bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inﬂectional morphology and syntax in correspondence
Authors: Luís Ana R. , Otoguro Ryo
Published: March 2014

Clitic pronouns in European Portuguese differ from clitics in other Romance languages in two important ways: (1) preverbal clitics can take wide scope over coordinated verb phrases and can be separated from the verb by (up to two) non-projecting particles (Crysmann 2002, Luís 2004); (2) the preverbal placement of clitics is dependent on a heterogeneous set of particles and phrases in preverbal position rather than on the finiteness of the verb. In this paper, we account for both (1) and (2) within the lexicalist theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) (Kaplan and Bresnan 1982, Bresnan 2001). As to (1), we show that the scopal and distributional properties of proclitics can be straightforwardly captured by placing morphological tokens in correspondence with syntactic atoms. As to (2), we argue that the effect of proclitc triggers on clitic placement can receive a unified accounted if proclitic contexts are defined in terms of functional precedence (Kaplan and Zaenen 1989).
At the boundary of morphology and syntax
Authors: Bell Melanie J.
Published: March 2014

A widely held view of noun noun constructions (NNs) in English is that some are compound nouns while others are noun phrases (e.g. Quirk et al. 1985: 1332, Biber et al. 1999: 589, Giegerich 2004). This chapter shows that a syntactic analysis of NNs necessitates the postulation of a cross linguistically exceptional phrase type, whereas a morphological analysis requires only the normal West Germanic processes of word formation. It therefore argues with Levi (1978: 66–74) and Olsen (2000), that these constructions are all compound words. The criteria of stress and lexical integrity, sometimes taken to indicate a dual origin, are shown to be unreliable. Furthermore, the analysis proposed here is in keeping with recent work by Plag et al. (2007, 2008) and Lappe & Plag (2007), who argue that stress is assigned to NNs on the basis of analogy with previously experienced forms.
The feature of tense at the interface of morphology and semantics
Authors: Kibort Anna
Published: March 2014

In this paper I discuss the properties of tense as a grammatical feature, understood as a set of values and the methods of their realization on linguistic elements. I outline the criteria for recognizing various featural dependencies: agreement, government, and different types of multirepresentation of a feature value in a domain. I examine more closely three instances of tense-aspect-mood-polarity (TAMP) marking which have been put forward as candidates for agreement in tense: multirepresentation of TAMP in a verbal group/complex; multirepresentation of TAMP among elements bearing verbalizing case in Kayardild; and the modal cases of Kayardild which participate in TAMP marking. I argue that none of these arise as a result of syntactic agreement or government, but are due to the choice of a particular (semantic) value of TAMP for the clause. Hence, all these known instances of tense are morphosemantic, rather than morphosyntactic: syntax is not sensitive to the tense value of the verb.
The aspectual properties of nominalization structures
Authors: Alexiadou Artemis
Published: March 2014

In this paper I will primarily discuss the aspectual properties of Greek verb

derived nominalizations and address the question of how these interact with

morphological marking introducing class and number. Greek nominalizations

will be compared to Romanian ones, which have been argued to show clear

aspectual distinctions. I argue that Greek derived nominals taking the affix

-m- are instances of nominalizations that block culmination and hence are

always atelic and for this reason resist pluralization. A distinction will also be

made between two types of plurality: one introducing tokenization, available

for count nouns and one expletive available only with mass nouns. The latter

type is not available in the nominalization, as it is a very low marker of plurality, introduced at the level of the basic predicate.
The pre-conditions for suppletion
Authors: Börjars Kersti , Vincent Nigel
Published: March 2014

Suppletion is a phenomenon which is unique to morphology. It represents extreme non-iconicity in the relation between form and function. Here we deal with what we call proper suppletion, i.e. where one paradigm has resulted from the interaction of two previous paradigms. Our aim is to establish what the conditions are that give rise to this (partial) merger of paradigms. We provide a detailed account of the development of an adjective in the Mainland Scandinavian languages which unexpectedly shows suppletion with respect to number (and in some cases definiteness). We conclude that development of suppletion is driven by semantic properties, and that frequency is in fact a derived property. Furthermore we argue that there must be an asymmetry between the participants, with one element being dominant.
Archi morphology from a lexicographic perspective
Authors: Chumakina Marina
Published: March 2014

The paper illustrates the development of an electronic dictionary of the Daghestanian language Archi, and discusses the problems that such a morphologically complex language poses for lexicographers. The dictionary is built on a Microsoft Access database, and the paper discusses the linguistic issues of designing this. First, we provide general information about the Archi language (Section 1), then we give a brief sketch of its morphology, stressing the issues that are relevant for the dictionary (Section 2). Section 3 discusses the structure of lexical entries and describes the database. Section 4 discusses the general lexicographic problems that arise when one works on a dictionary of an unwritten language.
Morphology and syntax dissociation in SLA
Authors: Arche María J. , Domínguez Laura
Published: March 2014

