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.

Peas and pancakes: On apparent disagreement and (null) light verbs in Swedish

Abstract: Having shown how Construction NOM and Construction PROP differ, I demonstrate that the subject of Construction PROP is clausal. I argue that the topmost XP of the subject phrase of both constructions contains a null neuter element. This accounts for the neuter predicative agreement; hence the idea of default agreement or semantic agreement can be dismissed. I also argue that the subject in (ii) contains a nu P, the head of which is a null light verb. Other instances of null light verbs in Swedish are identified too. Finally, I propose an analysis that accounts for the close relation between Construction PROP and the corresponding construction with a med-phrase 'with -phrase'.

'She had just cut/broken off her head': Cutting and breaking verbs in Tzeltal

Abstract: This paper describes the lexical resources for expressing events of cutting and breaking (CB C&B verbs are formally undistinguishable from many other transitive state-change verbs. But they nicely reveal the characteristic specificity of Tzeltal verb seman

Heads in Oceanic Indirect Possession

Abstract: In many Oceanic languages the "indirect" possessive construction, which is typically associated with alienable possession, uses special forms to host person and number agreement indexing the possessor. This can be contrasted with the "direct" possessive construction, typically associated with inalienable possession, where a lexical possessum noun itself carries possessor-indexing agreement. The host forms used in the indirect construction are often referred to as "classifiers". We argue that this term should not be applied to indirect possession marking in many Oceanic languages, and present evidence to show that indirect possessor-indexing hosts should be treated as the syntactic head of the noun phrase in which they occur, thereby allowing treatment of the syntax of NPs with indirect possession that is consistent with those with direct marking. In both instances, the person and number indexing morphology simply attaches to the syntactic head.

Agreement in Ibibio: From Every Head to Every Head

Abstract: . The Ibibio language has the special property that agreement with a single grammatical subject can appear multiple times in the same clause. After showing that this is a general phenomenon in the language, we argue that every verbal functional head in Ibibio—Aspect, Auxiliary, Mood, and Participle, as well as Tense—acts as a probe, capable of initiating an Agree relationship. Furthermore, a close comparison of agreement in indicative, subjunctive, negative, and infinitival clauses shows that these functional heads do not agree with the subject directly; rather each agrees with the next highest functional head within the extended projection. The facts of Ibibio thus point toward a version of Chomsky’s theory of Agree in which any functional head can be the probe in an agreement relation, and any functional head can be the goal in such a relation.

From Dichotomy to Divergence: Number/Gender Marking on Hebrew Nouns and Adjectives Across School Ages

Abstract: This study investigates the development of plural adjective agreement in Hebrew, focusing on the consolidation of Hebrew number/gender morphology in children and adolescents across the school years in comparison with adults. A total of 240 Hebrew-speaking participants in seven consecutive grade levels (kindergarten to sixth grade) plus a group of 30 adults were administered a set of 32 singular noun-adjective noun phrases, which they had to pluralize. Head nouns were classified by noun gender (masculine and feminine), suffix type (regular and irregular), and stem type (nonchanging and changing). Children's ability to correctly pluralize nouns and adjectives increased markedly from kindergarten to adulthood, whereas reaction time to the correct plural phrase decreased concomitantly. Noun gender, stem, and suffix morphology impacted noun and adjective plural marking as well as reaction time. Results are discussed in view of the critical role of noun gender as a central organizing factor in the development of Hebrew plural marking.