Possible syntactic implementations of the controller vs. target gender distinction: the view from ambigenerics

Abstract

In many languages of the world, gender agreement is dependent on number. A useful descriptive tool for some of these systems is the distinction between controller genders and target genders. I propose a theoretical implementation of this distinction, which can make it compatible with the requirement of identity of values on the source and the target of agreement, which is a part of most current formal theories of agreement: building on the idea that number is introduced (valued) on a functional head Num, I propose that in the relevant languages gender is generated on Num, nouns are divided into agreement classes, and various Num heads characterized by a certain number and a certain value for gender select for various nominal classes. I examine in detail two very simple gender systems in which gender agreement is dependent on number – Albanian and Romanian, which have a productive class of nouns triggering masculine agreement in the singular and feminine agreement in the plural (called ‘neuter’ or ‘ambigeneric’ in Romanian, and ‘ambigeneric’ in Albanian). Taking into account agreement in coordination, I conclude that the general system proposed works for Albanian, whereas for Romanian a different analysis is preferable, that proposed by Farkas (1990): ‘neuter’ nouns are unmarked for gender, and the masculine singular and feminine plural forms are morphological defaults on targets of agreement.