Jason Merchant and Andrew Simpson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645763
- eISBN:
- 9780191741135
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645763.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book is a multi-authored volume of eleven chapters dedicated to the analysis of sluicing in a range of languages from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Sluicing is the term applied to sentences in which ...
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This book is a multi-authored volume of eleven chapters dedicated to the analysis of sluicing in a range of languages from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Sluicing is the term applied to sentences in which the ellipsis of a sequence of words following an embedded wh question word appears to occur, and hearers must somehow recover the content of missing material, as in English: Someone saw her, but I don’t know who …. Elliptical constructions of this type are now known to occur widely in the world’s languages in some form or another, and create interesting problems for linguistic analysis, involving complex interactions between syntax, semantics, and morphology, as well as prosody. Because of this interdependence of different subcomponents of language, sluicing is a phenomenon with a strong interface characteristic, requiring integrative analyses and a formal modeling of permissible connections between syntax, morphology, semantics, and certain aspects of phonology. The present volume brings together a set of significant, new pieces of research by a team of leading experts who analyze sluicing constructions in English, Dutch, Frisian, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, Turkish, Malagasy, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Bengali. The collection of chapters critically expands our current understanding of the ways in which languages allow for ellipsis of the sluicing type to occur, and shows how sluicing constructions reveal important information about the general architecture of grammar. In addition to the nine chapters dedicated to specific languages, the volume features an introduction chapter and Haj Ross’s original (1969) landmark chapter on sluicing.Less
This book is a multi-authored volume of eleven chapters dedicated to the analysis of sluicing in a range of languages from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Sluicing is the term applied to sentences in which the ellipsis of a sequence of words following an embedded wh question word appears to occur, and hearers must somehow recover the content of missing material, as in English: Someone saw her, but I don’t know who …. Elliptical constructions of this type are now known to occur widely in the world’s languages in some form or another, and create interesting problems for linguistic analysis, involving complex interactions between syntax, semantics, and morphology, as well as prosody. Because of this interdependence of different subcomponents of language, sluicing is a phenomenon with a strong interface characteristic, requiring integrative analyses and a formal modeling of permissible connections between syntax, morphology, semantics, and certain aspects of phonology. The present volume brings together a set of significant, new pieces of research by a team of leading experts who analyze sluicing constructions in English, Dutch, Frisian, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, Turkish, Malagasy, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Bengali. The collection of chapters critically expands our current understanding of the ways in which languages allow for ellipsis of the sluicing type to occur, and shows how sluicing constructions reveal important information about the general architecture of grammar. In addition to the nine chapters dedicated to specific languages, the volume features an introduction chapter and Haj Ross’s original (1969) landmark chapter on sluicing.
Jeroen Van Craenenbroeck
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195375640
- eISBN:
- 9780199871612
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375640.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book investigates a number of elliptical constructions found in Dutch dialects within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It argues that both the PF-deletion and the pro-theory of ellipsis ...
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This book investigates a number of elliptical constructions found in Dutch dialects within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It argues that both the PF-deletion and the pro-theory of ellipsis are needed to account for the full range of elliptical phenomena attested in natural language. In chapters 2–9 the book focuses on two instances of stranding under sluicing: stranding with prepositions in English (What about?) and stranding with demonstrative pronouns in southern Dutch dialects (Wie dat? ‘who that’). Both these phenomena are given a PF-deletion analysis, and are shown to be the result of the interaction between the split CP-hypothesis and the syntax of wh-movement. The second half of the book is concerned with Short Do Replies in southern Dutch dialects, a type of reply that expresses verum focus and that at first sight bears a close resemblance to English VP-ellipsis. It is shown that in this case the ellipsis site is best represented as a null, structureless proform that is licensed by the head of a high polarity projection. This pronominal is then argued to occur in two other dialectal constructions as well: contradictory replies of the type Da's nie ‘that.is not’ found in Brabant Dutch, and the occurrence of subject clitics and agreement endings on the polarity items yes and no in Southern Dutch dialects (e.g. Ja-n-s ‘yes-plural-they’).Less
This book investigates a number of elliptical constructions found in Dutch dialects within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It argues that both the PF-deletion and the pro-theory of ellipsis are needed to account for the full range of elliptical phenomena attested in natural language. In chapters 2–9 the book focuses on two instances of stranding under sluicing: stranding with prepositions in English (What about?) and stranding with demonstrative pronouns in southern Dutch dialects (Wie dat? ‘who that’). Both these phenomena are given a PF-deletion analysis, and are shown to be the result of the interaction between the split CP-hypothesis and the syntax of wh-movement. The second half of the book is concerned with Short Do Replies in southern Dutch dialects, a type of reply that expresses verum focus and that at first sight bears a close resemblance to English VP-ellipsis. It is shown that in this case the ellipsis site is best represented as a null, structureless proform that is licensed by the head of a high polarity projection. This pronominal is then argued to occur in two other dialectal constructions as well: contradictory replies of the type Da's nie ‘that.is not’ found in Brabant Dutch, and the occurrence of subject clitics and agreement endings on the polarity items yes and no in Southern Dutch dialects (e.g. Ja-n-s ‘yes-plural-they’).
Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199584352
- eISBN:
- 9780191594526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584352.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter starts out from a set of well‐known syntactic differences and similarities between simple wh‐phrases such as who or what and complex ones such as which boy. It translates these ...
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This chapter starts out from a set of well‐known syntactic differences and similarities between simple wh‐phrases such as who or what and complex ones such as which boy. It translates these observations into a cartographic account of the left periphery and then proceeds to show how this new proposal is able to account for a wide range of at first sight disparate data from English, German, Frisian and (dialectal) Dutch. The final part of the chapter briefly discusses the implications of the proposal for the theory of reconstruction.Less
This chapter starts out from a set of well‐known syntactic differences and similarities between simple wh‐phrases such as who or what and complex ones such as which boy. It translates these observations into a cartographic account of the left periphery and then proceeds to show how this new proposal is able to account for a wide range of at first sight disparate data from English, German, Frisian and (dialectal) Dutch. The final part of the chapter briefly discusses the implications of the proposal for the theory of reconstruction.
Omer Preminger
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199584352
- eISBN:
- 9780191594526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584352.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter discusses the behavior of certain wh‐island‐violating (but felicitous) constructions in Hebrew, which exhibit two interesting characteristics: superiority effects, and a sensitivity to ...
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This chapter discusses the behavior of certain wh‐island‐violating (but felicitous) constructions in Hebrew, which exhibit two interesting characteristics: superiority effects, and a sensitivity to the distinction between short vs. long wh‐movement. This chapter proposes an analysis based on the assumption that in Hebrew, the relevant wh‐feature resides on a head lower than C0, but CP is still equipped with a single specifier position that can be utilized for successive‐cyclic wh‐movement. The proposal is supported by the existence of independent cases of A′‐movement to a position below the overt complementizer in Hebrew.Less
This chapter discusses the behavior of certain wh‐island‐violating (but felicitous) constructions in Hebrew, which exhibit two interesting characteristics: superiority effects, and a sensitivity to the distinction between short vs. long wh‐movement. This chapter proposes an analysis based on the assumption that in Hebrew, the relevant wh‐feature resides on a head lower than C0, but CP is still equipped with a single specifier position that can be utilized for successive‐cyclic wh‐movement. The proposal is supported by the existence of independent cases of A′‐movement to a position below the overt complementizer in Hebrew.
Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195375640
- eISBN:
- 9780199871612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375640.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter contains the theoretical background for the analysis of English swiping and dialect Dutch spading. It introduces and discusses a specific incarnation of the split CP-hypothesis and its ...
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This chapter contains the theoretical background for the analysis of English swiping and dialect Dutch spading. It introduces and discusses a specific incarnation of the split CP-hypothesis and its interaction with the syntax of wh-movement. While simple wh-phrases move from their IP-internal base position through a lower specCP onto the higher specCP, complex wh-phrases are base-generated in the high specCP and involve empty operator movement to the lower one. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of D-linking and connectivity effects.Less
This chapter contains the theoretical background for the analysis of English swiping and dialect Dutch spading. It introduces and discusses a specific incarnation of the split CP-hypothesis and its interaction with the syntax of wh-movement. While simple wh-phrases move from their IP-internal base position through a lower specCP onto the higher specCP, complex wh-phrases are base-generated in the high specCP and involve empty operator movement to the lower one. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of D-linking and connectivity effects.
