Linguistic Variation - Volume 15, Issue 2, 2015

We present an analysis of an understudied construction found in Philadelphian and Canadian English, and also in certain Vermont varieties. In this construction, the participle of certain verbs can appear along with a form of the verb be and a DP complement, producing strings like I’m done my homework, I’m finished my fries, and (in Vermont) I’m started the project. We show that the participle in the construction is an adjectival passive, not a perfect construction. We further argue that the internal argument DP in the construction is receiving Case from the adjectival head a, similar to what happens in all English dialects with the adjective worth, and that the internal argument is interpreted via a mechanism of complement coercion. The microparametric variation we find across English dialects with respect to the availability of this construction is accounted for by variation in the selectional restrictions on the a head.

In the context of Borer’s (2005) theory of nominal classification, the aim of this paper is to explain why measure words in some languages (English, French, Hebrew) necessarily take an -s (two bottles of milk versus *two bottle of milk) while in other languages (Azeri, Persian, Ojibwe) measure words can surface without plural marking (the equivalent of two bottle of milk is grammatical). If we assume -s in English-type languages is responsible for division in measure constructions (as in Borer 2005), we face the following puzzle: What is responsible for division in Azeri-type languages in the absence of the plural? We argue that, for a number of reasons, it cannot be the numeral (two) and propose that division is performed, in the absence of a plural, by measure words themselves (as in Chierchia 1998; Stavrou 2003; Acquaviva 2008, among others). We argue that whether or not plural marking appears on the measure word depends on a higher projection that expresses the counting function (distinct from the classifying/measuring function, Rothstein 2010b). Measure constructions thus provide evidence for the idea that, in addition to the dividing plural, we need a higher, counting plural, bolstering the hypothesis that the plural comes in many flavours (Acquaviva 2008; Harbour 2008; Wiltschko 2008, 2012; Butler 2012; Mathieu 2012, 2013, 2014).

We study a particular aspect of the semantics of matrix wh-exclamatives. In particular, we focus on the relation between fairly straightforward morpho-syntactic properties of such structures and the kind of scalar meanings they express. We identify two types of wh-exclamatives: two distinct types of structures with two distinct types of scalar meaning. Languages differ with respect to which wh expressions serve in which of the two types.

This paper proposes a crosslinguistically uniform analysis of Left-dislocation constructions, according to which left-dislocated XPs are elliptical sentence fragments surfacing in linear juxtaposition to their host clause. The analysis is shown to provide a principled solution to Cinque’s Paradox: dislocated XPs are extra-sentential constituents akin to parentheticals while behaving in certain respects as having moved to their surface position from within the host clause, in apparent violation of the boundaries of “sentence grammar” as typically defined. The solution in terms of deletion and endorphoric linkage undermines templatic analyses of the ‘cartographic’ tradition, showing that in at least some cases the “sentential periphery” reflects not syntactic composition but juxtaposition in discourse.