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Raising and Control HG4041 Theories of Grammar Raising and Control Francis Bond Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/fcbond/ [email protected] Lecture 10 Location: LHN-TR+36 HG4041 (2020) Overview ã Intro to topic ã Infinitival to ã (Subject) raising verbs ã (Subject) control verbs ã Raising/control in Transformational Grammar ã Object raising and object control Sag, Wasow and Bender (2003) — Chapter 12 1 Where We Are & Where We’re Going ã Revision ­ In the last two lectures, we have seen a kind of subject sharing – that is, cases where one NP served as the spr for two different verbs. Examples? ­ Last time, we looked at dummy NPs – that is, non-referential NPs. Examples? ã Today, we’re going to look at the kind of subject sharing we saw with be in more detail. ã Then we’ll look at another kind of subject sharing, using dummy NPs in differenti- ating the two kinds. Raising and Control 2 What Makes This Topic Different ã The phenomena we have looked at so far (agreement, binding, imperatives, passives, existentials, extraposition) are easy to pick out on the basis of their form alone. ã In this chapter, we look at constructions with the general form NP-V-(NP)-to-VP. It turns out that they divide into two kinds, differing in both syntactic and semantic properties. Raising and Control 3 The Central Idea ã Pat continues to avoid conflict and Pat tries to avoid conflict both have the form NP-V-to-VP ­ But continue is semantically a one-place predicate, expressing a property of a situation (namely, that it continues to be the case) continue(avoid(Pat,conflict)) ­ Whereas try is semantically a two-place predicate, expressing a relation between someone who tries and a situation s/he tries to bring about. try(Pat, avoid(Pat, conflict) ã This semantic difference has syntactic effects. Raising and Control 4 The Status of Infinitival to ã It’s not obvious what part of speech to assign to to. ã It’s not the same as the preposition to: (1) Pat aspires to stardom (2) Pat aspires to be a good actor (3) *?Pat aspires to stardom and to be a good actor (4) *Pat aspires to stardom and be a good actor ã We call it an auxiliary verb, because this will make our analysis of auxiliaries a little simpler. Raising and Control 5 The Lexical Entry for Infinitival to 2 2 2 33 3 6 form base 7 6 6 6 77 7 6 6 6 77 7 6syn 6head 4inf + 57 7 6 4 5 7 6 aux + 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 6 2 3 7 6 7 6 6 verb 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 − 7 7 7 * 6 6head 4inf 5 7 7+ 6 6 7 7 6 * 6 form base 7+7 to, 6 6 2 37 7 6 6 D E 7 7 6arg-st 1 , 6 7 7 6 6 6spr 1 77 7 6 6 4 DE57 7 6 6val 7 7 6 6 comps 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 h i 5 7 6 7 6 sem index s 7 6 7 6 " # 7 6 7 4 index s 5 sem restr hi Raising and Control 6 The Syntax of Infinitival to 2 3 2 2 33 6 form base 7 6 6 6 777 6 6 4inf + 577 4syn 4head 55 aux + ã This makes it a verb, because aux is declared on verb ã [inf +] uniquely identifies the infinitival to ã Verbs select complements with different combinations of form and inf values, e.g. ­ complements of condescend are [form base] and [inf +] ­ complements of should are [form base] and [inf −] ­ complements of help are [form base] ã The meaning of [aux +] becomes clear in Chapter 13. Raising and Control 7 The Argument Structure 2 3 2 2 33 6 6 verb 7 7 6 6 6 77 7 6 6head 4inf − 57 7 6 6 7 7 6 * 6 form base 7+7 6 6 7 7 6 6 2 D E37 7 6 6 7 7 6arg-st 1, spr 1 7 6 6 6 77 7 6 6val 4 DE57 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 comps 7 7 6 6 h i 7 7 4 4 5 5 sem index s ã What kind of constituent is the second argument? ã The tagging of the first argument and the spr of the second argument is exactly like be. Raising and Control 8 The Semantics of Infinitival to 2 3 2 2 3 3 6 7 6 6 verb 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6head 6inf − 7 7 7 6 6 4 5 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 * 6 form base 7+7 6 6 2 D E37 7 6 6 7 7 6arg-st 1 , 6 