Head (linguistics)

About: Head (linguistics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2540 publications have been published within this topic receiving 29023 citations. The topic is also known as: nucleus.

Agreement and Concord in Nominal Expressions

Abstract: This paper claims that feature sharing should be analyzed as the result of at least two different processes, which are named here Agreement and Concord, and inquires how these two processes are manifested inside nominal expressions (NEs). Agreement is the transfer of the Person features of the possessor (the “subject” of the NE) onto some functional head (parallel to subject Agreement in the clause) with the effect that (Genitive) Case is assigned. On the contrary, Concord is the transfer of Number, Word Class, and Case specifications from a functional head onto a modifier, which is first-merged as a Specifier of that functional head. The claim is that, quite differently from Agreement, Concord arises from the merger of a modifier, underspecified for uninterpretable features, in the specifier of a functional head, carrying a copy of those features. In other words, Concord is directly enhanced by the Spec-Head configuration; it does not involve merger of a probe which targets a goal and, as a consequence, never triggers (overt or covert) movement. This proposal can dispense with a number of otherwise unmotivated movements and can derive the different properties of these two kinds of feature sharing phenomena. The argument is supported by observing macro-parallelisms across Bantu and Romance languages, in particular Swahili and Xhosa on the one hand and Romanian and Italian on the other hand.

The grammaticalization of nominal type noun constructions with kind/sort of: chronology and paths of change

Abstract: Denison distinguishes three main NP constructions with type nouns such as sort/kind/type of in Present-day English, namely the head, postdeterminer and qualifier constructions. The latter two developed from the binominal construction in which lexically full sort/kind/type is the head followed by a second noun designating a superordinate class. In the chronology he posits the postdeterminer construction as an early reanalysis of the binominal construction (c.1390 for all kind of and c.1550 for kind and sort of), whereas the qualifying constructions developed later from it (c.1580 for kind of and c.1710 for sort of), via the mediation of the postdeterminer construction. However, in recent synchronic corpus studies we have distinguished two additional NP constructions with type nouns, namely quantifier and descriptive modifier, on the basis of syntactic, semantic and collocational features. In the present article we consider the diachronic import of these newly distinguished constructions and argue that they...

"Notes on Vocative case: a case study in clause structure"

Abstract: 1. Vocative Case in modern syntax: two questions One of the major achievements of modern syntax is that all the different relations that are standardly referred to as ‘Case assignments’ have been unified under a single syntactic relation, namely a specifier – head relation holding between a noun phrase and a proper functional head (see Chomsky 1995 and references cited there). In this paper I would like to address some questions concerning the nature of the so called ‘Vocative Case’ which naturally arise under such perspective. As a premise, let me notice that the literature concerning Vocative Case is unusually scarce, especially if compared with the literature concerning other Cases. I think that this is not accidental, for the very existence of a specific morphological Vocative Case has been often denied as will be shown on the base of some citations from classical works in the field. In this paper I will focus on two conceptually distinct questions:

Pseudo Noun Incorporation as Covert Noun Incorporation: Linearization and Crosslinguistic Variation

Abstract: Pseudo noun incorporation (PNI) constructions in Sakha and Tamil obey a strict linear adjacency condition, such that not only the noun phrase (NP) but its head noun must be adjacent to the verb at phonological form (PF). I argue that this adjacency condition can be explained if the head of the NP adjoins to the verb to create a unit interpreted as a complex predicate at logical form (LF). The resulting structure can be linearized at PF if and only if no syntactic expression comes between the two copies of the noun, forcing adjacency on the construction. I also discuss two sources of variation in the syntax of pseudo noun incorporation: the fact that pseudo-incorporated nominals are invisible for case and agreement in some languages (Tamil and Sakha) but not others (Hindi and Hungarian), and the fact that the adjacency condition is canceled in languages like Hindi, where Verb-to-Tense movement serves to break up the verb-noun phrase (V-NP) cluster.

Morphology at the Interfaces: Reduplication and Noun Incorporation in Uto-Aztecan

Abstract: This monograph addresses morphology and its interfaces with phonology and syntax by examining comparative data from the Uto-Aztecan language family, and analyses involving reduplication as well as noun incorporation and related derivational morphology are provided within the framework of Distributed Morphology. Reduplication is treated by analyzing reduplicative morphemes (reduplicants) as morphological pieces (Vocabulary Items) inserted into syntactic slots at Morphological Structure. Noun incorporation constructions are analyzed as involving either incorporation (head movement in syntax, a la Baker 1988), or conflation, involving direct merger of a nominal root into verbal position (a la Hale and Keyser 2002). It is argued that denominal verb constructions should be treated as a sub-case of NI, as in Hale and Keyser (1993). Finally, the historical development of the polysynthesis parameter in Nahuatl is discussed, and a reconstruction of the likely stages of development, each of which is attested elsewhere in the family, is presented.