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.

Coordinate Structures in Universal Dependencies for Head-final Languages

Abstract: This paper discusses the representation of coordinate structures in the Universal Dependencies framework for two head-final languages, Japanese and Korean. UD applies a strict principle that makes the head of coordination the left-most conjunct. However, the guideline may produce syntactic trees which are difficult to accept in head-final languages. This paper describes the status in the current Japanese and Korean corpora and proposes alternative designs suitable for these languages.

Head Movement and Noun Incorporation

Abstract: Head movement (HM), once a mainstay of generative syntax, has undergone a tumultuous series of overhauls over the years (Baker 2009, Boeckx and Stjepanović 2001, Chomsky 2001, Fanselow 2003, Mahajan 2003, Matushansky 2006, Roberts 2010). The problems with HM have been discussed in the literature just cited, and we do not comment further on them here. Rather, we wish to address the issue of HM and noun incorporation (NI) in light of Roberts’s (2010) recent reworking of HM. In a nutshell, we show that the mechanism for HM adopted by Roberts (who uses NI to support his agreement proposal), while well-suited for capturing other properties Roberts discusses such as clitics in Romance and Slavic languages, fails to capture various properties of NI in several languages—notably Fox and Ojibwe (Algonquian) and various Northern Iroquoian languages (Mohawk, Onondaga, and Oneida), though we discuss other languages below. We do not argue that Roberts’s approach for HM is on the whole untenable; we merely contend that it cannot be the right analysis of NI. This squib is organized as follows. In section 1, we give some background to HM and NI. In section 2, we outline the mechanics of HM as presented by Roberts, along with Roberts’s preliminary analysis of NI in Mohawk. In section 3, we present the relevant properties of NI in the languages mentioned above. In section 4, we discuss the problems facing Roberts’s proposal for HM and NI. In section 5, we present our conclusions and the implications of the current discussion for NI.

The Inner Makeup of Definite Determiners: The Case of Germanic

Abstract: This paper studies the internal structure of definite articles and demon-stratives in twelve Germanic languages. Examining synchronic and diachronic data as well as systematic gaps, it seeks to illuminate the nature of definiteness markers and inflections, d- and -er in German d-er ‘the' and d-ies-er ‘this', with the goal of identifying some consequences for the syntax of the determiner phrase as a whole. Arguing that definite-ness markers are semantically vacuous elements, the paper proposes that articles involve an inflectional head in the syntax and demonstratives consist of an inflectional and a deictic head. Isomorphic correspondences between overt components and abstract syntactic structure may be partially or completely “masked” by postsyntactic operations.*