The Asymmetry and Antisymmetry of Syntax¹ a Relational Approach to Displacement
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Lisa Pearl LING200, Summer Session I, 2004 Syntax – Sentence Structure
Lisa Pearl LING200, Summer Session I, 2004 Syntax – Sentence Structure I. Syntax A. Gives us the ability to say something new with old words. Though you have seen all the words that I’m using in this sentence before, it’s likely you haven’t seen them put together in exactly this way before. But you’re perfectly capable of understanding the sentence, nonetheless. A. Structure: how to put words together. A. Grammatical structure: a way to put words together which is allowed in the language. a. I often paint my nails green or blue. a. *Often green my nails I blue paint or. II. Syntactic Categories A. How to tell which category a word belongs to: look at the type of meaning the word has, the type of affixes which can adjoin to the word, and the environments you find the word in. A. Meaning: tell lexical category from nonlexical category. a. lexical – meaning is fairly easy to paraphrase i. vampire ≈ “night time creature that drinks blood” i. dark ≈ “without much light” i. drink ≈ “ingest a liquid” a. nonlexical – meaning is much harder to pin down i. and ≈ ?? i. the ≈ ?? i. must ≈ ?? a. lexical categories: Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition i. N: blood, truth, life, beauty (≈ entities, objects) i. V: bleed, tell, live, remain (≈ actions, sensations, states) i. A: gory, truthful, riveting, beautiful (≈ property/attribute of N) 1. gory scene 1. riveting tale i. Adv: sharply, truthfully, loudly, beautifully (≈ property/attribute of V) 1. speak sharply 1. dance beautifully i. P: to, from, inside, around, under (≈ indicates path or position w.r.t N) 1. -
Linguistics an Introduction, SECOND EDITION
Linguistics An Introduction SECOND EDITION ANDREW RADFORD MARTIN ATKINSON DAVID BRITAIN HARALD CLAHSEN and ANDREW SPENCER University of Essex CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521849487 © Andrew Radford, Martin Atkinson, David Britain, Harald Clahsen and Andrew Spencer 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2009 ISBN-13 978-0-511-47924-3 eBook (EBL) ISBN-13 978-0-521-84948-7 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-61478-8 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents List of illustrations page x List of tables xii Preface to the second edition xiii A note for course organisers and class teachers xiv Introduction 1 Linguistics 2 Developmental linguistics 6 Psycholinguistics 9 Neurolinguistics 11 Sociolinguistics 14 Exercises 17 Further reading and references 21 Part I Sounds 23 1 Introduction 25 2 Sounds -
Chapter 3 Rethinking Remerge: Merge, Movement and Music Hedde Zeijlstra Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Chapter 3 Rethinking remerge: Merge, movement and music Hedde Zeijlstra Georg-August-Universität Göttingen In an influential paper, Katz & Pesetsky (2011) present the identity thesis for lan- guage and music, stating that “[a]ll formal differences between language and music are a consequence of differences in their fundamental building blocks (arbitrary pairings of sound and meaning in the case of language; pitch classes and pitch- class combinations in the case of music). In all other respects, language and music are identical.” Katz & Pesetsky argue that, just like syntactic structures, musical structures are generated by (binary) Merge, for which they provide a number of ar- guments: for instance, musical structures are endocentric (each instance of Merge in music, just like in language, has a labelling head). They also argue that move- ment phenomena (i.e., the application of Internal Merge) can be attested in both language and music. While fully endorsing the view that musical structures are the result of multiple applications of External (binary) Merge, this paper argues that the arguments in favour of the presence of Internal Merge in music are at best inconclusive and arguably incorrect. This is, however, not taken as an argument against the identity thesis for language and music; rather, I take it to follow from it: the identity thesis for language and music reduces all differences between language and music to its basic building blocks. If the application of Internal Merge in natural language is driven by uninterpretable features (cf. Chomsky 1995; 2001; Bošković 2007; Zeijlstra 2012) that are language-specific and not applicable to music (the rea- son being that only building blocks that are pairings of sound and meaning can be made up of interpretable and uninterpretable features), the direct consequence is that Internal Merge cannot be triggered in music either. -
A More Perfect Tree-Building Machine 1. Refining Our Phrase-Structure