This paper investigates the L2 acquisition of Spanish object clitics by L1 English learners. Spanish clitics are analyzed as bundles of agreement and referential features morphologically marked for number and gender. We examine the relationship between morphology and syntax in L2 learners’ grammars in order to assess two current acquisition hypotheses: the Impaired Representation Hypothesis (IRH) and the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH). Data from a production and a comprehension task suggest that learners have an unimpaired narrow syntax, despite apparent inflectional variability. We propose that absent or inaccurate morphology can be explained by a deficit in the mapping to PF. This supports a dissociation between syntactic representation and surface inflection.
The role of morphology in grammatical gender assignment
Authors: Varlokosta Spyridoula
Published: March 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate native speakers’ ability to predict gender on the basis solely of morphological information carried by the noun suffix by testing the speakers’ assignment of gender to novel nouns. Results indicated that native speakers use morphology, specifically the information carried by the noun suffix to predict gender in the absence of semantic information in the noun as well as in the absence of any phrasal information that would help them to determine gender based on agreement. This result confirms both Ralli’s (2002; 2003) and Anastasiadi-Symeonidi & Cheila-Markopoulou’s (2003) claim that morphology plays an important role in the assignment of gender to Greek nouns. It is also compatible with findings of earlier psycholinguistic research on gender marking (Tucker, Lambert, & Rigault, 1977; Mills, 1986), suggesting that formal assignment rules determine gender marking to a great extend and are part of the native speakers’ linguistic competence.
A programme for bidirectional phonology and phonetics and their acquisition and evolution
Authors: Boersma Paul
Published: March 2014

This paper summarizes an existing bidirectional six-level model of phonology and phonetics (and a bit of morphology). Bidirectionality in this case refers to the modelling of both the speaking process (production) and the listening process (comprehension). The elements of the grammar (the constraints) are bidirectional in the sense that the speaker and listener use the same sets of constraints, with the same rankings. In contrast with Blutner’s and Mattasusch’s bidirectional OT models, the evaluation is the simplest possible, i.e. it is performed unidirectionally in both directions of processing; still, listener-oriented effects tend to emerge from having learning algorithms for the comprehension direction alone. This paper describes a great number of learning algorithms in both directions of processing, and their typical results across one or multiple generations.
A note on the emergence of subject salience
Authors: Mattausch Jason
Published: March 2014

This paper demonstrates a potential explanation for the salience of grammatical subjects using a statistically driven, evolutionary model based on bidirectional Optimality Theory.
Sense and simplicity
Authors: de Swart Peter
Published: March 2014

I show that two different motivations drive the differential case marking of direct objects cross-linguistically. On the one hand, direct objects can be marked to signal their markedness with respect to certain semantic features (local distinguishability). Opposed to this we find systems where overt object marking is dependent on global distinguishability and is only applied in cases of actual ambiguity or comparison between subject and object features. In some DOM systems we even find both strategies at work. I argue that these two strategies correspond to different modes of optimization. Whereas local DOM systems can be modeled by referring only to productive optimization, global systems require a model in which interpretive optimization plays a role as well. I introduce an asymmetric model of bidirectional optimization in which the outcome of production is constrained by interpretation. This model will be shown to provide a straightforward analysis of different DOM patterns, in contrast to existing models of bidirectional optimization.
On the interaction of tense, aspect and modality in Dutch
Authors: Gerrevink Richard van , de Hoop Helen
Published: March 2014

In this chapter the interplay between tense, aspect and modality in the interpretation of modal auxiliaries in three different past tenses in Dutch is studied. After discussing the semantic effects of these factors separately, it is shown that each factor exerts a different, conflicting force on the meaning of a proposition. It is argued that a bidirectional optimality theoretic model explains how Dutch speakers use the various past tense modal constructions in the Dutch language in order to convey different interpretations.
Bidirectional grammar and bidirectional optimization
Authors: Blutner Reinhard , Strigin Anatoli
Published: March 2014

The human language faculty is a bidirectional system, i.e. it can be used by processes of approximately equal computational complexity to understand and to generate utterances of a language. We assume the general framework of optimality theory and treat the language faculty as a constraint-based system where the very same constraints are uses both in comprehension and in generation. In the simplest case comprehension and generation can be modelled by unidirectional optimization: finding an optimal interpretations for a given speech input in the case of comprehension; producing an optimal expression for a given message in case of generation. In the simplest case, the speaker and the listener roles are strictly separated. However, there are linguistic observations which indicate that the listener’s and the speaker’s perspectives are integrated to some extent. Bidirectional optimization is an explicit proposal for doing the integration.
In this article we propose a general architecture of the language faculty and discuss the precise extent to which speakers are listener-oriented and/or listeners are speaker-oriented. Interestingly, this extent does not seem to vary with regard to the different subsystems considered: the sensorimotor system, the system of grammar proper and the conceptual-intentional system (pragmatics). Though the experimental evidence is not very strong at the moment it seems in online processing the speaker takes the hearer into account but not vice versa. Besides the online (actual processing) view of bidirectionality we discuss bidirectional optimization as an offline phenomenon taking place during language acquisition, and giving raise to fossilization phenomena.
On bidirectional Optimality Theory for dynamic contexts
Authors: Benz Anton
Published: March 2014

