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Syntactic Constraints on Topicalization Phenomena

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Syntactic constraints on topicalization phenomena Carlos Rubio Alcala´ PhD Dissertation supervised by Dr. Ma Luisa Hernanz Carbo´ Candidate's Supervisor's signature signature Doctorate Program in Cognitive Science and Language Departamento de Filolog´ıaEspa~nola Centre de Ling¨u´ıstica Te`orica Facultad de Filosof´ıay Letras Universitat Aut`onomade Barcelona Bellaterra, March 2014 The development of this doctoral dissertation has been possible thanks to a predoctoral grant for Research Formation (FI), given by the Ag`enciade Gesti´oi d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2010-2013) and also due to funding provided by the following research projects: • \Microvariaci´onen la estructura oracional" (HUM 2006-13295-C02-02 (Consolider-C)) directed by Pr. Jos´eMar´ıaBrucart. • \Rasgos y periferias: variaci´onen la arquitectura de las categor´ıasfun- cionales" (FFI2011-29440-C03-01) directed by Pr. Ma Luisa Hernanz. A mis padres Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my thesis advisor Prof. Maria Llu¨ısa Hernanz, whose good disposition and astonishing grammatical knowledge have made this work much more fulfilling and interesting. For every pro- posal or analysis she always had a counterexample that forced me re-think everything I did. For every time we disagreed on something, she always gave me the freedom to pursue my ideas. The Centre de Ling¨u´ıstica Te`oricais a great place to do linguistic research and I feel very fortunate to have been given the chance to be a part of it. The generosity of its members and the constant intellectual challenge that they pose is only matched by the warmth with which they receive new members and the encouragement they offer to students. In special, I would like to thank Jos´eMar´ıa Brucart, Carme Picallo, Gemma Rigau, Jaume Mateu, and Anna Bartra for many suggestions and valuable advice. Angel´ Gallego stands apart as an inspiration for younger generations of students at the CLT and his contributions to my work are way too numerous to count. Fellow students (current and former, pre-doc and post-doc, from the CLT and beyond) Anna Gibert, Javi Fern´andez,Yurena Guti´errez,Eduard Art´es, El´ıasGallardo, Luc´ıaMedea Garc´ıa,H´ectorMart´ınez, ´Io Salmons, Marina Roman, Xico Torres, Laia Mayol, Jordi Fortuny, Teresa Blasco, Juan Romeu, Melania S´anchez, Cristina Real (in no particular order) have shared laughs, v frustration and enough moments to have become true friends. Two people stand out in my memories of these years, and in my heart. Isabel Castro is an example of so many good things I do not even know where to start. I do not know anybody with her capacity for work, commitment and intellectual honesty. She's also the best friend one could know. When I grow up I want to be just like her. Adriana Fasanella is the person with whom I have spent the most time in the last five years and I am grateful beyond words for every minute of it. She's a friend and a sister. She's the best part about having been in a PhD program, without question. The Department of Spanish of the Universitat Aut`onomade Barcelona has provided all the support I could have needed and has allowed me to grow by allowing me to carry out activities beyond research. The months I spent at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York were among the most productive of my doctorate and that was due to the great environment I was able to be a part of those months. Both faculty and students were very welcoming and willing to provide me with new answers and new questions. Prof. Marcel den Dikken was extremely generous with his time and contributed with an inquiring mind to all aspects of this work that I presented him with. I am thankful to all the people who took a look at parts of the dissertation and always had comments and advice to make it better: Juan Uriagereka, Liliane Haegeman, Luigi Rizzi, Adriana Belletti, Olga Fern´andezSoriano, Antonio F´abregasand the audiences of conferences where parts of this work were presented, like the 42nd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (Southern Utah University), the 9th Workshop on Syntax and Semantics (University of Siena), the ConSOLE XXII (University of Lisbon) and the CSIC and CLT Seminars. vi A great thing about drawing on data from many languages is the oppor- tunity it gives to talk to so many people. For their help with linguistic data I am grateful to Elena Ciutescu, Kano Kandabashi, Qiuyue Zhong, Andrea Bellavia, Pietro Delsante, Peter Herbeck and Maya Leela. This dissertation would not have come to an end without certain peace of mind. That was achieved by the love and support of my family and friends. My parents and brother are the foundation on which all the rest can stand. Alberto Louro must be one of the biologists with most syntactic knowl- edge out there (rather unwillingly). His understanding, love and support have meant the world to me. He has also provided the Galician data for the dissertation, but that is the least of the good things he does for me. Bellaterra, February 17th 2014. Carlos Rubio Alcala´ vii Contents Acknowledgements vii 1 Topicalization and the cartographic project 1 1.1 Introduction . 