Grammar and Information Structure a Study with Reference to Russian
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Grammar and Information Structure a study with reference to Russian Published by LOT Janskerkhof 13 3512 BL Utrecht The Netherlands phone: +31 30 253 6006 fax: +31 30 253 6406 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.lotschool.nl Cover illustration by Ilya Ruderman ISBN 978-90-78328-32-2 NUR 616 Copyright © 2007: Natalia Slioussar. All rights reserved. Grammar and Information Structure a study with reference to Russian Grammatica en Informatiestructuur een studie met betrekking tot het Russisch (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. W.H. Gispen, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 4 juli 2007 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Natalia Slioussar geboren op 16 november 1980 te Sint-Petersburg, Russische Federatie Promotoren: prof.dr. E.J. Reuland prof.dr. F.N.K. Wijnen prof.dr. T.V. Chernigovskaya Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................ix 1 Introduction ........................................................................................1 1.1 What does the grammatical IS system encode and how? ...........4 1.1.1 IS notions in the grammar elude definition................................4 1.1.2 Activation network model of the discourse IS system .................6 1.1.3 Discourse IS notions in the activation network model ................8 1.1.4 From discourse to syntax: what is encoded and how? ..............11 1.2 Implementing a configurational IS model ................................15 1.3 Russian scrambling: An introduction ........................................17 1.4 The structure of the dissertation................................................19 2 Syntax. Outlining the model............................................................23 2.1 Phase theoretic framework and my modifications ...................23 2.1.1 Innovations to Phase theory in Chomsky (2005)......................24 2.1.2 Four major modifications and several minor points .................26 2.2 My IS model outlined.................................................................29 2.2.1 EF-based configurational IS model ...........................................29 2.2.2 IM and Agree: redefining the relation ......................................32 2.2.3 IS-related IM: how and where?.................................................36 2.2.4 Restricting ‘free IM’: how, where and with what effects?..........38 2.2.5 Determinacy of the grammar and a production model............42 2.3 Remnant movement, adverbial syntax and heads with EFs .....45 2.3.1 Remnant movement .................................................................46 2.3.2 Syntax of adverbs .....................................................................47 2.3.3 A sample derivation .................................................................50 2.3.4 List of heads with EFs................................................................55 3 IS theory and prosody. Developing the model ...............................59 3.1 IS theory and prosody: An introduction ....................................59 3.1.1 A brief overview of the IS field ..................................................61 3.1.2 Prosodic structure and the architecture of the grammar ..........62 3.1.3 Reinhart and Neeleman’s IS theory..........................................65 3.1.4 Szendri’s (2001) crosslinguistic IS typology ............................68 3.1.5 Büring (2003): unifying focus and prominence........................71 3.2 Place of prosody in the grammar and in IS models ..................76 vi Natalia Slioussar. Grammar and Information Structure 3.2.1 Interface strategies in Reinhart and Neeleman’s model...........76 3.2.2 Modifications of Reinhart and Neeleman’s theory and parallel representations in Szendri’s (2001) model .............................79 3.3 Deriving prosody from syntax...................................................81 3.3.1 Dividing the task ......................................................................82 3.3.2 NSR in the non-antisymmetric models and its problems ..........85 3.3.3 Language-internal and crosslinguistic perspective...................86 3.3.4 Prosody without IS-related IM ..................................................90 3.3.5 Prosody with IS-related IM .......................................................95 3.3.6 Non-default prosody.................................................................99 3.3.7 Further details and conclusion ...............................................101 3.4 Advantages of relational IS notions ........................................104 3.4.1 Universality of configurational IS models...............................105 3.4.2 Pronouns and IS-related IM....................................................110 3.4.3 Foci: problems ........................................................................112 3.4.4 Foci: solutions .........................................................................116 3.4.5 Topics: problems and solutions...............................................118 3.4.6 Topicalization and ‘topic accents’ in Russian .........................121 3.4.7 Corpus study of Russian sentence-initial PPs ..........................124 3.4.8 Further questions....................................................................128 4 EPP-driven movement. A step aside ............................................. 131 4.1 Theoretical background ..........................................................132 4.1.1 EPP typology by Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (1998) .....133 4.1.2 T feature theory by Pesetsky and Torrego (2001, 2004a, b) ...137 4.1.3 Minimal generalization and revised EPP typology .................138 4.2 Two existing solutions and corpus data ..................................141 4.2.1 Russian and the Greek group in the EPP typology ..................142 4.2.2 Bailyn’s model of the Russian EPP ..........................................143 4.2.3 Verb movement ......................................................................145 4.2.4 Postverbal subjects..................................................................148 4.3 A new solution: EPP à l’anglaise..............................................151 4.3.1 Obligatory raising of external Nominative arguments...........151 4.3.2 Covert expletives and the Russian EPP ...................................153 4.3.3 Covert expletives in different languages ................................157 4.3.4 Obligatory movement of internal arguments.........................161 4.4 Subject properties of raised non-Nominative XPs ...................162 4.4.1 Anaphor binding: general questions ......................................164 4.4.2 Anaphor binding: non-Nominative XPs..................................166 4.4.3 Pronominals: general questions .............................................170 4.4.4 Pronominals: A vs. A' tests......................................................171 Appendix A. Binding and coreference questionnaire. .......................174 5 Scrambling. A bigger picture........................................................ 181 5.1 More on Russian scrambling ...................................................181 5.1.1 Indirect objects and argument PPs .........................................181 5.1.2 Adverbs...................................................................................184 5.1.3 OV orders in colloquial Russian..............................................188 Contents vii 5.1.4 Conclusion..............................................................................191 5.2 Experimental data...................................................................192 5.2.1 Brief overview of the experimental data ................................192 5.2.2 Scrambled vs. neutral word orders: previous studies ..............195 5.2.3 My experiment: method .........................................................198 5.2.4 My experiment: results ...........................................................203 5.2.5 My experiment: discussion .....................................................208 Appendix B. Experimental materials.................................................209 6 Conclusion...................................................................................... 221 Bibliography........................................................................................ 225 Samenvatting in het Nederlands ....................................................... 241 Curriculum vitae ................................................................................. 245 Acknowledgements While I was working on this thesis, I often dreamt of the moment when I would get to this part: when the manuscript would be written, the final stress would be gone and I would look back at this period of my life with pleasure, nostalgia and gratitude. Finally, this moment has come. The results of this work will be judged by the others, but I can definitely say that the process was enjoyable. So I am glad to complete it by remembering many wonderful people who have contributed to it in various ways. My first thanks go to my supervisors, Eric Reuland, Frank Wijnen and Tatiana Vladimirovna Chernigovskaya. I was enrolled in a joint PhD program, so Eric and Frank are from Utrecht institute of Linguistics, and Tatiana Vladimirovna is from St. Petersburg State University. Eric’s contribution to this dissertation is