In this paper we study context–sensitive versions of bidirectional Optimality Theory (OT) which can be used to model online communication. Our guiding examples are taken from anaphora resolution. We discuss a puzzle presented by Jason Mattausch which shows that context–sensitivity may lead into circularity. In order to represent it, we have to introduce more expressive mathematical structures for BiOT. We call the fundamental structures Blutner structures. A core problem is to account for the epistemic asymmetry between speaker and hearer in online communication. This leads us to Blutner structures which combine bidirectional OT with Dynamic Semantics.
A paradox?
Authors: Maiden Martin
Published: March 2014

A major morphological innovation in the Latin-Romance transition was the appearance of alternations in the root of the verb. This study examines the complex morphological evolution of the alternants which arose from proto-Romance palatalization and became characteristic of the present subjunctive together with the first person singular (and in some places also the third person plural) present indicative. I offer a brief historical-comparative sketch of these phenomena, and focus on an initially paradoxical situation. The alternant is predominantly aligned with the category ‘present subjunctive’. But what Romance speakers almost never do is to favour and protect that alignment by keeping the alternant in all and only the present subjunctive cells of the paradigm. In cases of analogical change, on the one hand the 1sg (and 3pl) present indicative almost always also participate in modifications affecting the present subjunctive, and on the other the alignment is frequently ‘broken’ by the elimination of the alternant from the 1pl and 2pl present subjunctive. I shall show that we are dealing rather with ‘autonomously morphological’ structures, which can actually override ‘common sense’ expectations that speakers should favour transparent relations between morphological form and grammatical meaning. What counts for speakers, I shall claim, is above all simply the predictability of alternation patterns within inflectional paradigms, whose basis may often be recurrent, but autonomously morphological, patterns.
Romance clitic pronouns in lexical paradigms
Authors: Schwarze Christoph
Published: March 2014

Some morphologists claim that Romance clitic pronouns, rather than being constituents, are encoded in morphological paradigms, together with inflectional affixes. I argue against this position, claiming that these clitics, just like their non-clitic counterparts, are organized in lexical, not in morphological paradigms. Among the features that define these paradigms, I especially address those which are responsible for the realization of the verb’s arguments. I argue that they are case and animacy features, and that a mechanism is needed to map these features onto the grammatical functions needed for an LFG-type syntax.The proposal also comprises clitic clusters. Roughly speaking, my analysis is that they have a discrete, complex structure at the feature level, but are fused units in constituency.
Hiatus resolution between function and lexical words in French and Italian
Authors: Garrapa Luigia
Published: March 2014

From a crosslinguistic perspective, heterosyllabic vowels sequences across word boundaries tend to be resolved to create unmarked CV syllables. Building on previous accounts and quantitative data, this study investigates the phonological and morphological factors determining hiatus resolution in French and Italian. Hiatuses in sequences of function and lexical words are categorically resolved in standard French through the application of elision, liaison, and allomorphic alternations, while they may be resolved obligatorily, frequently, or rarely through elision in Florentine Italian. French elision, liaison, and allomorphic alternations are constrained by phonology, while Italian elision is partially subject to phonological conditioning and partially subject to conjoint phonological and morphological conditioning.
Occitan plurals
Authors: Sauzet Patrick
Published: March 2014

This paper argues that the evolution of plural marking in Occitan favors an approach to morphology involving morphemes, as assumed traditionally and in a number of current approaches (Hockett 1954; Spencer 1991 for presentations of the alternative, Lieber 1992 for a strict adherence to the concept of morpheme or Halle & Marantz 1993 for a more permissive re-elaboration), rather than an a-morphous analysis, typically associated with autonomous conceptions of morphology (Anderson 1992; Aronoff 1994). If correct, Occitan plurals would represent an interesting case because it is difficult to argue against more permissive and powerful frameworks, which autonomous and a-morphous approaches represent in comparison with morpheme-based theories where morphology ideally reduces to interface effects between syntax, phonology, and the lexicon where morphemes are listed.
Partial or complete lack of plural agreement
Authors: Pomino Natascha
Published: March 2014

