Linear Correspondence Axiom Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Punjabi and English Word Order: SOV Vs SVO

This study intends to compare the two languages, Punjabi and English, in terms of their apparently different word orders (i.e., SOV and SVO) under the rubric of Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA): languages may have a similar underlying word order SVO despite of the apparent variation. In the backdrop of Universal Grammar (i.e., assuming universal principles underlying apparent variation of languages: Principles and Parameters), this study employs the Minimalist framework of Chomsky where LCA is assumed to hold true at least in its empirical conclusions. This study concludes that Punjabi also underlies SVO order at base. Its variation from SVO languages like English is caused by the movement of object to ‘specifier’-I position or Spec Agro position, and the movement of verb+ auxiliary complex to I position. Furthermore, SOV languages also exhibit grammatical structures with SVO word order to strengthen the line of reasoning that basic word order for such languages is SVO. A more extensive study into movement operations and possibility of flexible word orders in languages may help the future studies in reaching correct conclusion with respect to word order.

FOFC and what left–right asymmetries may tell us about syntactic structure building

In this paper, I demonstrate that a well-known left-right asymmetry, Biberauer, Holmberg and Roberts’s (2014) Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC), which these authors claim follows from Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA), is actually better explained under a symmetric approach to syntactic structure building in tandem with the mechanism that underlies the constraints on rightward movement. Apart from circumventing the theoretical and empirical problems that this LCA-based analysis faces, the fact that particles form a natural class of counterexamples to FOFC naturally follows under such a symmetric approach. The final part of this paper shows that this explanation to FOFC also straightforwardly applies to the semi-universal leftwardness of (subject) specifiers in both head-final and head-initial languages.

‘Only’ in Nguni: A Phrase-Final Particle Meets Antisymmetry Theory

This article investigates the syntax of the phrase-final focus particles kuphela and qha ‘only’ in Zulu and Xhosa (Nguni; Bantu). We show that kuphela’s and qha’s associations with a focused constituent respect the complex topography of information structure in Nguni and, like English only, a surface c-command requirement. However, unlike English only, the Zulu and Xhosa particles typically follow the focus associate they c-command, a fact that poses a serious challenge for Kayne’s (1994) antisymmetry theory. We demonstrate that the Nguni facts are incompatible with recent Linear Correspondence Axiom–inspired approaches to phrase-final particles in other languages and, after weighing the merits of several approaches, we conclude that kuphela is an adjunct and that syntax is only weakly antisymmetric: adjuncts are not subject to the LCA.

Syntactic structures of Mandarin purposives

AbstractThis paper investigates three constructions in Mandarin, all of which convey a purposive/teleological meaning, including thelaipurposive, thehaopurposive, and the bare purposive. Despite the fact that each type of purposive clause in Mandarin occurs at the right edge of a sentence, it is argued that none of the purposive clause is a genuine right adjunct in the underlying syntactic structure. On the other hand, our analysis shows that thelaipurposive employs complementation of a secondary predicate, thehaopurposive involves conjunction of two clauses, and the bare purposive should be analyzed as left adjunction that is stranded in the right edge after verb movement. The evidence for our analysis is drawn from subject and object gaps, theba-construction in Mandarin, agentivity, and linear ordering of multiple purposive clauses. This work thus demonstrates representative cases where a structure that appears to involve right adjunction may in fact employ no right adjunction at all. The conclusion is thus consistent with the prediction of Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA).

The Distinctness Principle of Copies and The Linear Correspondence Axiom

The Distinctness Principle of Copies and The Linear Correspondence Axiom

The Nonuniform Syntax of Postverbal Elements in SOV Languages: Hindi, Bangla, and the Rightward Scrambling Debate

Much debate in recent years has focused on whether postverbal elements (PVEs) in SOV Hindi are derived via leftward movement compatible with the Linear Correspondence Axiom ( Mahajan 1997a , b , 2003 ) or whether they must be assumed to result from some kind of rightward non-antisymmetric movement ( Bhatt and Dayal 2007 , Manetta 2012 ). A second phenomenon, scope restrictions on wh-in- situ elements in postverbal CPs, is often linked to the syntactic analysis of PVEs. Comparing Hindi with Bangla, this article shows that PVEs in Indic languages are not derived in a uniform way and that the wh-scope restriction needs to be considered independently of the syntax of nonclausal PVEs.

