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- Volume 10, Issue, 2010
Linguistic Variation Yearbook - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2010
Volume 10, Issue 1, 2010
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A typology of clause structure
Author(s): Hans Broekhuispp.: 1–31 (31)More LessCurrent generative grammar predicts a larger set of transitive structures than the six types normally mentioned in the typological handbooks (SVO, SOV, VSO, etc). The main cause of this discrepancy is that, whereas generative grammar investigates the hierarchical positions of the verb and its arguments, most typological research is concerned with their relative surface order. In order to bring together these two lines of research, we have to translate the predictions of generative grammar into a more sophisticated typology in linear terms that can be taken as the point of departure for future typological research. This programmatic article is written in the hope that the generative grammar may help typologists to find certain so far unknown typological differences between languages, and that typologists, in turn, may help generative grammar by providing the relevant typological data that are needed to evaluate the competing theoretical proposals and to improve the most successful ones. Keywords: word order typology, phrase structure theory, verb movement, adverb placement.
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The parameters of case marking and spell out driven movement
Author(s): Pavel Cahapp.: 32–77 (46)More LessThis paper proposes that case decomposes into a number of separate functional projections, which are ordered in a universal functional sequence. Cross-linguistic variation in position and complexity of case morphology isthen accounted for in terms of differential noun phrase movement within the invariant sequence (Cinque 2005). I further investigate the possibility that variation in movement may be reduced to variation in the shape of the actual lexical entries. In order to implement this idea, the model of cyclic spell out by Starke (2009b) is adopted. In this model, each step of external merge is followed by lexical access. Consequently, evacuation movements may be triggered after each step of external merge in order for successful lexicalization to take place. Keywords: agglutination; case; case paradigm; flexion; lexicon; movement; nanosyntax; parameter; phrasal spell out; variation
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Scope marking and Focus in Somali
Author(s): Mara Frascarellipp.: 78–116 (39)More LessIn this paper a novel approach is proposed for a particular type of cleft-like construction in Somali, the waxaa sentence, in which wax is a scope marker. As such, it operates a function choice in the alternative set overtly expressed in the embedded clause, which serves as a semantic restrictor. In this line of analysis, wax requires the realization of a bi-clausal, copular construction in which the relativized presupposition (i.e. the restrictor) is merged in subject position, while the focused phrase is the predicate. Indefinite wax is located in the position dedicated to focused constituents in Somali and incorporates the Focus Marker baa, allowing for the realization of an in situ Focus (an option otherwise excluded in this language) and obtaining a specific interpretation for the unfocused part of the sentence. Indeed, based on corpus analysis and interface considerations, evidence is provided that baa and waxaa constructions are by no means interchangeable narrow Focus constructions. Focusing by means of waxaa implies a context in which unfocused information is not properly ‘given’; rather it conveys a type of ‘weakly familiar’ information that contributes somehow to the informative part of the sentence. A discussion about the function and formal properties of internal Topics in Focus-prominent languages concludes the work. Keywords: cleft construction; discourse; (weak) familiarity; (narrow) Focus; presupposition; relative clause; scope marker; specificational (copular) sentence; internal Topic
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The subject agreement–accusative case connection in Turkish
Author(s): Cem Keskinpp.: 117–160 (44)More LessThis article is on the relationship between case and agreement. A noun phrase is assigned the structural case that it bears through agreement with a functional head. Several recent works assume this thesis, referred to as the George and Kornfilt Thesis, as a basic premise to provide an account of structural case assignment. The central thesis of the article is that there is at least one more dependency that needs to be assumed in case phenomena, namely that, in some languages of the world, structural object case, or more particularly accusative case, is dependent on subject agreement—the Subject Agreement–Accusative Case Conjecture. The article proposes the Jump-start Hypothesis in order to explain this dependency. According to this hypothesis, in a finite construction, case assignment to each argument is activated by a single source of agreement. The argumentation relies on data from Turkish nominalizations and restructuring infinitives.
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Discontinuous DP-coordination in German
Author(s): Martin Prinzhorn and Viola Schmittpp.: 161–200 (40)More LessIn this paper, we introduce what we consider to be a new problem for syntactic analysis. We show that German allows for discontinuous coordination of DPs, where material that is not part of the coordinate structure may intervene between the DP-coordinates. We further argue that discontinuous coordination of DPs differs from standard DP-coordination in one important aspect: The coordinate structure as a whole is not accessible to material c-commanded by the first coordinate in overt syntax. This difference is a non-trivial problem for any analysis of discontinuous DP-coordination. Keywords: coordinate structures; discontinuous constituents; DP-coordination; German syntax; linear order
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Extraposition and antisymmetry
Author(s): Michelle Sheehanpp.: 201–251 (51)More Less‘Extraposition’ is a cover term for two distinct phenomena (cf. also Fox & Nissenbaum 1999; Kiss 2005). The first, which I assume to be derived by parallel construal (following Koster 2000), targets only RCs, blocks reconstruction of the extraposed constituent to the base position of the source, and as such has the effect of bleeding condition C. The second, which I claim is derived via scattered deletion, targets post-head complements/modifiers, triggers obligatory reconstruction of the source+complement/modifier to base-position and leaves extraposed complements open to subextraction, all else being equal. The scattered deletion of spec+head and complement is argued to be derived from Uriagereka's (1999) simplification of the LCA, and the copy theory of labelling (cf. Sheehan 2010). Keywords: linearisation; extraposition; multiple spell-out; LCA; labelling; reconstruction; relative clause; complement PP; scattered deletion
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‘Verb floating’ and VP-ellipsis: Towards a movement account of ellipsis licensing
Author(s): Gary Thomspp.: 252–297 (46)More LessIn this paper I propose that ellipsis is licensed by overt movement. Examining variation in VP-ellipsis across English dialects, I show that movement is crucially implicated in whether or not a given element can license ellipsis. I discuss well-known restrictions on VP-ellipsis and present new data that shows that a movement-based account of these restrictions is superior to previous ones. I show that the proposed account can be extended to other cases involving A′ movement with empirical benefits, and I conclude by sketching the technical implementation of the theory, arguing that ellipsis is a ‘repair’ operation that prevents a linearization failure following non-deletion of a lower copy. I suggest that types of movement that are unable to spell out lower copies (i.e. A-movement) do not license ellipsis, thus explaining ellipsis licensing in terms of general conditions on copy deletion. Keywords: ellipsis licensing; VP-ellipsis; sluicing; Copy Theory of Movement; A/A′-distinction
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Antisymmetry and the lexicon
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