Coordinate Structure Constraint Research Articles

Deducing the Coordinand Constraint

Assuming Grosu’s (1973) decomposition of Ross’s (1967) Coordinate Structure Constraint into the Conjunct Constraint and the Element Constraint, this article searches for a principled account for the Conjunct Constraint, rebaptized as the Coordinand Constraint. It defends the proposal that different families of effects of the Coordinand Constraint are related to different factors: (a) the lexical information provided by a coordinator, (b) the economy of syntactic displacement operations, and (c) an interface condition prohibiting self-coordination. These three factors are not primitive, but derive from Chomsky’s (1991) Least Effort Principle. Therefore, the Coordinand Constraint is deduced, ultimately, from the Least Effort Principle.

First conjunct clitic doubling in Modern Greek: Evidence for Agree-based approaches to clitic doubling

We investigate the syntax of the hitherto understudied phenomenon of first conjunct clitic doubling, with reference to Modern Greek. We argue that it provides crucial evidence against movement-based approaches to clitic doubling, which would incorrectly rule out first conjunct clitic doubling as a violation of the Coordinate Structure Constraint. This argument against movement is complemented by evidence from binding, showing that doubled DPs consistently occupy their base positions. The Greek data instead favor an account based purely on feature transmission via Agree. We develop an Agree-based analysis of the Greek facts, and show that existing evidence for movement in Greek clitic doubling (Weak Crossover alleviation, suspension of intervention effects) can be insightfully reanalyzed. The alleviation of Weak Crossover effects receives a more straightforward account compared to movement-based approaches, in that it can be subsumed under the general mitigating effects of information structure (givenness, topicality); the intervention pattern follows once the activity of a DP is related to the involvement of its phi-features in Agree operations; and the distribution of clitic doubling is implemented by means of a licensing approach, assimilating clitic doubling to differential object marking. Finally, we address two morphological aspects of clitic doubling that are often taken to be challenging for an Agree-based account, namely, the syncretism between determiners and clitics, and tense invariance. We show that, upon closer inspection, the former is no less challenging for movement approaches, while the latter cannot be considered a reliable diagnostic to tease apart agreement and clitic doubling.

‘Again’ separation in Italian

In Italian, ri- ‘again’ can be separated from the constituent it is semantically attached to and challenges the structural account for the ambiguity of ‘again’-type elements. To address this issue, this paper proposes a solution through aspectual agreement and suggests a movement and reconstruction analysis for the separation effect of ri-. It also provides supporting evidence for this analysis through Coordinate Structure Constraint and Relativized Minimality.

Conjunction Agreement and the Coordinate Structure Constraint

A long-standing question in syntax is what role linear order plays in a hierarchical grammar. Phenomena that on the surface show sensitivity to linear order have been particularly illuminating. When agreeing with coordinated subjects with different gender features, participles in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), Slovenian, and other languages allow multiple options including agreeing with the linearly closest conjunct. This pattern motivated an analysis where linear order can play a role in a syntactic operation such as agreement (Marušič et al. 2015; Willer-Gold et al. 2016 among others). On the other hand, Murphy & Puškar (2018) show that the pattern can be accounted for without resorting to linear order. This paper provides novel evidence from Coordinate Structure Constraint violating movement in BCS to argue for the non-linear approach. If the argument is on the right track, agreement can be kept within syntax without resorting to PF conditions.

First Conjunct Clitic Doubling, the Person Case Constraint, and First Conjunct Agreement: Insights from Modern Greek

In this paper, we discuss the implications of the phenomenon of first conjunct clitic doubling (FC CLD), based on data from Modern Greek. We first recap the arguments in Paparounas & Salzmann (to appear), where it is argued that FC CLD provides evidence for Agree-based approaches to clitic doubling (CLD) and against approaches involving movement, which would incorrectly rule out FC CLD as a violation of the Coordinate Structure Constraint. Extending this line of inquiry, we explore the implications of FC CLD for theories of the Person Case Constraint (PCC) and theories of first conjunct agreement (FCA). We firstly show that most theories of the PCC face serious challenges when confronted with our data. These theories i) involve movement in the generation of the clitic/the implementation of the PCC, thus being wholly incompatible with FC CLD; ii) assume Agree operations that provide insufficient φ-features to actually generate the clitics on the PCC probe; or iii) place this probe too low in the structure for languages like Greek, where clitics surface high. Secondly, we extend our consideration of the PCC to the domain of FCA, showing that PCC effects in coordination provide evidence for rule ordering and labeling-based theories of FCA when relativized probing is involved.