O Axioma da Correspondência Linear e a Estrutura Sintagmática Nua: um levantamento de propostas de compatibilização

In this work, a known incompatibility between the Linear Correspondence Axiom (cf. Kayne, 1994) and bare phrase structure (cf. Chomsky, 1995a) is presented and some of the main proposals for solving it are surveyed and discussed. This survey is part of an ongoing investigation which aims to provide an alternative solution. Except for Hornstein’s (2009) proposal, I argue that all other solutions are unsatisfactory from a minimalist perspective and that an adequate solution to this problem demands some reconception of syntax, at least with regard to the fundamental structure building operation, Merge, in such a way that asymmetry is obtained (and not lost) since the beginning of the derivation. Therefore, the structure would not have to be “saved” in the course of derivation, and syntax would have an essentially asymmetric character, a stronger result than that of Kayne (1994), which claimed for an “antisymmetric” character of syntax.

A Syntactic Universal and Its Consequences

This article investigates the Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC): a head-initial category cannot be the immediate structural complement of a head-final category within the same extended projection. This universal cannot be formulated without reference to the kind of hierarchical structure generated by standard models of phrase structure. First, we document the empirical evidence: logically possible but crosslinguistically unattested combinations of head-final and head-initial orders. Second, we propose a theory, based on a version of Kayne’s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom, where FOFC is an effect of the distribution of a movement-triggering feature in extended projections, subject to Relativized Minimality.

Finiteness, negation and the directionality of headedness in Bangla

This paper investigates a pattern in the South Asian language Bangla which strongly resembles the finite/non-finite positioning of verbs in English and French reported in Pollock (1989). In finite clauses in Bangla, verbs precede negation, as in English, while in non-finite clauses verbs follow negation, as in French. The paper considers whether the analysis of (leftwards) movement of the verb to Tense/Agreement in finite clauses argued for by Pollock for French should be assumed to operate in the SOV language Bangla as well, potentially supporting a Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) head-initial analysis of Bangla, which has elsewhere regularly been taken to be a head-final language. Considering other patterns in the language relating to negative polarity item (NPI) licensing and quantifier scope in finite and non-finite clauses, it is argued that a leftwards head-movement analysis is unable to account for such patterns. A different analysis of the alternating position of negation and verbs is then suggested, which attributes this to the realization of negation either in the specifier or head position of NegP, drawing on Pollock’s (1989) analysis of the dual location of negative morphemes in French and on much recent work on alternations between specifier and head lexicalization (van Gelderen 2004 and others).

Some Implications of a Copy Theory of Labeling

AbstractA copy theory of labeling makes interesting empirical predictions when combined with a revised version of Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom and a category‐based version of c‐command. First, it forces the pronunciation of the highest copy in a chain, all else being equal, without the need for copy deletion. Second, it predicts certain differences between underlying and derived head‐initial specifiers and between head‐final and head‐initial specifiers. This serves to extend Uriagereka's (1999) PF‐based explanation of Huang's Condition on Extraction Domain (CED) to cover previously problematic or unexplained phenomena: (i) the apparent lack of subject‐island effects with head‐final specifiers; (ii) the nonislandhood of many derived specifiers (externally merged as complements); (iii) patterns of complement extraposition; and (iv) the Final‐over‐Final Constraint (see Holmberg 2000; Biberauer, Holmberg & Roberts 2008, to appear). All of the above phenomena arise under the copy theory of labeling as side effects of a revised version of Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom incorporating a head parameter, whereby asymmetric c‐command, defined between categories and unmediated by dominance, maps to precedence as a last resort.

The syntax–morphology relation

We review and discuss some issues to do with the relation between morphology and syntax which have played a prominent part in generative linguistic research in the past three decades. Focusing on verbal inflection, we first discuss the relation between inflection and verb placement, with special attention given to verb-initial languages. We then discuss the relation between pro-drop and agreement, where we articulate a partly new understanding of Huang's (1989) generalization that pro-drop is characteristic of languages with rich agreement and languages with no agreement, but not languages that are in-between. We then present and discuss the Mirror Principle, one of the most significant findings in recent linguistic research. We pay special attention to the Mirror Principle as it applies in head-final languages, in the context of a model adopting Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom. The idea is to show how fairly complex aspects of clausal syntax, including word order and the possibility of phonetically silent arguments of a predicate, may be correlated with readily observable and, in themselves, rather simple properties of verbal inflection, and to show how, given a restrictive theory of Universal Grammar, this follows from the fact that inflections are syntactic categories, albeit realized as parts of words.