Norvin Richards
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034425
- eISBN:
- 9780262332330
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034425.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
Current Minimalist approaches to syntax claim that languages simply vary in the distribution of overt movement. Some languages have overt wh-movement, or EPP effects, or movement of the verb to T, ...
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Current Minimalist approaches to syntax claim that languages simply vary in the distribution of overt movement. Some languages have overt wh-movement, or EPP effects, or movement of the verb to T, for example, while others do not, and these are basic parameters of cross-linguistic difference, which cannot be made to follow from any other properties of the languages in question. This book offers a theory of the cross-linguistic distribution of overt movement. The central claim is that the construction of phonological representations begins during the syntactic derivation, and that overt movement is driven by universal phonological conditions. The conditions include one on the prosodic representations of syntactic relations like Agree and selection (Generalized Contiguity) and another on the relation between affixes and word-level metrical structure (Affix Support). The parameters differentiating languages are entirely a matter of prosody and morphology: languages differ in how their prosodic systems are arranged, in the number and nature of affixes appearing on the verb, and in the rules for word-internal stress placement. The resulting theory accounts for the distribution of wh-movement, head-movement of verbs and auxiliaries, and EPP-driven movement to the specifier of TP, in a number of languages. If the theory is correct, then a complete description of the phonology and morphology of a given language is also a complete description of its syntax.Less
Current Minimalist approaches to syntax claim that languages simply vary in the distribution of overt movement. Some languages have overt wh-movement, or EPP effects, or movement of the verb to T, for example, while others do not, and these are basic parameters of cross-linguistic difference, which cannot be made to follow from any other properties of the languages in question. This book offers a theory of the cross-linguistic distribution of overt movement. The central claim is that the construction of phonological representations begins during the syntactic derivation, and that overt movement is driven by universal phonological conditions. The conditions include one on the prosodic representations of syntactic relations like Agree and selection (Generalized Contiguity) and another on the relation between affixes and word-level metrical structure (Affix Support). The parameters differentiating languages are entirely a matter of prosody and morphology: languages differ in how their prosodic systems are arranged, in the number and nature of affixes appearing on the verb, and in the rules for word-internal stress placement. The resulting theory accounts for the distribution of wh-movement, head-movement of verbs and auxiliaries, and EPP-driven movement to the specifier of TP, in a number of languages. If the theory is correct, then a complete description of the phonology and morphology of a given language is also a complete description of its syntax.
Ian Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198804635
- eISBN:
- 9780191842856
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198804635.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Theoretical Linguistics
This book develops a minimalist approach to cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation. The principal claim is that the essential insight of the principles-and-parameters approach to variation can be ...
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This book develops a minimalist approach to cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation. The principal claim is that the essential insight of the principles-and-parameters approach to variation can be maintained—albeit in a somewhat different guise—in the context of the minimalist programme for linguistic theory. The central idea is to organize the parameters of Universal Grammar (UG) into hierarchies which define the ways in which properties of individually variant categories and features may act in concert. The hierarchies define macro-, meso-, and microparameters as a function of the position of parametric options in a given hierarchy. A further leading idea, which is consistent with the overall goal of the minimalist programme to reduce the content of UG, is that the parameter hierarchies are not directly determined by UG. They are emergent properties stemming from the interaction of the three factors in language design. Universal Grammar, the first factor, provides a template for the underspecification of the formal features in terms of which parameters are defined. The second and third factors determine the organization of these formal options into hierarchies: two third-factor effects (Feature Economy and Input Generalization) play a central role. Cross-linguistic variation in word order, null subjects, incorporation, verb-movement, case/alignment, wh-movement, and negation are all analysed in the light of this approach. This book represents a significant new contribution to the formal study of cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation on both the empirical and theoretical levels.Less
This book develops a minimalist approach to cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation. The principal claim is that the essential insight of the principles-and-parameters approach to variation can be maintained—albeit in a somewhat different guise—in the context of the minimalist programme for linguistic theory. The central idea is to organize the parameters of Universal Grammar (UG) into hierarchies which define the ways in which properties of individually variant categories and features may act in concert. The hierarchies define macro-, meso-, and microparameters as a function of the position of parametric options in a given hierarchy. A further leading idea, which is consistent with the overall goal of the minimalist programme to reduce the content of UG, is that the parameter hierarchies are not directly determined by UG. They are emergent properties stemming from the interaction of the three factors in language design. Universal Grammar, the first factor, provides a template for the underspecification of the formal features in terms of which parameters are defined. The second and third factors determine the organization of these formal options into hierarchies: two third-factor effects (Feature Economy and Input Generalization) play a central role. Cross-linguistic variation in word order, null subjects, incorporation, verb-movement, case/alignment, wh-movement, and negation are all analysed in the light of this approach. This book represents a significant new contribution to the formal study of cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation on both the empirical and theoretical levels.