Many Romance languages and varieties show different patterns of partial or complete lack of plural agreement within the determiner phrase (DP). This phenomenon has scarcely been addressed in the literature and poses problems for any kind of analysis proposed so far, regardless of the theoretical background. This paper presents and classifies several cases of lack of plural agreement or plural marking within the Romance DP and critically discusses several proposed analyses in research literature and their applicability to these Romance varieties. The main focus of the discussion is placed on the role which morphology is assumed to play. It is argued that lack of plural agreement can be explained neither in pure syntactic terms nor in pure morphological terms.
The lexicalist hypothesis and the semantics of event nominalization suffixes
Authors: Uth Melanie
Published: March 2014

This article approaches the debate between lexicalist and syntactic accounts on derivational morphology from a semantic viewpoint. It is argued that the debate between lexicalist and syntactic accounts on event nominalizations may not be solved without thoroughly investigating the different semantic components potentially influencing the characteristics of the derivatives, i.e. the semantics of the nominalization procedure as such, the meaning of the derivational bases and the meaning of the nominalization suffixes. Concentrating on the latter component, the article finally presents a semantic analysis of the French nominalization suffixes -ment and -age, in order to reveal the significance of the nominalization suffixes for the debate concerning the proper treatment of event nominalizations.
An overview of Basque measure phrases
Authors: Goenaga Patxi
Published: March 2014

This paper presents a description of Basque measure phrases and the various structures in which they occur. This paper first examines Noun Phrase internal measure phrases and it will consider their features, positions in which they can appear and their restrictions. The second aim of this paper is to analyse Adjective Phrase internal measure expressions. The possibility to combine measures with simple adjectives is very restricted. However, comparatives are different and elements resembling these measure phrases may occur with these comparative adjectives. Comparatives imply the existence of a differential between the two terms that are being compared. This differential or ‘gap’ may be completely unspecified or specified by means of a quantifier phrase. This paper will try to provide a syntactic analysis of this kind of construction.
Genitive case and multiple checking in Basque
Authors: Artiagoitia Xabier
Published: March 2014

This article proposes that Basque genitive case can be checked in two positions: one in bare NPs, and the other in the specifier of Poss, a projection below DP and higher than QP. The first genitive resembles Chomsky’s (1986) inherent genitive case and is restricted to object genitives. The genitive in [spec, Poss] is structural and both subject and object genitives can move to this high position together, thus creating a multiple specifier configuration. As a result, the derived order SO(Q)N displays both superiority and Person Case Constraint effects.
Word order in Basque determiner phrases
Authors: Oyharçabal Beñat
Published: March 2014

The relative order of some internal constituents of Basque DPs is fixed. For the most part adjectives appear to the right of the noun but precede demonstratives, whereas quantifiers must precede the noun. When there are several adjectives they have an unmarked order, and in this case, although it is not easy to discover oppositions, that unmarked order is the reverse (i.e. mirror image) of the one occurring in languages in which adjectives precede the noun they qualify (Sproat & Shih 1988; Scott 2002). These facts are examined in a typological perspective in this article, which draws on Kayne’s (1994) approach to antisymmetry and Cinque’s (1999) universal structural hierarchy of DP functions. It is shown that these data can be accounted for adequately by movements within the DP achieved by raising merged phrases through the specifiers as proposed by e.g. Fassi Fehri (1999), Cinque (2005), Aboh (2004) and Shlonsky (2004).
Basque nominalizations and the role  of structural Case in the licensing of null arguments
Authors: Duguine Maia
Published: March 2014

This article investigates the question of the licensing of null arguments in the so-called pro-drop languages. By focusing on the licensing of null subjects in the different types of -T(Z)E nominalizations in Basque, it aims at defining in a precise way the crucial feature that makes pro-drop possible in a clause. The central claim is that what licenses subject-drop is the assignment of structural Case. That is, it is argued that a subject can be null if and only if it is assigned structural Case. Different aspects of T(Z)E nominalizations are also explored, which show that even if these clauses are similar on the surface, they can be syntactically very different and furthermore, that infinitive clauses marked with the same nominalizing morpheme can also have diverging structures.
Structural dependency and interpretation in Basque nominalized clauses
Authors: Martin Itziar San
Published: March 2014

Within the realm of Basque nominalized clauses formed with the nominalizing suffix -tze, there is a contrast between those of the DP type and Locative Nominalizations, in that typically, only the latter display genuine obligatory control properties. Interestingly, certain DP-nominalization that allow for Number Long Distance Agreement (LDA) with an object within the embedded clause force genuine obligatory control, breaking the otherwise systematic complementary distribution between control and pro/lexical subjects. These data offer an excellent test ground to investigate beyond the identical superficial morphological shape in order to determine the nature of the functional material and, ultimately, the mechanics involved in licensing genuine control. In fact, the existence of several asymmetries suggest that DP-Nominalizations in contexts of Number LDA are more defective in that they lack the [person] feature in C, which is present in regular DP-Nominalizations. On the other hand, several restrictions that block LDA suggest that, contra Laka (2006), the opposition Structural Case/Inherent Case should be maintained in Basque. The consequence is that the Basque data cannot be handled along the lines of the Movement theory of Control proposed in Boeckx et al. (2010).
Root transformations & quantificational structure
Authors: Larson Richard K. , Sawada Miyuki
Published: March 2014

