On the Left Periphery"
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<LINK "rou-n*">"rou-r20">"rou-r30"> <TARGET "rou" DOCINFO AUTHOR "Anna Roussou" TITLE "On the left periphery" SUBJECT "JGL, Volume 1" KEYWORDS "complementiser, focus, left periphery, modality, operator, particle, topic" SIZE HEIGHT "220" WIDTH "150" VOFFSET "4"> On the left periphery Modal particles and complementisers* Anna Roussou University of Cyprus The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a unified account of the particles θa, na and as in Greek, and second, to refine the articulated CP structure of Rizzi (1997). To this end, it is argued that θa, na, and as occupy the lowerC head, which is specified formodality. The particles na and as furtherraiseto a higherC head (partlysimilarto Rizzi’s Force), thus differ- ing from θa. The distribution of topic and focus in relation to the particles and the typical complementisers oti and an is used as evidence forthe postu- lation of an additional C head characterised as a subordinator/connector, typically occupied by the complementiser pu and optionally by oti and an. The resulting structure differs from Rizzi’s (1997) in that it provides a tripar- tite C structure and places FocusP/TopicP between the two higher C heads. In the light of this analysis we also considerthe position of negation, as well as the position of the verb in imperatives and gerunds. Keywords: complementiser, focus, left periphery, modality, operator, parti- cle, topic 1. Introduction Modern Greek (henceforth Greek) makes use of a number of modal particles, such as θa, na, and as. The particle θa is characterised as the future marker and along with the verb gives rise to a periphrastic future construction. The particle na has been analysed as the subjunctive marker (Veloudis & Philippaki War- burton 1983), while as is a hortative particle restricted to direct speech, thus found in root contexts only. Despite their different functions in the clause Journal of Greek Linguistics 1: (2000), 65–94. issn 1566–5844 © 2000 John Benjamins Publishing Company Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:38:00PM via free access <LINK "rou-r19">"rou-r6"> 66 Anna Roussou structure, these particles show a similar distribution. In particular, they precede clitics and can take ‘dependent’ (−past, +perfective) verbal forms. The distribu- tion of θa, na, and as is illustrated in (1) below: (1) a. Νοµζω [τι δεν θα το αγορσει. nomizo [oti δen θa to aγorasi] think-1sg [that not part it buy-3sg ‘I think that she will not buy it.’ b. Αναρωτιµαι [αν θα το αγορσει. anarotjeme [an θa to aγorasi] wonder-1sg [if part it buy-3sg ‘I wonderif/whethershe will buy it.’ c. Θλει [(*τι/*αν) να µην το αγορσει. θeli [(*oti/*an) na min to aγorasi] want-3sg [(*that/if part not it buy-3sg ‘She wants (him/her) not to buy it.’ d. Ας (µην) το αγορσει. as (min) to aγorasi part (not it buy-3sg ‘Let her(not) buy it.’ At the same time, these particles also exhibit a number of distinct properties, as the examples in (1) show. First, θa, unlike na and as, follows negation. Second, the negatorused with θa is δen, while that used with na/as is min. In fact, min is only found with these two particles, negated imperatives and gerunds (see Section 4); the negator δen, on the otherhand, is used in all the othercontexts. Finally, θa is compatible with the complementisers oti and an, while na isn’t (this of course does not apply to as). The position of these particles in the clause structure is an open issue. Rivero (1994) argues that both na and θa occupy the head of a Modal Phrase (MP) situated in the IP domain below NegP and above TP, as in (2) (see also Drachman (1994), for the same claim, following different assumptions): δ θ (2) [CP C[NegP en/min [MP na/ a[TP T…]]]] The order na min is derived by movement of na to Neg. The same could apply to as. The structure in (2) accounts for the fact that the particles θa and na have to some extent a similardistribution.Rivero(1994) furthersupportsheranalysis by consideringotherBalkan languages, which also use futureand/orsubjunctive particles. Let us refer to the representation in (2) as Analysis 1. One problematic Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:38:00PM via free access <LINK "rou-r10">"rou-r17">"rou-r30">"rou-r18"> On the left periphery 67 aspect of this approach is why na only has to move to Neg. There seems to be no obvious difference between the two negative elements, that is neither min nor δen areclitics: forexample, they can both bearemphatic stress(cf. na min fijis = don’t go, an δen fijis = if you don’t go) (but see