Norvin Richards
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013765
- eISBN:
- 9780262282369
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013765.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology
This book investigates the conditions imposed upon syntax by the need to create syntactic objects that can be interpreted by phonology — that is, objects which can be pronounced. Drawing extensively ...
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This book investigates the conditions imposed upon syntax by the need to create syntactic objects that can be interpreted by phonology — that is, objects which can be pronounced. Drawing extensively on linguistic data from a variety of languages, including Japanese, Basque, Tagalog, Spanish, Kinande (Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Chaha (Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia), it makes two new proposals about the relationship between syntax and phonology. The first, “Distinctness,” has to do with the process of imposing a linear order on the constituents of the tree. The book claims that syntactic nodes with many properties in common cannot be directly linearized and must be kept structurally distant from each other. It argues that a variety of syntactic phenomena can be explained by this generalization, including much of what has traditionally been covered by case theory. The book’s second proposal, “Beyond Strength and Weakness,” is an attempt to predict, for any given language, whether that language will exhibit overt or covert wh-movement. The book argues that we can predict whether or not a language can leave wh in situ by investigating more general properties of its prosody. This proposal offers an explanation for a cross-linguistic difference — that wh-phrases move overtly in some languages and covertly in others — that has hitherto been simply stipulated. In both these areas, it appears that syntax begins constructing a phonological representation earlier than previously thought; constraints on both word order and prosody begin at the beginning of the derivation.Less
This book investigates the conditions imposed upon syntax by the need to create syntactic objects that can be interpreted by phonology — that is, objects which can be pronounced. Drawing extensively on linguistic data from a variety of languages, including Japanese, Basque, Tagalog, Spanish, Kinande (Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Chaha (Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia), it makes two new proposals about the relationship between syntax and phonology. The first, “Distinctness,” has to do with the process of imposing a linear order on the constituents of the tree. The book claims that syntactic nodes with many properties in common cannot be directly linearized and must be kept structurally distant from each other. It argues that a variety of syntactic phenomena can be explained by this generalization, including much of what has traditionally been covered by case theory. The book’s second proposal, “Beyond Strength and Weakness,” is an attempt to predict, for any given language, whether that language will exhibit overt or covert wh-movement. The book argues that we can predict whether or not a language can leave wh in situ by investigating more general properties of its prosody. This proposal offers an explanation for a cross-linguistic difference — that wh-phrases move overtly in some languages and covertly in others — that has hitherto been simply stipulated. In both these areas, it appears that syntax begins constructing a phonological representation earlier than previously thought; constraints on both word order and prosody begin at the beginning of the derivation.
Gisbert Fanselow, Caroline Féry, Matthias Schlesewsky, and Ralf Vogel (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199274796
- eISBN:
- 9780191705861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274796.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book represents the state of the art in the study of gradience in grammar: the degree to which utterances are acceptable or grammatical, and the relationship between acceptability and ...