Intro to Linguistics Syntax 2: A more perfect Tree-Building Machine 1. Refining our phrase-structure rules Rules we have so far (similar to the worksheet, compare with previous handout): a. S → NP VP b. NP → (D) AdjP* N PP* c. VP → (AdvP) V (NP) PP* d. PP → P NP e. AP --> (Deg) A f. AdvP → (Deg) Adv More about Noun Phrases Last week I drew trees for NPs that were different from those in the book for the destruction of the city • What is the difference between the two theories of NP? Which one corresponds to the rule (b)? • What does the left theory claim that the right theory does not claim? • Which is closer to reality? How did can we test it? On a related note: how many meanings does one have? 1) John saw a large pink plastic balloon, and I saw one, too. Let us improve our NP-rule: b. CP = Complementizer Phrase Sometimes we get a sentence inside another sentence: Tenors from Odessa know that sopranos from Boston sing songs of glory. We need to have a new rule to build a sentence that can serve as a complement of a verb, where C complementizer is “that” , “whether”, “if” or it could be silent (unpronounced). g. CP → C S We should also improve our rule (c) to be like the one below. c. VP → (AdvP) V (NP) PP* (CP) (says CP can co-occur with NP or PP) Practice: Can you draw all the trees in (2) using the amended rules? 2) a. Residents of Boston hear sopranos of renown at dusk. -
Word Order, Parameters and the Extended COMP
Alice Davison, University of Iowa [email protected] January 2006 Word order, parameters, and the Extended COMP projection Abstract The structure of finite CP shows some unexpected syntactic variation in the marking of finite subordinate clauses in the Indic languages, which otherwise are strongly head-final.. Languages with relative pronouns also have initial complementizers and conjunctions. Languages with final yes/no question markers allow final complementizers, either demonstratives or quotative participles. These properties define three classes, one with only final CP heads (Sinhala), one with only initial CP heads (Hindi, Panjabi, Kashmiri) and others with both possibilities. The lexical differences of final vs initial CP heads argue for expanding the CP projection into a number of specialized projections, whose heads are all final (Sinhala), all initial, or mixed. These projections explain the systematic variation in finite CPs in the Indic languages, with the exception of some additional restrictions and anomalies in the Eastern group. 1. Introduction In this paper, I examine two topics in the syntactic structure of clauses in the Indic languages. The first topic has to do with the embedding of finite clauses and especially about how embedded finite clauses are morphologically marked. The second topic focuses on patterns of linear order in languages, parameters of directionality in head position. The two topics intersect in the position of these markers of finite subordinate clauses in the Indic languages. These markers can be prefixes or suffixes, and I will propose that they are heads of functional projections, just as COMP is traditionally regarded as head of CP. The Indic languages are all fundamentally head-final languages; the lexically heads P, Adj, V and N are head-final in the surface structure, while only the functional head D is not. -
Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: a Case Study from Koro
Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro By Jessica Cleary-Kemp A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair Assistant Professor Peter S. Jenks Professor William F. Hanks Summer 2015 © Copyright by Jessica Cleary-Kemp All Rights Reserved Abstract Serial Verb Constructions Revisited: A Case Study from Koro by Jessica Cleary-Kemp Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Associate Professor Lev D. Michael, Chair In this dissertation a methodology for identifying and analyzing serial verb constructions (SVCs) is developed, and its application is exemplified through an analysis of SVCs in Koro, an Oceanic language of Papua New Guinea. SVCs involve two main verbs that form a single predicate and share at least one of their arguments. In addition, they have shared values for tense, aspect, and mood, and they denote a single event. The unique syntactic and semantic properties of SVCs present a number of theoretical challenges, and thus they have invited great interest from syntacticians and typologists alike. But characterizing the nature of SVCs and making generalizations about the typology of serializing languages has proven difficult. There is still debate about both the surface properties of SVCs and their underlying syntactic structure. The current work addresses some of these issues by approaching serialization from two angles: the typological and the language-specific. On the typological front, it refines the definition of ‘SVC’ and develops a principled set of cross-linguistically applicable diagnostics. -
Antisymmetry Kayne, Richard (1995)
