranding in elliptical questions like Who with? (e.g. in response to ‘She’s having an affair’). We begin by outlining characteristic properties of Swiping, noting that this involves an interrogative wh-constituent positioned in front of a focused preposition, and that the clause remnant following the preposition obligatorily undergoes a type of ellipsis traditionally termed Sluicing. We outline the recent CP shell analysis of Swiping developed by van Craenenbroeck (2010), under which a PP containing a wh-word is moved into the specifier position of an inner CP, the wh-word is moved into the specifier position of an outer CP (stranding the preposition on the edge of the inner CP), and the residual TP is deleted at PF. We discuss a range of problems with his analysis, and argue that it can be substantially improved if we adopt a more richly articulated cartographic structure for the clause periphery under which Swiped clauses contain ForceP, FocP, and FinP projections. More specifically, we argue that the wh-PP moves to the edge of FinP (with the auxiliary moving to Fino in structures involving auxiliary inversion), the preposition moves into Foco to mark it as focused, and the wh-constituent moves into Spec-ForceP to type the clause as interrogative. We claim that the obligatory Sluicing component of Swiping involves ellipsis of FinP in the PF component, and that this is required in order to repair violations of PF constraints which would otherwise arise. We show how our analysis accounts for a range of phenomena not captured under van Craenenbroeck’s original analysis.

Transforming manner adverbs into subject-oriented adverbs: evidence from Japanese

Abstract: It is well known that some adverbs in English, such as stupidly, cleverly and clumsily, can be interpreted as manner adverbs or agent-oriented adverbs depending on their positions in a sentence, e.g., John danced stupidly vs. Stupidly, John danced. Three approaches are possible and have been proposed for this alternation: (i) positing an agent-oriented adverb as the basic entry from which a manner adverb is derived (Ernst 2002), (ii) positing a manner adverb as the basic entry from which an agent-oriented adverb is derived (McConnell-Ginet 1982), and (iii) positing two distinct lexical entries for the two readings (Pinon 2010). I present data from Japanese which support the second approach. However, there would be a problem if we directly adopt the second approach for the Japanese data, since the adverbs that at first sight look like agent-oriented adverbs in Japanese are not truly ‘agent’-oriented, but rather ‘surface-subject’-oriented. I propose an analysis that does not suffer from this problem, by modifying an idea from McConnell-Ginet (1982) and also incorporating the notion of comparison class from Ernst (2002). The discussion extends to another class of adverbs called ‘evaluative adverbs’, such as fortunately and oddly, which show the same morphological property with surface-subject oriented adverbs in Japanese.

Negative concord with polyadic quantifiers

Abstract: In this paper we develop a syntax-semantics of negative concord in Romanian within a constraint-based lexicalist framework. We show that n-words in Romanian are best treated as negative quantifiers which may combine by resumption to form polyadic negative quantifiers. Optionality of resumption explains the existence of simple sentential negation readings alongside double negation readings. We solve the well-known problem of defining general semantic composition rules for translations of natural language expressions in a logical language with polyadic quantifiers by integrating our higher-order logical object language in Lexical Resource Semantics (LRS), whose constraint-based composition mechanisms directly support a systematic syntax-semantics for negative concord with polyadic quantification in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG).

Discourse-driven V-to-C in Early Modern Romanian

Abstract: The Moldavian Chronicles of the 17th and 18th centuries are the first literary texts written directly in Romanian. In these Early Modern Romanian (EMR) texts, declarative clauses display an alternation between clitic > V(erb) and V(erb) > clitic orders, which reflects low verb movement (Verb-to-Tense/V-to-T) or high verb movement (Verb-to-Complementizer/V-to-C), respectively. The analysis concentrates on V-to-C, and demonstrates that, within a cartographic approach to the left periphery of the clause, V-to-C is actually V-to-Focus. Hence, the paper argues for discourse-driven (versus structure-preserving/formal) verb movement to C in EMR, and thus contributes to current studies that view V-to-C in Old Romance as an epiphenomenon of the information packaging at the left periphery of clauses.

States versus tropes. Comments on Curt Anderson and Marcin Morzycki: ‘Degrees as kinds’

Abstract: In this commentary on Anderson and Morzycki’s article ‘Degrees as kinds’, I raise some issues about the interchangeability of concrete (or Davidsonian) states (in the sense of Maienborn 2007) and tropes (particularized properties, according to Moltmann 2009), as well as the category of concrete states as such. I will also raise some issues for Anderson and Morzycki’s use of kinds of concrete states for constructing degrees and their analysis of the comparative.

Maximal prominence and a theory of possible licensors

Abstract: Languages often single out prominent positions for special consideration, allowing certain elements to appear only in those positions. Often material in the prominent position surfaces faithfully but neutralizes elsewhere (preservation systems), but other systems involve the spreading or migration of features to the prominent position to comply with the positional restriction (overwrite systems). The set of positions that behave as prominent for preservation seems to be a superset of the positions that behave as prominent for overwrite. This paper argues that this asymmetry stems from differences between positional faithfulness and positional licensing. Only positional licensing produces overwrite; it is argued here that it may target only the most prominent positions, while positional faithfulness, which produces preservation, may target all kinds of prominent positions.

The syntax of anaphoric possessives in Hungarian

Abstract: Starting with the seminal work of Szabolcsi, morphologically unmarked and Dative-marked possessors in Hungarian have been the subject of rich investigation. Anaphoric possessive constructions, however, have remained poorly researched. In these possessives the possessor bears the mysterious -e suffix and the covert possessum is interpreted under identity with an antecedent. This paper presents new evidence in favour of Bartos’ (2001) analysis of anaphoric possessives, which holds that -e is the Genitive case. I further argue that anaphoric possessives in Hungarian involve a pro-form rather than deletion of a lexical noun, and this accounts for the restricted modification of the possessum.

Manner and degree: An introduction

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of semantic issues concerning manner and degree. This includes going over the theoretical questions that arise in the literature on VP modification and event semantics, as well as the research that has been carried out on gradable adjectives, scale structure and vagueness. This introduction further situates the papers and commentaries in this volume within this discussion. We end by outlining commonalities between manner and degree.