Hooper and Thompson (1973) observe that root transformations (RTs) occur in asserted adverbial adjuncts (because-clauses) but not in presupposed ones (when/before/after-clauses). Developing the idea that adverbial clauses can be analyzed semantically as parts of quantificational structures, we argue that RTs are available in adverbs that correspond to the scope of quantification, but not in those corresponding to the restriction. We spell out this view using the semantic theory of when/before/after-clauses developed in Johnston (1994) and the analysis of because-clauses in Larson (2004). After briefly reviewing alternative syntactic approaches, and noting difficulties for them, we suggest a “semantic closure” account in which RTs trigger existential closure in an adverbial, binding all available variables in a restriction, and all but the main variable in the scope. As a consequence, RTs induce a vacuous quantification violation in the first case, but not in the second.
Agreements that occur mainly in the main clause
Authors: Miyagawa Shigeru
Published: March 2014

Most agreement systems target a grammatical entity within the sentence, typically the subject but in some cases the object or the dative. There is another kind of agreement found in languages such as Souletin, a Basque dialect, that targets the hearer. I will look at this type of so-called allocutive agreement and pursue two main issues. First, although it targets the hearer, the form of the agreement is the same as the regular phi-feature agreement used for subject/object. This means that the allocutive agreement must be part of a probe-goal relation, leading to the question, where is the goal? I argue that something like Ross’s Performative Analysis furnishes the second-person goal. Second, the distribution of the allocutive agreement is essentially the same as the politeness marking on the verb in Japanese, which leads to the hypothesis that, despite Japanese being characterized as a typical agreementless language, the politeness marker is, in fact, an implementation of second-person agreement. Moreover, this allocutive agreement in Japanese has a distribution that limits it to the root clause as originally conceived by Emonds (1969).
Towards an interface definition of root phenomena*
Authors: De Cat Cécile
Published: March 2014

Root phenomena are those that typically occur in matrix clauses but are also allowed in a restricted set of embedded (“root-like”) clauses. This paper explores root phenomena with an interpretive import, and identifies three kinds of data that a purely syntactic approach cannot account for: the gradience in acceptability within clause types, the variable behaviour of peripheral adverbial clauses, and the existence of root phenomena in “fragments”. I argue that far from being noise in otherwise harmonious behaviour, these data are essential to consider for a full understanding of root phenomena, and that a strictly syntactic approach cannot capture them. An interface account is called for, where (most of) the burden of licensing befalls on the interpretive component.
Explaining matrix/subordinate domain discrepancies
Authors: Lightfoot David W.
Published: March 2014

There are discrepancies between matrix and subordinate clauses that call for explanation, particularly the apparent fact that computational operations may affect matrix but not subordinate clauses, and not vice versa. Explanations were offered in the 1970’s through principles of Universal Grammar but those principles became unstatable as theories of UG developed and the explanations were lost. This volume and other venues present descriptive work on such discrepancies, often exploiting the multiplicity of functional categories made available by cartographic approaches to syntax. But little is said about how to explain the discrepancies. This paper develops an explanatory approach through theories of language acquisition under which children seek cues only in simple domains, defined in terms of Binding Domains and not clauses. The fact that some cues are not expressed in embedded Binding Domains must then follow from independent properties of embedded Domains.
Topic particle stranding and the structure of CP
Authors: Nasu Norio
Published: March 2014

This paper aims at arguing for the existence of a projection above ForceP in the CP domain. It examines both syntactic and pragmatic characteristics of topic particle stranding, a previously little-noted phenomenon in Japanese, whereby a topic particle appears in sentence-initial position on its own (i.e., without an overt topic phrase). The main observations include: (i) while topicalization takes place in TopP, topic particle stranding occurs in a projection above ForceP; (ii) this higher projection constitutes the outermost periphery of a sentence and appears only in root clauses; (iii) it hosts elements that grammaticize interpersonal communicative functions of utterances; (iv) pragmatic factors that seem to determine the availability of particle stranding are reducible to structural conditions that commonly apply in other domains of phrase structure.
Splitting up force
Authors: Coniglio Marco , Zegrean Iulia
Published: March 2014