Joseph (1990) forthe view that δen is an affix). Moreover, min can appearwithout na, as is the case with negative orders (min fijis = don’t go!) and gerunds (see Section 4). Thus if na moved to support min, then the question is what supports min in the absence of na. Philippaki-Warburton (1992, 1994, 1998), following earlier work on na by Veloudis & Philippaki-Warburton (1983), Philippaki-Warburton & Veloudis (1984), argues that na is in MoodP, while θa is the head of a phrase that marks future tense. In Philippaki-Warburton’s analysis, MoodP is above NegP, which dominates the θa projection, indicated as TP in (3) (see also Pollock (1997) for this order):1 δ θ (3) [CP C[MoodP na [NegP en/min [TP a …]]]] TP is followed by the projections that host the object clitics. The head Mood is specified as ±Indicative. The subjunctive particle na realises the −indicative value. The +indicative specification however, receives no overt realisation in Greek. The −indicative specification selects for Neg min, while +indicative selects for δen. Since the particle θa occurs with δen, the Mood head is +indica- tive, therefore na is excluded. Moreover, given this specification, Mood is realised by a zero morpheme; thus θa cannot be a mood marker itself. Let us refer to (3) as Analysis 2. This approach avoids the problem raised with respect to Analysis 1, namely na raising to Neg in order to get the na min order, since na is above NegP anyway. What is problematic in (3) though is the treatment of θa as a T (future) head. Notice that θa may occurin clauses that exclude the future interpretation, as in (4a-c): (4) a. Θα καθρισε το σπτι θakaθarise to spiti (kaθarise = +past, +perf.) part cleaned-3sg the house ‘He must have cleaned the house’ b. Θα καθριζε το σπτι θakaθarize to spiti (kaθarize = +past, −perf.) part cleaned-3sg the house ‘He was supposed to/would have cleaned the house.’ Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:38:00PM via free access <LINK "rou-r25">"rou-r19">"rou-r1">"rou-r27"> 68 Anna Roussou c. Θα καθαρζει το σπτι θakaθarizi to spiti (kaθarizi = −past, −perf.) part clean-3sg the house ‘He must be cleaning the house/He will be cleaning the house’ d. Θα καθαρσει το σπτι θakaθarisi to spiti (kaθarisi = −past, +perf.) part clean-3sg the house ‘He will clean the house’ As the English glosses show, the combination of θa with +past tense specifica- tion in (4a&b) blocks any future interpretation. Instead, (4a) has an epistemic reading and (4b) is a counterfactual. (4c), on the other hand, has a preferred epistemic reading, although the future interpretation is possible given the right context: for example, by adding the adverbial expression ‘tomorrow’. It is only (4d) that has a clear future reading (Tsangalidis 1999a:212). As the above examples show, θa cannot be simply analysed as a future marker, since it occurs in a number of modalised, non-future contexts. The different interpretations that arise crucially depend on the verbal specification (±past, ±perfective).2 Thus analysing θa as a T (or Future) head turns out to be problematic, while considering it a Modal head, along with na and as, as in Rivero’s (1994) analysis may turn out to be more promising. The third approach put forward in the literature (Analysis 3) takes na to be a complementiser. The relevant clause structure is given in (5) (Agouraki 1991; Tsoulas 1993): δ (5) [CP na [NegP en/min [TP T…]]] The treatment of na as a C element accounts forits incompatibility with oti/an (cf. (1c)), as both sets of heads introduce complement clauses. Moreover, it dispenses with the postulation of a MoodP, assuming that θa is a T head, although its status is not very clear in this approach. The problem with (5) is that na may cooccur with a wh-phrase in matrix and embedded interrogatives, as in (6a&b), orthe complementiser pu in relatives, as in (6c): (6) a. Ποιο βιβλο να διαβσω; pjo vivlio na δjavaso which book part read-1sg ‘Which book should I read?’ Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:38:00PM via free access <LINK "rou-r17">"rou-r22"> On the left periphery 69 b. ∆εν ξρω [ποιο βιβλο να διαβσω δen ksero [pjo vivlio na δjavaso] not know-1sg [which book part read-1sg ‘I don’t know which book to read’ c. Θλω να σπτι [που να χει µεγλο κ!πο θelo ena spiti [pu na exi meγalo kipo] want-1sg a house [that part have-3sg big garden ‘I want a house that has a big garden’ Even if we assume that the wh-phrase in spec,CP in (6a&b) does not violate the ‘Doubly-filled Comp Filter’, on the assumption that na, unlike oti/an, is not specified forthe ±wh-feature,we still have to account for(6c).