7 7 6 6 6spr 1 77 7 6 6val 4 DE57 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 comps 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 h i 5 7 6 7 6 sem index s 7 6 7 6 " # 7 6 index s 7 4sem 5 restr hi ã The index value is taken from the sem of the second argument. ã What is the semantic contribution of to? Raising and Control 9 Dummies and continue ã Some examples: (5) There continue to be seats available. (6) It continues to matter that we lost. (7) Advantage continues to be taken of the innocent. (8) *It continues to be seats available. (9) *There continues to matter that we lost. (10) *Advantage continues to be kept of the innocent. ã Generalization: Non-referential NPs can appear as the subject of continue just in case they could be the subject of the complement of continue. Raising and Control 10 A New Type, for Verbs like continue 2 Subject-Raising Verb Lexeme (srv-lxm) 3 2 2 D E33 6 7 6 * 6 6spr 1 77+7 6 6 4 DE57 7 6 6val 7 7 6arg-st 1 , 6 comps 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 4 h i 5 7 6 7 6 sem index s 7 6 7 6 " ⟨ ⟩# 7 6 h i 7 4sem restr arg s 5 ã The subject sharing is just like for be and to: the subject of continue is also the subject of its complement ã continue imposes no other constraints on its subject ã The index of the complement must be an argument of the predication introduced by the verb Raising and Control 11 The Lexical Entry for continue 2 " + 3 ⟨ h i] 6srv-lxm 7 6syn arg-st X, VP inf + 7 * 6 7+ 6 2 37 6 7 6 index s 7 continue, 6 6 *"1 #+77 6 6 77 6sem 6 reln continue 77 4 4restr 55 sit s1 Raising and Control 12 continue with Inherited Information 2 2 2 33 3 srv-lxm 6 verb 7 6 6 6 77 7 6 6 6 −77 7 6 6 6pred 77 7 6syn 6head 6 77 7 6 6 4inf −57 7 6 4 5 7 6 agr 2 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 6 7 6 * 2 3 inf + +7 * 6 head nominal 6 D E7 7+ 6 4 h i5 6 7 7 6arg-st 1 , VP 6spr 1 7 7 6 hi hi 4 5 7 continue, 6 val spr comps 7 6 7 6 index s2 7 6 2 3 7 6 7 6 mode prop 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6index s1 7 7 6 6 2 3 7 7 6 6 * +7 7 6sem 6 reln continue 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6restr 6sit s 7 7 7 4 4 4 1 5 5 5 arg s2 Raising and Control 13 Key Property of Subject-Raising Verbs The subject plays no semantic role in the predication introduced by the SRV itself. Its semantic role (if any) is only in the predication introduced in the complement. 2 2 3 3 6srv-lxm * 2 3 inf + +7 6 head nominal 6 D E7 7 6 4 h i5 6 7 7 6arg-st 1 , VP 6spr 1 7 7 6 hi hi 4 5 7 6 val spr comps 7 6 index s 7 * 6 2 7+ 6 2 3 7 6 7 6 mode prop 7 continue, 6 6 7 7 6 6index s 7 7 6 6 12 3 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 * +7 7 6sem 6 6reln continue7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 6restr 4sit s1 5 7 7 4 4 5 5 arg s2 Raising and Control 14 Constraints on SRV’s subjects are from their complements ã SRVs take dummy subjects when and only when their complements do. ã SRVs take idiom chunk subjects when and only when their complements do. ã Passivizing the complement of an SRV doesn’t change the truth conditions of the whole sentence: (11) Skeptics continue to question your hypothesis (12) Your hypothesis continues to be questioned by skeptics Raising and Control 15 continue with active complement S A [ D E] 1 NPi VP spr 1 [ D E] [ D E] Skeptics V spr 1 VP spr 1 [ D E] [ D E] continue V spr 1 VP spr 1 [ D E] to V spr 1 NPj 2 2 3 3 * + 6 6reln question7 7 6 6 7 7 question 6restr A ,… 7 4 4doubter i 5 5 your hypothesis doubted j Raising and Control 16 continue with passive complement S A [ D E] 1 NPj VP spr 1 [ D E] [ D E] V spr 1 VP spr 1 Your hypothesis [ D E] [ D E] continue V spr 1 VP spr 1 [ D E] [ D E] to V spr 1 VP spr 1 [ D E] be V spr 1 NPi questioned Pi NPi 2 3 2 3 by NOM * + i 6 6reln question7 7 6 6 7 7 6restr A doubter i ,… 7 4 4 5 5 skeptics doubted j Raising and Control 17 Control Verbs ã Control verbs, like try, appear in contexts that look just like the contexts for raising verbs: i.
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