This paper proposes to split Rizzi’s (1997) ForceP into two distinct projections: Illocutionary Force (ILL) and Clause Type (CT). The proposal is meant to capture the cross-linguistic properties of discourse particles at the discourse level (they modify the illocutionary force by turning it into a more specific force reflecting the speaker’s intentions/attitude, Jacobs 1986, 1991), and also their syntactic restrictions. Specifically, each particle can occur in certain clause types, but not in others, and they are only licensed in clauses with ‘root properties’. In order to account for these facts, we will adopt a feature valuation mechanism along the lines of Pesetsky & Torrego (2007).
The syntactic position of Polish by and Main Clause Phenomena
Authors: Tomaszewicz Barbara
Published: March 2014

I show that the position of the irrealis particle by in Polish conditionals correlates with constraints on Main Clause Phenomena (MCP). When by is in C0, MCPs are precluded; when it is in a lower position, MCPs are available. I suggest that the movement of by to C0 accompanies the A′-movement of a world operator in conditional clauses (Bhatt & Pancheva 2006). The operator movement acts as an intervener for MCPs (Haegeman 2007, 2010a, 2010b). I present evidence from MCPs such as contrastive to-topicalization, long extraction of adjuncts, speaker-oriented adverbs and the availability of correlativization. The different syntactic position of by is supported by evidence from the behavior of wh-pronoun-type vs. complementizer-type counterparts of if.
A main clause complementizer
Authors: Hill Virginia
Published: March 2014

This paper focuses on Romanian main clauses that display the complementizer ‘that’, and may also allow for the re-iteration of this element at the left periphery. The analysis capitalizes on the proposal in current studies that a field for encoding conversational pragmatics is projected at the left periphery of clauses above ForceP. The spell-out of Force as ‘that’ is seen as an option when the derivation proceeds beyond this level in assertive clauses. The re-iteration of ‘that’, reflecting the re-iteration of ForceP, is then related to the need of locality for the C-to-T feature transfer inherent to any phase.
The status of complementizers in the left periphery
Authors: Manzini Maria Rita
Published: March 2014

In Section 1 we argue that the nominal nature of complementizers in many languages (notably wh-items in Romance) points to the conclusion that this extra embedding layer is nominal (cf. Rosenbaum 1967). In Section 2 we address the question whether the structures they create are more similar to headed relatives (Arsenijević 2009; Kayne 2010, to appear) or to free relatives (Manzini & Savoia 2003, 2005, 2011). In Section 3 we consider some of the empirical reasons that would recommend distinguishing between complementizers and wh-items, including selection, islands and order in the left periphery. We also consider finiteness restrictions (Section 4). In Section 5 we conclude by indicating what this line of research implies for Main Clause Phenomena.
Minimality and embedded V2 in Scandinavian
Authors: Franco Irene
Published: March 2014

The paper focuses on the syntactic and interpretive properties of subordinate clauses in Mainland Scandinavian and Icelandic. Assuming a cartographic CP structure (Rizzi 1997; Haegeman 2006, a.o.), the syntactic properties and distribution of embedded V2 in Scandinavian follow from restrictions imposed by information structure and are explained in light of relativized minimality. It is argued that the final interpretation each embedded clause receives is the result of the specific derivation of such a clause. It is proposed that embedded V2 and topicalization result from VtoFin and D-linking of a topic, which is an operator that A′-moves through Spec,FinP. The ungrammaticality of embedded topicalization and V2 in certain clauses (e.g. factive, Wh- or relative clauses) is explained as the result of minimal intervention effects with the operator that derives the clause and contributes to the interpretation of the sentence.
Against a uniform treatment of second position effects as force markers
Authors: Migdalski Krzysztof
Published: March 2014

This paper investigates two constructions, Verb Second and second position cliticization. These constructions involve placement of a certain element (a finite verb or clitics) in the position following the clause-initial constituent, with seemingly few restrictions as to what this constituent might be. A common way of accounting for V2 is to assume that it is a force marker. This paper challenges this view. It investigates the history of V2 and second position cliticization as well as different environments in which both constructions are found. The investigation leads to the conclusion that second position effects encompass a number of different operations, only some of which can be argued to mark force.
The syntax-discourse interface in adverbial clauses
Authors: Endo Yoshio
Published: March 2014

This paper discusses the typology of adverbial clauses with special attention to the gradient properties of the so-called main clause phenomena and information structure. I will give an analysis of a new paradigm of adverbial clauses discovered by traditional descriptive Japanese grammarians, and relate their findings to a number of papers presented in this volume, in particular the ones by Haegeman, Miyagawa and Coniglio & Zegrean.
Subjunctive mood, epistemic modality and Main Clause Phenomena in the analysis of adverbial clauses
Authors: Laskova Vesselina
Published: March 2014