CAS LX 523 Syntax II (1) A Spring 2001 March 13, 2001 qp Paul Hagstrom Week 7: Antisymmetry BE 33 Kayne, Richard (1995). The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. CDFG 1111 Koopman, Hilda (2000). The spec-head configuration. In Koopman, H., The syntax of cdef specifiers and heads. London: Routledge. (2) A node α ASYMMETRICALLY C-COMMANDS β if α c-commands β and β does not The basic proposals: c-command α. X-bar structures (universally) have a strict order: Spec-head-complement. There is no distinction between adjuncts and specifiers. • B asymmetrically c-commands F and G. There can be only one specifier. • E asymmetrically c-commands C and D. • No other non-terminal nodes asymmetrically c-command any others. But wait!—What about SOV languages? What about multiple adjunction? Answer: We’ve been analyzing these things wrong. (3) d(X) is the image of a non-terminal node X. Now, we have lots of work to do, because lots of previous analyses relied on d(X) is the set of terminal nodes dominated by node X. the availability of “head-final” structures, or multiple adjunction. • d(C) is {c}. Why make our lives so difficult? Wasn’t our old system good enough? • d(B) is {c, d}. Actually, no. • d(F) is {e}. A number of things had to be stipulated in X-bar theory (which we will review); • d(E) is {e, f}. they can all be made to follow from one general principle. • d(A) is {c, d, e, f}. The availability of a head-parameter actually fails to predict the kinds of languages that actually exist. -
From Merge and Move to Form Dependency*
From Merge and Move to Form Dependency* M. RITA MANZINI 0 Introduction In this article, I shall first briefly present the minimalist framework that emerges from the recent work of Chomsky (1995). As I shall show, a number of classical problems in movement theory, concerning in particular locality in the sense of Manzini (1992), remain open under minimalism. What is more, while the operation Merge can be argued to be necessary on conceptual grounds alone, there is no analogous motivation for the operation Move, but only considerations of language use. I shall then outline a theory which substitutes Chomsky's (1995) movement rule with a rule of Form Dependency. As I shall show, this rule is sufficient to subsume Merge, thus effectively eliminating the Merge-Move dualism. Finally, I shall indicate how the classical problems in locality theory can also be solved within the version of minimalism that I propose. 1 Merge and Move In the minimalist model of Chomsky (1995), each linguistic expression is characterized by two representations, a P(honological) F(orm) representation, interfacing with the articulatory-perceptual system(s) and a L(ogical) F(orm) representation, interfacing with the conceptual-intentional system(s). This represents a clear departure from previous models, even within the principles and parameters framework, which are characterized by at least two additional syntactic representations, namely D(eep)-S(structure) and S(urface)-S(tructure). The minimalist model is obviously preferable on conceptual grounds, since in it linguistic representations are seen to simply match the interfaces between language and other cognitive systems. Furthermore, it is compatible with known empirical evidence and arguably superior in dealing with at least some of it. -
The Complexity of Narrow Syntax : Minimalism, Representational
Erschienen in: Measuring Grammatical Complexity / Frederick J. Newmeyer ... (Hrsg.). - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014. - S. 128-147. - ISBN 978-0-19-968530-1 The complexity of narrow syntax: Minimalism, representational economy, and simplest Merge ANDREAS TROTZKE AND JAN-WOUTER ZWART 7.1 Introduction The issue of linguistic complexity has recently received much attention by linguists working within typological-functional frameworks (e.g. Miestamo, Sinnemäki, and Karlsson 2008; Sampson, Gil, and Trudgill 2009). In formal linguistics, the most prominent measure of linguistic complexity is the Chomsky hierarchy of formal languages (Chomsky 1956), including the distinction between a finite-state grammar (FSG) and more complicated types of phrase-structure grammar (PSG). This dis- tinction has played a crucial role in the recent biolinguistic literature on recursive complexity (Sauerland and Trotzke 2011). In this chapter, we consider the question of formal complexity measurement within linguistic minimalism (cf. also Biberauer et al., this volume, chapter 6; Progovac, this volume, chapter 5) and argue that our minimalist approach to complexity of derivations and representations shows simi- larities with that of alternative theoretical perspectives represented in this volume (Culicover, this volume, chapter 8; Jackendoff and Wittenberg, this volume, chapter 4). In particular, we agree that information structure properties should not be encoded in narrow syntax as features triggering movement, suggesting that the relevant information is established at the interfaces. Also, we argue for a minimalist model of grammar in which complexity arises out of the cyclic interaction of subderivations, a model we take to be compatible with Construction Grammar approaches. We claim that this model allows one to revisit the question of the formal complexity of a generative grammar, rephrasing it such that a different answer to the question of formal complexity is forthcoming depending on whether we consider the grammar as a whole, or just narrow syntax. -
Antisymmetry and the Lefthand in Morphology*