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This book represents the state of the art in the study of gradience in grammar: the degree to which utterances are acceptable or grammatical, and the relationship between acceptability and grammaticality. Gradience is at the centre of controversial issues in the theory of grammar and the understanding of language. The acceptability of words and sentences may be linked to the frequency of their use and measured on a scale. Among the questions considered in the book are: whether such measures are beyond the scope of a generative grammar or, in other words, whether the factors influencing acceptability are internal or external to grammar; whether observed gradience is a property of the mentally represented grammar or a reflection of variation among speakers; and what gradient phenomena reveal about the relationship between acceptability and grammaticality, and between competence and performance. The book is divided into four parts. Part I clarifies the nature of gradience from the perspectives of phonology, generative syntax, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. Parts II and III examine issues in phonology and syntax. Part IV considers long wh-movement from different methodological perspectives. The data discussed comes from a wide range of languages and dialects, and includes tone and stress patterns, word order variation, and question formation.Less
This book represents the state of the art in the study of gradience in grammar: the degree to which utterances are acceptable or grammatical, and the relationship between acceptability and grammaticality. Gradience is at the centre of controversial issues in the theory of grammar and the understanding of language. The acceptability of words and sentences may be linked to the frequency of their use and measured on a scale. Among the questions considered in the book are: whether such measures are beyond the scope of a generative grammar or, in other words, whether the factors influencing acceptability are internal or external to grammar; whether observed gradience is a property of the mentally represented grammar or a reflection of variation among speakers; and what gradient phenomena reveal about the relationship between acceptability and grammaticality, and between competence and performance. The book is divided into four parts. Part I clarifies the nature of gradience from the perspectives of phonology, generative syntax, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. Parts II and III examine issues in phonology and syntax. Part IV considers long wh-movement from different methodological perspectives. The data discussed comes from a wide range of languages and dialects, and includes tone and stress patterns, word order variation, and question formation.
GISBERT FANSELOW and STEFAN FRISCH
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199274796
- eISBN:
- 9780191705861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274796.003.0015
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter highlights the effect of processing difficulty on acceptability. It analyses evidence demonstrating that parsing problems often reduce acceptability. It shows that the fact that ...
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This chapter highlights the effect of processing difficulty on acceptability. It analyses evidence demonstrating that parsing problems often reduce acceptability. It shows that the fact that processing difficulty may increase acceptability is less obvious, but this probability is nonetheless borne out. The preferred interpretation of a locally vague construction can have a positive influence on the global acceptability of a sentence even when this is later abandoned. The occurrence of the positive impact of local ambiguities in a domain that goes beyond mere syntactic feature differences is confirmed by the experiments focusing on long wh-movement. Thus, local acceptability perceptions during the parsing process influence the global acceptability of a sentence.Less
This chapter highlights the effect of processing difficulty on acceptability. It analyses evidence demonstrating that parsing problems often reduce acceptability. It shows that the fact that processing difficulty may increase acceptability is less obvious, but this probability is nonetheless borne out. The preferred interpretation of a locally vague construction can have a positive influence on the global acceptability of a sentence even when this is later abandoned. The occurrence of the positive impact of local ambiguities in a domain that goes beyond mere syntactic feature differences is confirmed by the experiments focusing on long wh-movement. Thus, local acceptability perceptions during the parsing process influence the global acceptability of a sentence.
Akira Watanabe
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199250691
- eISBN:
- 9780191719455
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250691.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter considers the mechanism which drives overt wh-movement. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 10.2 starts by describing the system of wh-questions in Old Japanese. The core ...
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This chapter considers the mechanism which drives overt wh-movement. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 10.2 starts by describing the system of wh-questions in Old Japanese. The core empirical material is based on the recent discovery that overt displacement of an entire wh-phrase once existed in Old Japanese and was lost subsequently. Section 10.3 examines this and relates changes while Section 10.4 turns to a theoretical account of these changes.Less
This chapter considers the mechanism which drives overt wh-movement. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 10.2 starts by describing the system of wh-questions in Old Japanese. The core empirical material is based on the recent discovery that overt displacement of an entire wh-phrase once existed in Old Japanese and was lost subsequently. Section 10.3 examines this and relates changes while Section 10.4 turns to a theoretical account of these changes.
Norvin Richards
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013765
- eISBN:
- 9780262282369
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013765.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the main themes covered in this book. Two new proposals are made about the conditions on the syntax–phonology interface. The first, called ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the main themes covered in this book. Two new proposals are made about the conditions on the syntax–phonology interface. The first, called “Distinctness,” is a claim about the nature of well-formed linearization statements, of the type first proposed by Kayne. In particular, it claims that a linearization statement (α, β) is only interpretable if α and β are distinct from each other. The second proposal, “Beyond Strength and Weakness,” is an attempt to predict, for any given language, whether that language will exhibit overt wh-movement or not. The claim is that all languages are required to minimize the number of prosodic boundaries of a certain type between wh-phrases and the complementizers where they take scope.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the main themes covered in this book. Two new proposals are made about the conditions on the syntax–phonology interface. The first, called “Distinctness,” is a claim about the nature of well-formed linearization statements, of the type first proposed by Kayne. In particular, it claims that a linearization statement (α, β) is only interpretable if α and β are distinct from each other. The second proposal, “Beyond Strength and Weakness,” is an attempt to predict, for any given language, whether that language will exhibit overt wh-movement or not. The claim is that all languages are required to minimize the number of prosodic boundaries of a certain type between wh-phrases and the complementizers where they take scope.