A Form Set Approach to the CSC

Since the formulation of the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC), extraction from coordinate structures has been observed to be illegitimate, but it is empirically challenged by exceptional cases. Given this, we propose that conjuncts in general are base-generated by Form Set (Chomsky 2020, 2021), being subject to the parallel structure constraint; extraction occurs in an across-the-board mode, capturing the CSC. Concerning the exceptional VP conjuncts where asymmetric extraction is allowed, we argue that they are properly labeled in the mode of syntactic restructuring (Choe 1988; Wurmbrand 2001) (Kim and Park 2021, 2022); accordingly, the requirement of the single event structure (Truswell 2007) is met, feeding sub-extraction. In short, this paper deduces the CSC by resorting to Form Set in tandem with labeling via restructuring.

Decomposing and deducing the Coordinate Structure Constraint

AbstractThe article shows that the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) can be violated in a number of languages and establishes a novel cross-linguistic generalization regarding languages that allow violations of the CSC. A phase-based deduction of this generalization is then provided under a particular contextual approach to phases. In addition, based on the cross-linguistic data regarding violations of the CSC, it is argued that the CSC should be separated into two conditions: (i) the ban on extractionofa conjunct, and (ii) the ban on extractionout ofa conjunct. This means that the whole coordinate structure (ConjP) as well as individual conjuncts are islands independently of each other. The article also addresses the long-standing debate regarding where in the grammar the CSC applies, arguing that the two different conditions that result from the separation of the traditional CSC ((i) and (ii) above) are deduced from different mechanisms in the architecture of the grammar: one is a purely syntactic condition, and the other is an interface condition.

Successive Cyclicity in DPs: Evidence from Mongolian Nominalized Clauses

Successive Cyclicity in DPs: Evidence from Mongolian Nominalized Clauses

Remarks on the Coordinate Structure Constraint in Right Node Raising

This paper investigates how the Second Part of Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) behaves in Right Node Raising (RNR) in Korean. We first show that constructing relevant data is evasive due to some confounding factors, and then demonstrate that when the factors are controlled for, RNR exhibits the CSC effect. We argue that it is readily captured by the ellipsis analysis, with the consequence that a violation of CSC is not repairable by ellipsis (Merchant 2001). However, in so doing, we present a puzzle that partly favors the multidominance analysis (Wilder 1999, Citko 2005). To resolve the puzzle, we suggest that the domain of the application of multidominance is restricted to (extractable) maximal constituents. This accounts for why in the context where multidominance is not permitted and ellipsis induces a violation of the CSC, the CSC effect invariably emerges.

The Coordinate Structure Constraint in the Specificational Right Dislocation and Its Implications

The Coordinate Structure Constraint in the Specificational Right Dislocation and Its Implications

On the Repairability of the Coordinate Structure Constraint in Korean and Its Implications

It has been widely assumed that certain island violations are ameliorated by ellipsis. However, Merchant(2001) argues that the second part of the Coordinate Structure Constraint(CSC) in English is not a PF-island and thus its violations cannot be repaired/ameliorated. This paper aims to investigate the repairability of the CSC in Korean. It is shown that as in English, the second part of the CSC (ban on extraction out of conjuncts) is not repairable by ellipsis in Korean. I first show that constructing relevant data is evasive due to some confounding factors. However, I demonstrate that when these factors are carefully controlled for, the data invariably respect the CSC, yielding no repair effects. Comparing the CSC with the relative clause island, I suggest that while the relative clause may well constitute a PF-island, the CSC does not. I also argue that the relevant data are problematic for the in-situ ellipsis approach