CatWPL 7 071-087 13/6/00 12:26 Página 71 CatWPL 7, 1999 71-87 Antisymmetry And The Lefthand In Morphology* Frank Drijkoningen Utrecht Institute of Linguistics-OTS. Department of Foreign Languages Kromme Nieuwegracht 29. 3512 HD Utrecht. The Netherlands [email protected] Received: December 13th 1998 Accepted: March 17th 1999 Abstract As Kayne (1994) has shown, the theory of antisymmetry of syntax also provides an explanation of a structural property of morphological complexes, the Righthand Head Rule. In this paper we show that an antisymmetry approach to the Righthand Head Rule eventually is to be preferred on empirical grounds, because it describes and explains the properties of a set of hitherto puzz- ling morphological processes —known as discontinuous affixation, circumfixation or parasyn- thesis. In considering these and a number of more standard morphological structures, we argue that one difference bearing on the proper balance between morphology and syntax should be re-ins- talled (re- with respect to Kayne), a difference between the antisymmetry of the syntax of mor- phology and the antisymmetry of the syntax of syntax proper. Key words: antisymmetry, Righthand Head Rule, circumfixation, parasynthesis, prefixation, category-changing prefixation, discontinuities in morphology. Resum. L’antisimetria i el costat esquerre en morfologia Com Kayne (1994) mostra, la teoria de l’antisimetria en la sintaxi també ens dóna una explicació d’una propietat estructural de complexos morfològics, la Regla del Nucli a la Dreta. En aquest article mostrem que un tractament antisimètric de la Regla del Nucli a la Dreta es prefereix even- tualment en dominis empírics, perquè descriu i explica les propietats d’una sèrie de processos fins ara morfològics —coneguts com afixació discontínua, circumfixació o parasíntesi. -
Wh-Movement in Standard Arabic: an Optimality
Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 46(1), 2010, pp. 1–26 © School of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland doi:10.2478/v10010-010-0001-y WH-MOVEMENT IN STANDARD ARABIC: AN OPTIMALITY-THEORETIC ACCOUNT MOUSA A. BTOOSH Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma’an [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper is meant to delineate the syntax of wh-movement in Standard Arabic within the Opti- mality Theory framework. The scope of this study is limited to examine only simple, relativized and indirect verbal information questions. Further restrictions also have been placed on tense and negation in that only past tense affirmative questions are tackled here. Results show that Standard Arabic strictly adheres to the OP SPEC constraint in the matrix as well as the subordinate clauses. Findings also show that *Prep-Strand violation is intolerable in all types of information questions. Furthermore, the phonological manifestation of the com- plementizer is obligatory when the relative clause head is present or when the relative clause head is deleted and a resumptive pronoun is left behind. KEYWORDS : Wh-movement; constraints; questions; resumptive pronouns; relative clauses. 1. Introduction and review of literature Languages vary not only as to where they place wh-words or phrases, but also in the constraints governing the movement process, in general. In spite of the different kinds of movement that languages feature (topicalization, extraposition, wh-movement, heavy NP-shift, etc.), all of such syntactic phenomena do share a common property, the movement of a category from a place to another. Though its roots began long before, the unified theory of wh-movement came into being by the publication of Chomsky’s article On wh-movement in 1977. -
Danish Pre-Nominals As Specifier Heads
Danish Pre-nominals as Specifier Heads Anne Neville University of Southern Denmark 1. Introduction This paper presents an outline of a central aspect of an extensive formal analysis of the syntax of the Danish nominal phrase within the framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, cf. Pollard and Sag (1994). The aspect of the analysis I will focus on is nominal phrase structure. Modern theories of phrase structure are commonly based on X-bar Theory and phrase structure conforms to the X-bar schema proposed in Chomsky (1970). Within this tradition, there has been much discussion about the categorial status of nominal phrases. This paper is a contribution to this discussion. I propose a nominal phrase analysis which I refer to as the Specifier Head Analysis to indicate that it is a combination of the NP and DP approaches. In 2. I give some examples of Danish nominal phrases covered by the analysis. In 3. I introduce two basic assumptions that form the basis of the analysis. A brief outline of the NP and DP analyses and the difference be- tween them is given in 4. 5. is a brief introduction to HPSG. The Specifier Head Analysis is presented in 6. In 7. and 8. respectively, the analysis is applied to two types of pre-nominal, adjectives functioning as specifiers and the Danish definite article. Finally, the paper is concluded in 9. 2. Some Data In (1) examples of nominal phrases covered by the analysis are shown. The examples are by no means exhaustive. As can be seen only nominal phrases consisting of a noun and possibly pre-nominals are covered.