1 1.2 The problematic definition of topicalization . 7 1.2.1 Some semantic and pragmatic constraints on topicalization . 10 1.3 Different kinds of Topics . 18 1.3.1 Hanging Topics ...................... 19 1.3.2 Clitic Right Dislocation . 24 1.3.3 Modifier Topics ...................... 27 1.3.4 Arguments and non-arguments . 33 1.4 The cartographic project . 35 1.4.1 An introduction to the cartographic project . 35 1.4.2 Topics and the Cartographic Project . 46 1.5 Island constraints affecting CLLD . 53 1.5.1 Interesting contrasts . 54 1.6 Assumptions made about topicalization processes . 55 1.7 Organization of the thesis . 57 ix CONTENTS 2 A Movement-based approach to Clitic Left Dislocation 59 2.1 Introduction . 59 2.2 Proposals in favor of the base-generation of Topics . 60 2.3 Arguments in favor of Topic movement . 71 2.3.1 Existence of island constraints . 71 2.3.2 Case assignment . 80 2.3.3 Reconstruction effects . 85 2.3.4 Contrasts between CLLD and Hanging Topics . 87 2.3.5 Some experimental work with aphasic patients . 90 2.4 The approach taken in this work . 92 2.5 Some notes on islands . 104 2.6 A note on the methodology . 106 2.7 Interim summary . 108 3 Subject Island Violations 111 3.1 Introduction . 111 3.2 Subject Island violations . 113 3.3 On the nature of the Subject island constraint: a review of proposals . 117 3.3.1 Cinque's (1990) analysis . 118 3.3.2 A proposal in terms of Relativized Minimality . 129 3.3.3 Boeckx's (2003) account . 132 3.3.4 Richards's account . 140 3.3.5 A wrap-up of reviews . 146 3.4 Some notes on argument structures . 146 3.5 The timing of syntactic operations . 149 3.6 An account of subject island violations by CLLD . 150 3.7 Some consequences for the analysis of CLLD . 158 x Carlos Rubio Alcal´a 3.7.1 Differences among speakers . 162 3.7.2 Differences between Wh-movement and CLLD . 163 3.8 Conclusions . 165 4 Complex-NP and Adjunct Island Extraction 167 4.1 Introduction . 167 4.2 Complex-NP and Adjunt island violations . 168 4.3 Connectedness . 169 4.4 A Connectedness-based analysis of Complex-NP and Adjunct violations by CLLD . 175 4.4.1 Preliminaries . 175 4.4.2 Some implications of a Connectedness-based analysis . 180 4.4.3 Semantic Connectedness and the globality approach . 182 4.5 Conclusion . 185 5 CLLD and Conditional Clauses 187 5.1 Introduction . 187 5.2 Four problems for the analysis of CLLD from Conditional Clauses . 190 5.2.1 The first problem: Topics are extractable, but not always190 5.2.2 The second problem: Topics lack certain landing posi- tions . 192 5.2.3 The third problem: a Dative-Accusative asymmetry . 194 5.2.4 The fourth problem: not as many Topics as one would like . 195 5.3 Haegeman's work on the periphery of adverbial clauses . 197 5.4 Previous approaches: Etxepare's and Taylor's analyses . 203 5.4.1 Assumptions . 204 xi CONTENTS 5.4.2 Etxepare's analysis . 205 5.4.3 Taylor's analysis . 208 5.4.4 A criticism of the analysis . 214 5.5 A proposal for a simpler analysis . 220 5.6 Consequences for the broader analysis of topicalization processes232 5.7 Conclusion . 237 6 Conclusions and further research 239 xii Chapter 1 Topicalization and the cartographic project 1.1 Introduction The aim of this dissertation is to offer an account of the interaction between topicalization phenomena and the syntactic constraints that operate on them; in particular locality constraints of the strong island kind and how they prevent or allow processes of Clitic Left Dislocation we find in Romance languages. Although excursions will be made into other aspects of the Topic phenomena spectrum, and other linguistic families will be considered when they can shed light on the issues under discussion, the focus will remain on the Romance family and the syntactic constraints on Clitic Left Dislocation. The motivation behind this endeavour is to solve a number of empirical problems on the one hand and to provide a better theoretical understanding of the phenomena we find in the sentential left periphery on the other.
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