Argument DPs Research Articles

A Minimalist Analysis of Relative Clauses in the Ifẹ̀ Dialect of Yorùbá

A considerable amount of scholarly works have been carried out on the syntax of relativisation in Yorùbá but with little attention paid to how the Ifẹ̀ dialect forms its relative clauses. This paper therefore, investigates the syntax of relative constructions in the Ifẹ̀ dialect detailing the strategies employed for them. Ten native speakers aged 60 years and above were purposively selected for structured oral interview based on their proficiency. Data were subjected to syntactic analysis using the Minimalist Program. The Ifẹ̀ dialect operates “kí” as its relative marker, this is optionally dropped. When the dialect stacks two or more relative clauses in a complex sentence it optionally drops only the first relative marker, others are always visible to the PF interface. The dialect operates Head Raising Analysis (HRA) whereby the relativised argument DPs are copied to the clause left peripheral position to check the [+Rel] feature on the Rel0. Relativisable constituents are subject DPs, object DPs (comprising direct objects, objects in serial verb constructions and prepositional objects) genitive DPs and prepositional complements. Relativising a VP/predicate, the dialect either externally merges the nominalised form of a verb as the specifier of the RelP or lexicalises the [+nominal] feature copied from the main verb at the spec RelP. The Ifẹ̀ dialect exhibits some dialectal variations lexically and structurally.

Ā-Probing for the Closest DP

We consider the typology of attested Ā-extraction asymmetries between core argument DPs and argue that an Ā-probe can be required to specifically target the closest DP. Such an Ā-probe specification is part of Aldridge’s (2004, 2008) influential analysis of syntactically ergative extraction restrictions, but has not been widely adopted outside of work on ergative languages. We argue that restricted probing of this form underlies subject-only extraction behaviors in a number of nonergative languages, including some of those in Keenan and Comrie’s (1977) typology of relativization asymmetries. We describe the behaviors of such probes in detail and relate them to other probe-goal behaviors in recent work on composite A /Ā probes.

Phasehood as defective intervention: Possessor extraction and selective DP islandhood in West Circassian

AbstractĀ‐extraction of possessors in West Circassian is constrained in a puzzling way: the possessor of an ergative or applied argument DP may not undergo clausebound wh‐movement, but long‐distance possessor extraction across a clausal boundary is grammatical. Based on the variable islandhood of these DPs, this paper argues for an agree‐based approach to phasehood. Phase opacity is treated as intervention defective intervention, with the phase intervening between the probe and the goal. Defective intervention does not take place if the corresponding phase has independently entered an Agree relation with the movement‐triggering probe. Islandhood is thus correctly predicted to be contextually determined: in West Circassian, the difference between clausebound and long‐distance possessor extraction is conditioned by the set of agreement features on the local movement‐triggering probe: a wh‐feature on C in the case of clausebound extraction and a successive‐cyclic edge feature on embedded C in the case of long‐distance wh‐movement. Additionally, the account appeals to the opacity of phase edges to explain the contrast between DPs that display islandhood effects (ergative and applied argument DPs) and constituents that are uniformly transparent for subextraction (the absolutive DP and postpositional phrases).

Determiner removal in Balinese nonpivot agents

AbstractPatient‐voice clauses within the symmetric voice system of Balinese disallow any extraction from the external‐argument position, while definite external arguments are blocked from occurring altogether. The former fact is traditionally taken as evidence for syntactic ergativity in Austronesian. The latter fact has recently been argued to provide evidence for postsyntactic case licensing via adjacency with the verb. In this article, we offer a simple alternative explanation for the in‐situ properties of patient‐voice agents in Balinese—one that does not make reference to case. We argue that patient‐voice heads come with a feature that triggers removal of the external argument's DP shell, resulting in the loss of a determiner and a category‐D feature that would otherwise enable extraction.

Reanalyzing Mandarin V1-V2resultative constructions—A force-theoretic approach

AbstractThis study takes a force-theoretic approach to Mandarin V1-V2resultative constructions. Unlike event-based analyses that hold a causing event accountable for a result state, this study attributes a result state to a specific entity involved in the relevant causing event. In this way, V1-V2resultative construction (RC) sentences have the interpretation that through a causing action, one entity relevant to the action caused a change of state to another entity; this causal influence is reconceptualized as a force from the former entity, characterizing the situation change concerning the latter entity. Following Copley and Harley (2015), this conceptual reanalysis is represented structurally, successfully deriving V1-V2RC sentences. V2and the internal argument DP specify the property of a resultant situation and its holder, defining the force; the external argument DP tells about this force's source; V1modifies this force, indicating the causing action through which this force is realized.