Norvin Richards
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013765
- eISBN:
- 9780262282369
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013765.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology
This chapter summarizes the main themes covered and suggests directions for further study. Existing Case theory successfully constrains the distribution of DPs, but does so in a fairly arbitrary way. ...
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This chapter summarizes the main themes covered and suggests directions for further study. Existing Case theory successfully constrains the distribution of DPs, but does so in a fairly arbitrary way. DPs (but not other kinds of phrases) need Case, and certain heads (but not others) are capable of supplying it, for reasons that are not well understood. The work presented here seeks to deepen these explanations, as well as to broaden their empirical coverage. Case, on the theory developed in Chapter 2, is an example of a more general condition on syntactic structures, resulting from a ban on linearization statements that appear to linearize a given node with itself. Chapter 3 attempted to derive the behavior of wh-phrases without using diacritics such as strong and weak features.Less
This chapter summarizes the main themes covered and suggests directions for further study. Existing Case theory successfully constrains the distribution of DPs, but does so in a fairly arbitrary way. DPs (but not other kinds of phrases) need Case, and certain heads (but not others) are capable of supplying it, for reasons that are not well understood. The work presented here seeks to deepen these explanations, as well as to broaden their empirical coverage. Case, on the theory developed in Chapter 2, is an example of a more general condition on syntactic structures, resulting from a ban on linearization statements that appear to linearize a given node with itself. Chapter 3 attempted to derive the behavior of wh-phrases without using diacritics such as strong and weak features.
Robert Truswell
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199577774
- eISBN:
- 9780191725319
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577774.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Semantics and Pragmatics
This book proposes a novel, interface-based analysis of patterns of wh-movement in English in which constraints are stated over both syntactic and semantic representations. Firstly, a theory is ...
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This book proposes a novel, interface-based analysis of patterns of wh-movement in English in which constraints are stated over both syntactic and semantic representations. Firstly, a theory is presented of the internal structure of events as perceptual and cognitive units. The key question concerns the circumstances in which multiple smaller events, or subevents, can be perceived as jointly forming a single macroevent. Macroevent formation is possible if the subevents in question are perceived as related by one of two contingent relations, namely direct causation and enablement, where the latter is a relation holding among events that form part of an agent's plan. There is no single phrase-structural configuration which corresponds to enablement, so cognitive and semantic representations of event structure differ from syntactic representations of phrase structure in nontrivial ways. Certain patterns of extraction from adjuncts in English are amenable to simple descriptions stated over event-structural units and relations, but exhibit substantial differences from the patterns typically described by syntactic theories of locality. However, syntactic locality theories, as elaborated over the past 50 years, remain essential to an accurate description of the distribution of movement relations. The central challenge addressed by this work is therefore to allow syntactic and nonsyntactic factors to act jointly to constrain the syntactic operation of wh-movement without vitiating necessary assumptions about the modularity of the language faculty.Less
This book proposes a novel, interface-based analysis of patterns of wh-movement in English in which constraints are stated over both syntactic and semantic representations. Firstly, a theory is presented of the internal structure of events as perceptual and cognitive units. The key question concerns the circumstances in which multiple smaller events, or subevents, can be perceived as jointly forming a single macroevent. Macroevent formation is possible if the subevents in question are perceived as related by one of two contingent relations, namely direct causation and enablement, where the latter is a relation holding among events that form part of an agent's plan. There is no single phrase-structural configuration which corresponds to enablement, so cognitive and semantic representations of event structure differ from syntactic representations of phrase structure in nontrivial ways. Certain patterns of extraction from adjuncts in English are amenable to simple descriptions stated over event-structural units and relations, but exhibit substantial differences from the patterns typically described by syntactic theories of locality. However, syntactic locality theories, as elaborated over the past 50 years, remain essential to an accurate description of the distribution of movement relations. The central challenge addressed by this work is therefore to allow syntactic and nonsyntactic factors to act jointly to constrain the syntactic operation of wh-movement without vitiating necessary assumptions about the modularity of the language faculty.
