UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ DEFINITE MARKERS, PHI-FEATURES, AND AGREEMENT: A MORPHOSYNTACTIC INVESTIGATION OF THE AMHARIC DP A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in LINGUISTICS by Ruth Kramer June 2009 The Dissertation of Ruth Kramer is approved: Professor Sandra Chung, Co-chair Professor Jorge Hankamer, Co-chair Professor James McCloskey Lisa C. Sloan Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Ruth Kramer 2009 ABLE OF ONTENTS T C GLOSS ABBREVIATIONS . ix ABSTRACT . x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xii CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1 Themes . 1 2 Amharic . 3 2.1 Basic Information . 3 2.2 Grammatical Sketch . 5 2.3 Data Sources . 11 2.4 Amharic is Ready . 12 3 Theoretical Background . 13 4 Organization . 20 CHAPTER 2 : DEFINITE MARKING IN AMHARIC 1 Introduction . 23 2 The Data . 25 3 Previous Accounts and Possible Analyses . 36 3.1 D vs. [ DEF ] . 37 3.2 Combined Analysis . 40 4 The Analysis of Definite Marking: Second Position . 41 iii 4.1 Second Position . 42 4.2 2P in the Phonology . 45 4.3 2P in the Morphology: Lowering . 47 4.4 2P in the Morphology:: Local Dislocation . 49 4.5 2P in the Morphology: Details . 56 4.5.1 Predictions about Specifiers . 56 4.5.2 Coordination . 59 4.5.3 Embick 2000 and Heck, Müller and Trommer 2008 . 64 5 Extending the Analysis: Additional Evidence for Local Dislocation . 68 5.1 Free Relatives . 69 5.2 Compounds . 72 5.3 Numerals . 75 6 The Analysis of Definite Marking: Definiteness Agreement . 81 6.1 Analysis of Definiteness Agreement . 84 6.2 The Interaction between Optional and Obligatory Definiteness Marking . 88 6.3 Definiteness Marking in Demonstratives . 91 6.4 Definiteness Agreement in Semitic . 95 7 Conclusion . 97 CHAPTER 3 : GENDER IN AMHARIC NOMINALS 1 Introduction . 100 2 Gender in Nominals . 101 2.1 The Facts . 101 2.2 Summary, Typology, Diachrony . 109 iv 3 The Representation of Gender: First Steps . 112 3.1 GenP and NumP . 113 3.2 Gender on the Root or n . 118 3.2.1 Gender on the Root . 119 3.2.2 Gender on n . 122 4 The Representation of Gender: Grammatical Gender and Natural Gender . 125 4.1 Fundamentals of the Analysis . 126 4.2 Licensing Conditions . 130 4.3 Gender and Interpretability . 136 4.3.1 Post-syntactic Agreement and Class Features . 137 4.3.2 Questioning Assumptions: Legate 2002 . 140 4.3.3 Questioning Assumptions: Pesetsky and Torrego 2007 . 143 4.4 The Briefest of Summaries . 145 5 Previous Analyses and Broader Issues . 146 5.1 Literature Review . 146 5.2 A Non-Lexical Analysis of Gender . 149 5.3 Natural Gender in the Syntax . 150 5.4 Predictions and Consequences of Gender on n . 156 5.4.1 Inflection Class . 156 5.4.2 Nominalizations . 159 6 Open Issues and Conclusions . 164 CHAPTER 4 : NUMBER IN AMHARIC NOMINALS 1 Introduction . 167 v 2 Number in Nominals . ..