Constructional analogy and reanalysis in possessive applicatives

Although possessors internal to an argument DP do not qualify as canonical controllers of verbal agreement, in some languages an internal possessor may be cross‑referenced on an applicative verb. The aim of the paper is to propose a historical scenario for the emergence of this pattern, following the basic insights of the constructional approach to language change. The paper argues that this pattern is a historical innovation. It emerged when the external benefactive argument was reanalysed as internal possessor, a process that has parallels in some languages with dative possessors. The change was motivated by cross‑constructional analogy, namely, formal and semantic assimilation to the class of internal possessive constructions. When constituency was reanalysed, the location of agreement remained intact creating a non‑local configuration.

The variable use of determiners in Old French and the argument DP hypothesis

AbstractTheargument DP hypothesis, adopted by many syntactic analyses, claims that nominal arguments are introduced by a determiner (D), which may be covert or overt. While overt D is obligatory in Modern French (consistent with the argument DP hypothesis), it was not obligatory in earlier stages of French. We explore the factors that contributed to this change – includingsemantic class, syntactic function, number, anddefiniteness – focusing on a shift that occurred in the D-paradigm in two Anglo-Norman texts of the 12th century. Quantitative analysis (Goldvarb) yields two major findings. First, the effect ofsyntactic functionremains constant: subject position favours overt D, but object position inhibits it. Second, there is a change in the effect ofsemantic class: count nouns increasingly favour overt D, but non-count (mass and abstract) nouns increasingly inhibit it. More generally, the gradual disappearance of bare Ns in French reflects the emergence of paradigmatically conditioned D.

I’m done my homework—Case assignment in a stative passive

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 verbbeand a DP complement, producing strings likeI’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 heada, similar to what happens in all English dialects with the adjectiveworth, 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 theahead.

Alternating unaccusatives and the distribution of roots

This paper argues for two structural types of unaccusative constructions which systematically differ in semantic and morphosyntactic properties. Evidence is presented from alternating Spanish unaccusative verbs which have a reflexive se-variant and a se-less variant, such as caer(se) ‘fall’, salir(se) ‘come out/off’, morir(se) ‘die’, ir(se) ‘go/leave’.The analysis derives the contrasts between the se and the se-less variants from their syntactic event structure, and reveals a parallel with se-anticausatives and non-alternating se-less unaccusatives, respectively. The se-less variant is argued to be the poster case of unaccusative constructions in which the root expresses a manner of change/motion and the sole argument is introduced as a complement. Contrastingly, the se-variant corresponds to a reflexive inchoative configuration comprising two sub-events: an unspecified event of change embedding a resulting state, lexicalized by the root. The argument DP is licensed as the specifier/subject of the stative verb, and is also the undergoer of the change. The structural decomposition of se-unaccusatives into a change and a state captures the dual role of the argument DP, the presence of the reflexive clitic and the dyadic nature of the predicate without reference to an external argument or a transitive counterpart.These results provide new arguments against derivational approaches to the causative–inchoative alternation, extending the empirical and theoretical support for the view that the meaning of verbs is formed within a syntactic-event structure, crucially depending on the particular combination of the root with verbal-functional elements.

Mandarin transitive comparatives and the grammar of measurement

Mandarin Chinese has two strategies for forming comparatives of superiority: one in which the standard of comparison is introduced by the morpheme bi, and one that resembles a transitive verb construction, in which the standard of comparison directly follows a gradable adjective. The ‘transitive comparative’ exhibits two special restrictions: the predicate must be one that accepts differential measure phrases, and the measure phrase must be overt. We argue that these facts support an analysis of the syntax of the adjectival projection in which gradable adjectives do not project degree arguments, as typically assumed, but do so only in combination with a covert morpheme μ. Building on the proposal that argument DPs in Mandarin require Case, we hypothesize that there are (at least) two case assigners for standards of comparison in Mandarin: the overt morpheme bi and the covert morpheme μ found in transitive comparatives.