Dirk Bury and Hiroyuki Uchida
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199644933
- eISBN:
- 9780191741609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644933.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter replaces traditional phrase structure trees with a new type of set-based representations. Typical labelled trees permit copying of one category onto distinct syntactic nodes and ...
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This chapter replaces traditional phrase structure trees with a new type of set-based representations. Typical labelled trees permit copying of one category onto distinct syntactic nodes and excessive copying possibilities need to be filtered out by independent measures. Such additional means not only increase the complexity of the grammar but also blur the distinction between syntactic and semantic constraints. Thus, is presented an alternative structure representation system that can express syntactic copying only in one specific configuration, whose importance is exemplified by German V2 data. The system is incompatible with certain current approaches to phrasal movement, namely with multidominance systems and with (certain versions of) the copy theory of movement. Its implications are discussed with regard to wh-extraction and reconstruction. Finally, the chapter compares the authors' representation system with dependency graphs as well as other set-based structure representations proposed in Chomskyan syntax.Less
This chapter replaces traditional phrase structure trees with a new type of set-based representations. Typical labelled trees permit copying of one category onto distinct syntactic nodes and excessive copying possibilities need to be filtered out by independent measures. Such additional means not only increase the complexity of the grammar but also blur the distinction between syntactic and semantic constraints. Thus, is presented an alternative structure representation system that can express syntactic copying only in one specific configuration, whose importance is exemplified by German V2 data. The system is incompatible with certain current approaches to phrasal movement, namely with multidominance systems and with (certain versions of) the copy theory of movement. Its implications are discussed with regard to wh-extraction and reconstruction. Finally, the chapter compares the authors' representation system with dependency graphs as well as other set-based structure representations proposed in Chomskyan syntax.
Jason Merchant and Andrew Simpson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645763
- eISBN:
- 9780191741135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645763.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
The introduction chapter provides general background relating to the topic of sluicing and the rationale for a volume focused on the cross-linguistic realization of sluicing. The chapter also ...
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The introduction chapter provides general background relating to the topic of sluicing and the rationale for a volume focused on the cross-linguistic realization of sluicing. The chapter also provides an overview of the principal findings argued for in the new chapters specially commissioned for the volume, Chapters 3–11.Less
The introduction chapter provides general background relating to the topic of sluicing and the rationale for a volume focused on the cross-linguistic realization of sluicing. The chapter also provides an overview of the principal findings argued for in the new chapters specially commissioned for the volume, Chapters 3–11.
John Robert Ross
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645763
- eISBN:
- 9780191741135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645763.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
‘Guess who?’ is John “Haj” Ross’s seminal chapter on sluicing, which originally appeared in the 1969 volume Papers from the 5th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. This chapter ...
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‘Guess who?’ is John “Haj” Ross’s seminal chapter on sluicing, which originally appeared in the 1969 volume Papers from the 5th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. This chapter introduced the term “sluicing” and has exerted a tremendous influence on subsequent investigations of the construction, both in English and in other languages. The chapter is reprinted in the present volume with the kind permission of the author. It considers the fundamental nature of sluicing constructions, their possible syntactic derivations, and how the relation of wh-remnants to correlates in antecedent clauses may or may not be constrained by the occurrence of syntactic islands.Less
‘Guess who?’ is John “Haj” Ross’s seminal chapter on sluicing, which originally appeared in the 1969 volume Papers from the 5th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. This chapter introduced the term “sluicing” and has exerted a tremendous influence on subsequent investigations of the construction, both in English and in other languages. The chapter is reprinted in the present volume with the kind permission of the author. It considers the fundamental nature of sluicing constructions, their possible syntactic derivations, and how the relation of wh-remnants to correlates in antecedent clauses may or may not be constrained by the occurrence of syntactic islands.
Frederick Hoyt and Alexandra Teodorescu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199645763
- eISBN:
- 9780191741135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199645763.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter is a comparison of sluicing in Romanian, Japanese, and English, three languages that appear to form their wh-questions in significantly different ways. Romanian has the property of ...