This paper discusses the two types of adverbial clauses extensively analysed in Haegeman’s works – central and peripheral clauses – in relation to the properties of the Bulgarian non-past verbal form. I propose that this form is the core instantiation of subjunctive mood and that while absence of temporal specification is the core ingredient of all subjunctive forms the modal shades often associated with subjunctives are an additional ingredient to anchor the nondeictic forms. I argue that the distribution of the bare non-past form is a strong argument in favour of the distinction between central and peripheral clauses. Additionally, I show, on the basis of the Bulgarian data, that peripheral clauses can be subdivided into two subgroups – premise and adversative clauses.
On two types of adverbial clauses allowing root-phenomena
Authors: Frey Werner
Published: March 2014

Peripheral adverbial clauses show many differences from central adverbial clauses, one being that they allow certain root-phenomena, whereas central adverbial clauses do not allow any. A third class of adverbial clauses has to be distinguished, which in German contains continuative w-relatives and free dass-clauses. These allow more root-phenomena than the peripherals and show other signs of greater independence. The paper argues that central and peripheral adverbial clauses are differently licensed syntactically, the former by the host’s verbal projection, the latter by Force in the host’s periphery. Moreover, adverbials of the third class are not syntactically licensed at all; they are orphans, being only semantically linked to their associated clause by a specific discourse relation.
Modal complement ellipsis
Authors: Aelbrecht Lobke
Published: March 2014

Although the literature commonly assumes Dutch not to display VP ellipsis (VPE), this paper presents Dutch data reminiscent of VPE in English. In particular, the infinitival complement of a root modal can be elided. This modal complement ellipsis (MCE) differs from English VPE, however, in not allowing objects to extract out of the ellipsis site. Therefore, one might take MCE to involve a null proform. Since subjects can extract, however, I argue that MCE involves deletion of syntactic structure. I claim that the ellipsis site is sent to PF for non-pronunciation as soon as the ellipsis licensing head is merged. This implies that extraction is only possible to a position between the licensor and the ellipsis site. I account for the contrast between Dutch and English by showing that in MCE only the subject has such an escape hatch, while English VPE allows all extraction due to an intervening phase edge.
Preposition-determiner amalgams in German and French at the syntax-morphology interface
Authors: Cabredo Hofherr Patricia
Published: March 2014

The present paper examines preposition+determiner amalgams in French and German. I show that French and German P+D amalgams differ with respect to coordination: while German amalgams are transparent for coordination, French amalgams block certain coordinations. I propose that this is due to ta syntactic difference: German P+D amalgams correspond to two positions in the syntax, while French P+D amalgams occupy only one position. Adopting a model where morphology is split applying before and after the syntax, I argue that this syntactic difference of P+D amalgams corresponds to a morphological difference: German amalgams are post-syntactic contractions while French amalgams are inflected prepositions that enter the syntax as a single unit.
Cross-Germanic variation in binding Condition B
Authors: Hicks Glyn
Published: March 2014

This paper offers explanations for apparent variation in the effects of Binding Condition B across English, Dutch, Frisian, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic. Three very different factors that influence binding possibilities for pronouns across these languages are identified: language-specific morphosyntactic features such as Case and agreement, an independent constraint blocking subject orientation of pronouns, and phonological properties of minimal binding domains. I argue that a binding theory that applies in narrow syntax (rather than at LF, say) is well placed to account for the observed variation, and offer a unified explanation for various hitherto unrelated empirical facts. With an approach that subsumes the effects of Condition B under more general syntactic principles, an appealing view of the variation emerges: the condition itself exhibits quite remarkable consistency across the languages examined, with different pronouns varying in their sensitivity to Condition B effects according to their individual morphosyntactic properties.
Development of sentential negation in the history of German
Authors: Jäger Agnes , Penka Doris
Published: March 2014

This paper proposes an analysis of the diachrony of negation in German. We suggest that despite the changes in the negation particle and the availability of negative concord (NC), there is a large amount of diachronic continuity both with respect to the syntax of negation in terms of NegP as well as to the semantic status and licensing requirements of the neg-markers. Notably, negative indefinites are licensed throughout the history of German by a covert negation operator in a one-to-one relation. The apparent diachronic continuity in the availability of NC in certain German dialects by contrast is argued to be only of a superficial nature: It is in fact due to diachronic change, as NC is not a homogeneous phenomenon.
The shift to strict VO in English at the PF-interface
Authors: Pysz Agnieszka , Wiland Bartosz
Published: March 2014

This paper proposes a novel analysis of the shift to the strict VO word order in the history of English. We begin with pointing out that the previous accounts of this shift are problematic at least for two reasons. First, they do not explain why at some point in its history English became a strict word order language, nor why it became strict VO rather than strict OV. Second, they do not capture a number of diachronic and cross-linguistic facts. We provide a principled account of the shift to the strict VO under which these facts fall into place. We argue that the setting of strict VO in English was necessitated by the loss of m(orphological)-case on nominals. This follows from a theory in which the presence of zero case exponents requires local licensing at the PF interface.
Language and conceptual reanalysis
Authors: Pietroski Paul
Published: March 2014

