Topics in Turkish Syntax: Clausal Structure and Scope by Meltem Kelepir MA Linguistics Bogazigi Universitesi, 1996 Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology September 2001 © 2001 Meltem Kelepir. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of Author: S Department of Linguistics and Philosophy June 29, 2001 Certified by: Irene Heim, Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor Certified by: Sabine Iatridou, Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor Certified by: Shigeru Miyagawa, 1r fessor o(L !uistics a"Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese / Thesis Supervisor Certified by: David P etsky, Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Linguistics - -- Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: MASSAHUSETSIN.JTU. Alec Marantz, Professor of Linguistics. [ead, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy OF TECHNOLOGY AR CHIVE C OCT 1 2 2001 LIBRARIES 9em M" Topics in Turkish syntax: Clausal Structure and Scope by Meltem Kelepir Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy on June 29, 2001 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Abstract This dissertation asks two main questions for Turkish: (i) what is the interaction between verbal morphology and the structure?, and (ii) what is the interaction between word order and interpretation? Following Kornfilt (1996) I argue that there are two verbal forms in finite structures: one consists of a participle and a copula, which is inflected for tense and agreement, and the other is a fully inflected verbal form. I propose that the former is formed by a derivation in which the verb moves as far as a functional head such Aspect or Modal, creating a participle. A verbal feature (copula) is inserted at To satisfying its verbal requirement. In the latter case the verb moves all the way up to To. No copula is inserted. The rest of the dissertation focuses on the interaction between structure and quantificational elements. One question addressed is why indefinites marked overtly for accusative case violate scope rigidity, and are interpreted as having wide scope over quantificational elements c-commanding them. It is argued that they do not violate scope rigidity, but rather the unexpected wide scope interpretation is the result of a special interpretative mechanism. Accusative-marked indefinites are interpreted as choice functions. Structures with various quantifiers, indefinites and negative polarity items are discussed, and it is argued that the interpretation of both choice function variables and negative polarity items are subject to intervention effects. Finally, structures with clausal possessives are analyzed. The discussion focuses on one type of clausal possessive in which the possessor is in the genitive case and the possessee agrees with the possessor. It is shown that this construction is subject to a constraint similar to the there-sentences in English in that the possessee cannot be presuppositional. It is argued that the possessor is generated in a constituent within VP with the possessee, but raises to the [Spec, TP]. The possessee remains within VP, and is interpreted non-presuppositionally. Thesis Supervisors: Irene Heim Professor of Linguistics Sabine Iatridou Professor of Linguistics Shigeru Miyagawa Professor of Linguistics and Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese David Pesetsky Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Linguistics Acknowledgments For the last two years, every time I felt grateful to a professor or a friend of mine, I told myself to write about it in this section. When I sat down to write it now, though, I realized that if I write every nice thing that happened to me in the last five years, I will never be able to file my thesis on time. Instead, I hope I will be able to express my gratitude to the people who have been the best part of my life at MIT in our future chats and in my attempts to return the friendship and support I received from them. One of the first things that I learned here at MIT is that in this department the professors are not only great linguists but also great people. I feel privileged for having had the opportunity to work with my committee members Irene, Sabine, David and Shigeru closely. I would like to thank Irene for her endless patience and encouragement. She has always been very generous with her time. Our appointments were not only extremely educational for me but also a lot of fun. I will miss our hours-long conversations. Sabine has been an enormous source of knowledge in every topic I have been interested. Every appointment we had and every class of hers that I attended was very inspirational. I wish I could have her talent as a teacher in turning an ordinary topic into a bunch of extremely interesting questions. I am also grateful to her for her support and encouragement. Shigeru has always been very quick in seeing the predictions of my analyses and connections between phenomena that I failed to see. His excitement in the topics we were discussing kept me going. He always made me feel that what I worked on was very interesting. I left our appointments very motivated even when I was at the deepest levels of despair. I learned a lot from David, but among the millions of things that I learned from him is the skill to look at a problem from a totally different angle, which I think helped me not only in my research but also in every way of life. I benefited a lot from his vast knowledge and creative thinking. He was also always there when I needed advice. During my years at MIT I also benefited a lot from the discussions with my teachers Noam Chomsky, Kai von Fintel, Danny Fox, Ken Hale, Morris Halle, Michael Kenstowicz, Norvin Richards, Bernhard Schwarz and Cheryl Zoll. I would like to thank 3 Alec Marantz for inspiraational classes on morphology and for encouraging me to learn and do neurolinguistics. I am indebted to my professors in Istanbul without whom I would not be able to be an MIT student. Thanks to Ash Goksel, Sumru Ozsoy, Eser Erguvanh Taylan and Sabahat Sansa Tura for being great teachers and for their support and encouragement. Sumnru Hanim's e-mails gave me strength and courage. One of the things that proves that I am a lucky person (knock on wood) is my classmates: I couldn't ask for a better class. We bonded in the first week, and they have always been my friends, and I know we will always be the great ling-96. I will never forget the nice surprise they organized on the 2 3rd of October last year. I am grateful to Vivian for offering to do the homeworks together in my first week when I thought I was completely lost, to Bridget for helping me with semantics and for being there when I needed a shoulder, to Jay for the chats and for his support, to Sveva for being a caring friend, for being there whenever I needed a friend, to Sonny for our nice chats and for always being there to help me, to Calixto for reminding me that if any human can do *it*, I can, too, and of course, for teaching me the world's greatest dance, salsa; to Conny for sharing everything with me starting the first day of our first year and for organizing the nicest surprises. I would like to thank Jaklin Kornfilt for always finding the time to see me when she visited Cambridge, for her warm personality, for listening to my ideas patiently and for her invaluable feedback. Thanks to Anna Szabolcsi for her generosity with her time, for her encouragement and for sending me papers. I would also like to thank Katalin Kiss for sending me her papers. Thanks to Rajesh Bhatt, Andrew Carnie, Lisa Matthewson, Hideaki Yamashita for our discussions and their help with judgments. I would like to thank my fellow students and linguist friends from whom I also learned a lot: Karlos Arregui-Urbina, Ben Bruening, Paul Hagstrom, Daniel Harbour, Michela Ippolito, Shin Ishihara, Nihan Ketrez, Youngjoo Lee, Liina Pylkkanen, Serkan Sener and Michael Wagner. In the five years I spent at MIT I lived at "Magazine Street". When I first came to MIT, I was very scared of what was ahead of me. It turned out to be a warm home with a real family. Uli, Kazuko, Susi and Jonathan walked me through my first months with endless patience and support. My life at Magazine Street was full of love and fun. Thanks to them for the delicious family dinners, for Siedler von Catan nights, and for teaching me rock climbing. Jonathan: thank you for reaching out your hand at the top of the hill, and telling me that you are there, ready to help me, and that yes, I can do it. Life at Magazine Street was always an environment of mutual support and a lot of fun. I would like to thank Rajesh Bhatt, Franny Pai-Fang Hsiao, Conny Krause, Jon Gajewski, Elena Guerzoni, Martin Hackl, Lisa Matthewson, Shogo Suzuki for all the nice things they have done for me...and the delicious meals they cooked. Special thanks to Conny, Jon, Elena and Martin for their support this year and for their readiness to help me with my frustrations. Jon has been a great friend. I wish we had spent more than just one year together. Franny entered my life accidentally, but became one of my dearest friends. I am grateful to her for her precious friendship and support...and the fireworks.