Non-event nominals and argument structure

Bowers (2010a) proposes that all argument DPs are introduced in the specifiers of ‘light verb’ categories of different types. It is argued in this paper that such a theory is given direct support by the existence of three types of non-event nominals in English whose morphosyntactic and semantic properties correspond precisely to those of the basic argument categories Ag(ent), Th(eme), and Aff(ectee). Assuming that these argument categories are spelled out in derived nominal structures as the morphemes –er/-or, -ment/-ion/-ure, -ee, respectively, each type of non-event nominal can be derived by standard syntactic processes such as head movement. The proposed analysis, if correct, extends to derivational morphology the claim of Distributed Morphology ( Halle and Marantz, 1993) that word formation is syntactic, not lexical ( Marantz, 1997; Embick, 2004; Harley, 2009), thereby making syntax the only generative component of the grammar. It is further shown that if noun incorporation is syntactic, then productive compounds such as deer hunter, painting consignor, etc. can be derived syntactically as well and that the order of incorporated nouns in such structures mirrors precisely the order in which argument categories are merged.

DP Ellipsis as Independent Phenomena from pro in pro-drop Languages

Previous studies proposed that there is no CP ellipsis in English (Kennedy and Merchant 2000) and Korean (Ahn and Cho 2009, 2010, cf. Park 2009). In particular, Ahn and Cho (2009, 2010) suggested that apparent CP ellipsis in Korean be in fact DP ellipsis (null realization of DPs in more neutral terms), which is subsumed to pro-drop in Korean. Specifically, Ahn and Cho (2010) make it clear that there is no genuine DP ellipsis in Korean and apparent DP ellipsis is explained with pro. However, close examination of other data reveals that this is not always the case; considering sentences with reflexives, NPIs, indefinite DPs and free choice DPs, we claim that Korean has both pro with no internal structure and DP ellipsis with an internal structure in the ellipsis site, which explain frequent zero realization of argument DPs in many constructions. We propose that the DP contained in the target clause undergoes partial deletion - the DP is stripped of phonological and semantic features only - when it is identical with the one in the antecedent clause. That is, the internal structure remains intact in the ellipsis site. As to the interpretation of the null argument, we propose that the ellipsis site is filled in with semantic features by overt nominals in the antecedent clause and obtains interpretation at LF (cf. Oku 1998, Saito 2007).

Case Distribution and Nominalization: Evidence from Finnish

Abstract. In many languages, case is distributed among many grammatical elements inside of argument DPs. This article shows that case distribution in Finnish is sensitive to certain nontrivial structural properties of those DPs. This makes it possible to use case distribution as a tool to investigate the internal structure of a variety of DPs, including nominalized clauses. It is argued, based on such new evidence, that (i) there exists a syntactic nominalizer head n within various kinds of nominal phrases, and that (ii) genitive argument DPs of nominalized clauses undergo raising analogous to the EPP‐triggered DP raising in finite clauses. Furthermore, these genitive arguments are base‐generated below the nominalizer head n. Implications involving recent theories of Agree, valuation, and phrasal movement are discussed.

Syntax and Syncretisms of the Person Case Constraint

Abstract. The Person Case Constraint is frequently concomitant with Case Syncretism. We provide a syntax‐driven account of both phenomena that relies on the dual role thatφ‐features play in selecting and in Case‐licensing argument DPs. The account differs from other syntactic approaches to the PCC in the role it affords the applicative head in the Case system and in the attention it pays to the syntactic structures that feed morphology and therefore induce syncretism.

THE SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS OF FOCUS-SENSITIVE PARTICLES IN GERMAN

We propose a comprehensive account of both the distribution and the interpretation of German focus particles such as nur, auch and sogar (`only', `also', `even'). We argue that they always adjoin to non-arguments (in recent terms this means that they can adjoin to VPs, IPs, APs and root CPs, but never to argument DPs or argument CPs), and that they do not undergo LF raising. Presenting a range of mostly new data and observations, we show how this theory accounts for a variety of puzzling distributional facts about adverbial and ad-adjectival particles, in particular, their specific interpretations and their behavior with respect to scope and reconstruction.