In my view, phrasal meanings are instructions for how to build conjunctive monadic concepts. But phrasal concepts like ‘chase cows’ are not merely conjunctive. The idea is that open class lexical items fetch monadic concepts like CHASE(_), while some grammatical relations introduce thematic concepts like PATIENT(_, _) and a restricted form of existential closure. I grant that animal cognition employs singular and polyadic concepts. But I think lexicalization is often a formally creative process in which nonmonadic concepts are used to introduce concepts like CHASE(_). In defending this view, I draw on Frege’s conception of logic and Chomsky’s conception of linguistics. My aim, in the spirit of Chomsky’s minimalist program, is to reduce the stock of composition operations that semanticists appeal to. Much of the paper focuses on the requisite conjunction and closure operations, distinguishing them from more general operations that theorists often invoke.
Decomposing force
Authors: Isac Daniela
Published: March 2014

This paper proposes that the semantics of imperative clauses is not correlated with a unique morpho-syntactic (imperative) Force feature (as traditionally assumed), but can be derived from finer grained components, which are independently needed, such as a Modality feature and a 2nd Person feature. These features are shown to be instrumental for explaining not only the formal properties of true imperatives, but also of surrogate ones. Assuming several finer grained features rather than a unique Force feature offers a useful framework for characterizing both the similarities and the differences between the various types of imperatives.
Function without content
Authors: Christodoulou Christina , Wiltschko Martina
Published: March 2014

In this paper we provide new evidence for the assumption that the content of functional categories should be dissociated from its function (Ritter & Wiltschko 2009, 2011). In particular, we discuss evidence from lexicalization patterns. On standard assumptions, functional categories are intrinsically associated with content; consequently the exponents that spell out these functional categories would also be expected to be intrinsically associated with content. We argue that na spells out INFL before it is associated with any kind of content. This allows for a straightforward explanation of the seemingly erratic distribution of na. We further explore the consequences of this analysis and we provide evidence from the Down Syndrome grammar.
Towards a bottom-up approach to phonological typology
Authors: Reiss Charles
Published: March 2014

The set of combinatoric possibilities of even simple formal systems explodes quickly. Adopting (perhaps overly) simple assumptions about phonological representation and computation, we show that, with just a handful of featural primitives, the number of possible segments, the number of possible inventories and the number of possible rule targets quickly reaches shockingly high levels. Not only is this result inevitable for pretty much any feature system, but it is also desirable. The crucial point is to define sets (of segments, inventories, or rule targets) intensionally, and see that we can account for a vast range of phenomena using a minimal toolkit, in parallel to recent evo-devo work in biology. Understanding the combinatorics is a step towards a biolinguistic approach to phonology.
The emergence of phonological forms
Authors: Samuels Bridget D.
Published: March 2014

As it becomes increasingly clear that language emerged suddenly in our species over the space of less than 100,000 years, the pressure to understand how the externalization system could have been ‘language-ready’ prior to the emergence of syntax grows as well. Phonology, like other components of language, must then be understood to rely maximally on abilities that already found applications in other cognitive domains at the time externalized language emerged. In this chapter, I provide evidence from sign language and from animal cognition that the perception of a discrete phonological signal relies heavily on abilities humans share with our mammalian cousins. I build the case for this view with evidence from both humans and animals, discuss computational models of categorization that can build categories through feedback between perception and production, and provide a natural case study in phonological evolution provided by a young sign language. These arguments support the view that the building blocks of the phonological system – features and categories – were present prior to the emergence of externalized language as we know it.
Non-native acquisition and language design
Authors: Aguero-Bautista Calixto
Published: March 2014

Biolinguistics sees language as a cognitive organ and L1-acquisition as a process of language growth. A natural assumption within this approach is that of Lenneberg (1967), who assumes that language growth is subject to certain time restrictions. Some scholars hold Lenneberg’s assumption to be correct; pointing out that L2-acquisition differs from L1-acquisition in not being uniform, automatic or convergent as the latter is; a difference that could follow from loss to access to the mental mechanisms responsible for L1-acquisition due to aging. Many researchers, however, refute Lenneberg’s assumption, pointing out that foreign languages are natural languages and must therefore be constrained by UG; the very mechanism responsible for L1 acquisition. I argue that this debate has taken place without a working model of the design of language. I show that, without such a model, the questions of the debate are misleading. I further show that once a minimalist model is considered, a time restriction on language growth is consistent with the fact that foreign languages are UG constrained. Finally, I argue that time restrictions only constrain those areas of language that involve parameter-setting (e.g. lexical learning), and never those determined by language design.