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This chapter is a comparison of sluicing in Romanian, Japanese, and English, three languages that appear to form their wh-questions in significantly different ways. Romanian has the property of multiple overt wh-movement, Japanese is a wh-in-situ language, and English shows a mixed pattern of wh-movement and wh-in-situ in multiple wh-questions. As sluicing constructions are often assumed to result from the kinds of wh-constructions a language has available, one might expect that Romanian and Japanese would exhibit very different sluicing possibilities, and that English might pattern more like Romanian than Japanese would. The chapter shows that this expectation is not fulfilled, and Romanian and Japanese show surface patterns in sluicing that are very similar. Syntactically, however, it is argued that English actually forms its sluices in the same movement-and-deletion way as Romanian, and differently from Japanese.Less
This chapter is a comparison of sluicing in Romanian, Japanese, and English, three languages that appear to form their wh-questions in significantly different ways. Romanian has the property of multiple overt wh-movement, Japanese is a wh-in-situ language, and English shows a mixed pattern of wh-movement and wh-in-situ in multiple wh-questions. As sluicing constructions are often assumed to result from the kinds of wh-constructions a language has available, one might expect that Romanian and Japanese would exhibit very different sluicing possibilities, and that English might pattern more like Romanian than Japanese would. The chapter shows that this expectation is not fulfilled, and Romanian and Japanese show surface patterns in sluicing that are very similar. Syntactically, however, it is argued that English actually forms its sluices in the same movement-and-deletion way as Romanian, and differently from Japanese.
Robert Truswell
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199577774
- eISBN:
- 9780191725319
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577774.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Semantics and Pragmatics
This chapter introduces the reader to the semantic and syntactic structures to be elaborated in subsequent chapters. It describes the basic problem of recognizing perceptual and cognitive units, and ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the semantic and syntactic structures to be elaborated in subsequent chapters. It describes the basic problem of recognizing perceptual and cognitive units, and the relations among them. It then gives a brief history of the development of syntactic locality theory, with particular reference to constraints restricting extraction from adjuncts. The two major current positions, that adjuncts are strong islands or weak islands, are shown to be too restrictive and too permissive, respectively. Furthermore, four puzzles are introduced which suggest that patterns of extraction from adjuncts are at odds with the patterns described by typical locality constraints. The chapter ends by suggesting that the Single Event Condition, a constraint stated over events as perceptual and linguistic units, may usefully supplement locality theory in this area.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the semantic and syntactic structures to be elaborated in subsequent chapters. It describes the basic problem of recognizing perceptual and cognitive units, and the relations among them. It then gives a brief history of the development of syntactic locality theory, with particular reference to constraints restricting extraction from adjuncts. The two major current positions, that adjuncts are strong islands or weak islands, are shown to be too restrictive and too permissive, respectively. Furthermore, four puzzles are introduced which suggest that patterns of extraction from adjuncts are at odds with the patterns described by typical locality constraints. The chapter ends by suggesting that the Single Event Condition, a constraint stated over events as perceptual and linguistic units, may usefully supplement locality theory in this area.
Ian Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198804635
- eISBN:
- 9780191842856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198804635.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Theoretical Linguistics
This chapter considers some of what is known about variation in wh-movement and negation, and the extent to which parameter hierarchies can be constructed to account for at least some of that ...
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This chapter considers some of what is known about variation in wh-movement and negation, and the extent to which parameter hierarchies can be constructed to account for at least some of that variation. A good deal of the variation surveyed in this chapter follows from the formal options allowing these special indefinites to receive the interpretations they do. It begins with wh-parameters, in particular the very well-known parameter determining whether a language has overt wh-movement or not, as well as the parameters governing different kinds of multiple wh-movement. It then turns to negation. One interesting point which emerges is that parametric variation regarding some aspects of interrogatives and negation is very simple, and probably does not involve a hierarchy. In other areas, parameter hierarchies of the now familiar kind can be proposed.Less
This chapter considers some of what is known about variation in wh-movement and negation, and the extent to which parameter hierarchies can be constructed to account for at least some of that variation. A good deal of the variation surveyed in this chapter follows from the formal options allowing these special indefinites to receive the interpretations they do. It begins with wh-parameters, in particular the very well-known parameter determining whether a language has overt wh-movement or not, as well as the parameters governing different kinds of multiple wh-movement. It then turns to negation. One interesting point which emerges is that parametric variation regarding some aspects of interrogatives and negation is very simple, and probably does not involve a hierarchy. In other areas, parameter hierarchies of the now familiar kind can be proposed.