Probing the nature of an island constraint with a parsed corpus: A case study on the Coordinate Structure Constraint in Japanese

This paper presents a case study of the use of the NINJAL Parsed Corpus of Modern Japanese (NPCMJ) for syntactic research. NPCMJ is the first phrase structure-based treebank for Japanese that is specifically designed for application in linguistic (in addition to NLP) research. After discussing some basic methodological issues pertaining to the use of treebanks for theoretical linguistics research, we introduce our case study on the status of the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC) in Japanese, showing that NPCMJ enables us to easily retrieve examples that support one of the key claims of Kubota and Lee (2015): that the CSC should be viewed as a pragmatic, rather than a syntactic constraint. The corpus-based study we conducted moreover revealed a previously unnoticed tendency that was highly relevant for further clarifying the principles governing the empirical data in question. We conclude the paper by briefly discussing some further methodological issues brought up by our case study pertaining to the relationship between linguistic research and corpus development.

On Movement out of Moved Elements, Labels, and Phases

The article deduces a modified version of the traditional ban on movement out of moved elements that provides a new perspective on it. Under the proposed analysis, the problem with the movement of YP out of moved XP does not arise at the point where YP moves out of XP, as in previous accounts. Instead, it arises already with the movement of XP: XP itself cannot undergo movement in this case. Any later movement out of XP is then trivially blocked. The proposed analysis leaves room for movement out of moved elements to take place in well-defined contexts. Several constructions bear this out, including German/Dutch r-pronoun constructions, Slavic left-branch extraction, and quantifier float more generally. What the proposed analysis deduces is then not the traditional ban on movement out of moved elements, but a ban on movement of phases with nonagreeing specifiers, which the article argues should replace the former ban. As a result, the analysis also extends to the immobility of verb-second clauses in German. The article also provides a new perspective on the Adjunct Condition (the ban on movement out of adjuncts). It shows that movement out of adjuncts is possible in the same configuration as movement out of moved elements. The proposed account of the latter is then extended to the Adjunct Condition. The article also proposes a labeling-based account of the Coordinate Structure Constraint, which also captures the across-the-board-movement exception.

Samoan predicate initial word order and object positions

Verb-initial ordering may be derived by fronting the VP (or a larger constituent) to a specifier position higher than the subject. For VSO languages, this analysis requires that the object raise out of the VP to a position below the subject before the (remnant) VP fronts to the higher position. This paper builds a comprehensive analysis of VSO order in the Polynesian language Samoan, employing the VP-fronting analysis, arguing the account does better than competing derivational accounts (e.g., a head movement account). I argue that evidence for the raising of the complement of V to a VP-external position comes from data showing that the coordination of unaccusative and unergative verbs is not possible in Samoan. This paradigm has a ready explanation under the VP-fronting account: as the complement of V must raise out of the VP before VP-fronting takes place, unaccusative subject DPs are predicted to bind a VP-internal copy. This blocks coordination with unergative VPs which do not contain DP copies (via the Coordinate Structure Constraint). I provide a generalized account of DP movement whereby the functional head v is specified to trigger the movement of all DPs in its local c-command domain to its projected specifier positions. In cases where v does not locally c-command any DP, the requirement is trivially satisfied. I show how this accounts for the observed VSO/VOS word order alternations in Samoan.

The coordinate structure constraint as a discourse-oriented principle: Further evidence from Japanese and Korean

We reexamine the status of the coordinate structure constraint (CSC; Ross 1967) by drawing on evidence from Japanese and Korean. Contrary to the standard view that the CSC is a syntactic constraint, the empirical patterns from the two languages show that it should instead be viewed as a pragmatic principle. We propose a pragmatic analysis by building on and extending a previous proposal by Kehler (2002). Examining the Japanese and Korean data turns out to be vital in the comparison of the syntactic and pragmatic approaches, since the syntactic differences between the relevant constructions in the two languages and their counterparts in English crucially distinguish the predictions of the two approaches.

Coherence relation and clause linkage

Abstract This paper proposes that adjunct island effects (Ross, 1967; Cattell, 1976) receive a discourse-semantic explanation. The exact formulation of this explanation builds upon previous work (e.g. Kehler, 2002) on island effects of conjuncts (Ross, 1967), which explains asymmetrical extraction from coordinate structures in English (that is, violations of the coordinate structure constraint) in terms of certain coherence relations (Hobbs, 1979). I show that asymmetric extraction from adjuncts in Chinese (that is, violations of the adjunct island constraint) is also sensitive to coherence relations. I argue that such similarities exist because coherence relations may be expressed by either a coordinative or a subordinative structure, and the variation in the syntactic realizations of coherence relations can be characterized through an independently motivated interclausal relations hierarchy that governs the mapping between semantics and syntactic linkage (van Valin, 2005).

Constraints on Wh-Question Formation in Gichuka

Ross (1976) argued that wh-movement is not unbounded. This paper investigated wh-question formation in Gichuka, and checked whether wh-movement is constrained/bounded by the complex NP constraint, the subject condition, the wh-island constraint and the coordinate structure constraint. The results indicate that wh-movement is constrained by these constraints except the complex NP constraint. This paper therefore is a contribution to the principles and parameters of universal grammar.

A derivational ellipsis approach to ATB-movement

This article argues for an ellipsis approach to ATB-movement on the basis of morphosyntactic mismatches and reconstruction asymmetries between conjuncts. I will argue that ATB-moved constituents are present in each conjunct; while those in the first conjunct undergo asymmetric extraction, those in the sec - ond conjunct are elided under identity with those in the first. Ellipsis in ATB is licensed by means of an (E) atb-feature whose selectional restrictions correctly sin- gle out the elements that can undergo ATB-movement. Ellipsis applies deriva- tionally and makes the elided constituents inaccessible for further syntactic o perations. Asymmetric extraction is sanctioned by a representational definition of the Coordinate Structure Constraint: At LF, the asymmetrically extracted oper - ator can bind both its own trace as well as the trace left behind by the operator in the second conjunct. Binding into the second conjunct is only possible if both operators bear the same index; this in turn is guaranteed by the recoverability condition on ellipsis, which requires an identical antecedent. Since the operator can bind both variables, the single-identity reading characteristic of ATB is cor -

On the grammar of extraction and coordination

This paper examines English unbounded dependency constructions and concludes that the syntactic mechanism responsible for extraction operates in the same way in all constructions, regardless of the structures being subordinate or coordinate. In other words, this work argues that there is a general and fully uniform mechanism behind the linkage of ‘gaps’ and their ‘fillers’ in the family of constructions that allow such unbounded dependencies. Crucially, this mechanism is devoid of exceptions, and interacts with other aspects outside the grammar of extraction to predict the Coordinate Structure Constraint, ATB extractions, parasitism, and at least certain islands. Although the underlying syntactic mechanism for extraction is argued to work in the same way for all constructions, certain parts of the grammar can locally impose additional conditions on the possible extraction patterns. Along with recent psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research, it is argued that many apparent exceptions result from independently motivated performance factors, also observed in garden-path sentences and center-embedded constructions.

On the Nature of the Quotative Operator Movement and the CSC Obviation Effects

The quote initial reported direct speech optionally involves subject-main verb inversion, and the inverted cases are called the quotative inversion construction. This study examines the structure of this quotative inversion and non-inversion constructions and diagnoses one previously unnoticed problem in them. More specifically, it will be shown that the quotative operator, widely believed to be involved in the derivation of the quotative constructions, is immune to the Coordinate Structure Constraint. This obviation effect is attributed to the A-movement nature of the quotative operator movement, based on the idea that A-movement is immune to the Coordinate Structure Constraint.