Linear Asymmetries and the LCA

Abstract. Kayne (1994)was instrumental in putting linear asymmetries on the generative research agenda. His Linear Correspondence Axiom is seen as a restrictive, conceptually attractive proposal supported by a wealth of empirical evidence. In this paper, we take issue with this assessment. (i) We show that for every structure that violates the LCA, there is an LCA‐compatible counterpart, including rightward movement structures and structures with rightward specifiers. (ii) We discussCinque's (2005)LCA‐based analysis of word order in the extended nominal projection, demonstrating that the data in fact do not support any hypothesis stronger than a ban on rightward movement. (iii) We demonstrate that claims to the effect that central properties of phrase structure (such as headedness and the single‐specifier restriction) follow from the LCA are incorrect. (iv) We show that the LCA is toothless without a restrictive theory of movement, but that it can only be reconciled with the data in the absence of such a theory.

The emergence of order in syntax (review)

Reviewed by: The emergence of order in syntax Michael T. Putnam The emergence of order in syntax. By Jordi Fortuny. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008. Pp. viii, 210. ISBN 9789027255020. $158 (Hb). In this monograph, Jordi Fortuny embarks on a detailed study of the syntactic component of the faculty of language, with regard to its responsibility for how grammatical categories are ordered and how hierarchies are generated. To be a bit more precise, two main questions are posed by this study: first, what are the basic elements of the syntactic component, and second, why do syntactic patterns have the shape they seem to have? In many respects, F's work can be seen as a 'house cleaning' in that purported 'essential' components of derivational syntactic theory—especially in light of recent advancements in the minimalist program (MP)—are brought under scrutiny, objectively evaluated, and, in many cases, shown to be conceptually faulty and, as a result, expendable. As a matter of fact, the following properties and assumptions are a handful of those that F throughout this text argues are in some way, shape, or form able to be expunged from core minimalist desiderata: the linear correspondence axiom (LCA), suicidal greed (i.e. the idea that movement in the MP is driven by the requirement of a higher head possessing an attracting feature requiring valuation), the existence of uninterpretable features, the extended projection principle (EPP), the existence of merely occurrential features (e.g. EPP/OCC), and the vacuous movement hypothesis. In the words of F himself, 'No more than a recursive procedure responsible for creating nests by successive Merge and for ordering and instantiating type features driven by the morpholexical characterization of words and constrained by the Full Interpretation legibility condition and the Maximize Matching Effects principle of structural efficiency is required, thereby supporting the idea that the syntactic component is an optimal solution to legibility conditions' (192–93). Ch. 1 suggests that the basic elements of the syntactic component are features and a combinatorial operation known as Merge. A feature is defined as an instruction for a particular level of interpretation of the faculty of language, and Merge is defined as an operation that takes as input two categories or sets included in an alphabet and yields as output the union of these sets. Accordingly, F argues that the hierarchical properties of syntactic objects derive from the derivational record, a set K (a nest) where the outputs of successive Merge operations are linearly ordered by the strict inclusion relation. Following this logic a step further, hierarchy in syntax is a [End Page 223] natural by-product of the successful creation of structure by keeping the derivational information in a record (thus making notions such as Kayne's (1994) linear correspondence axiom and phrase structure rules such as X´-theory nothing more than a description rather than an explanation for empirical facts). To account for displacement phenomena, F suggests 'It may be the case that two different categories are assigned to two different slots (analytic pattern), that two different categories are assigned to a single slot (syncretic pattern) or finally, that a single category is assigned to two different slots (discontinuous pattern)' (14). Applications of both Internal and External Merge are argued to be triggered by the requirement and matching of [+type] categories and [+token] categories. One clear advantage to such an understanding of movement in a derivational framework is that it eliminates the necessity of a special device in the grammar solely responsible for displacement, which, according to F, suffers from three main problems: the problem of generality, the problem of determinacy, and the problem of consistency (26–28) (see also Levine & Hukari 2006 for similar arguments). Chs. 2 and 3 begin the implementation of F's system with regard to the particular shape of syntactic objects generated according to the system established in Ch. 1. Here is explored how syntactic derivations carried out by Merge are triggered by the morpholexical characterization of lexical items (i.e. clusters of features) that are constrained by the semantic-legibility conditions imposed by 'full interpretation' and by the 'maximize matching effects' principle of structural minimalization. In Ch. 2, F explicates the relationship between C...

On the ga-marked subject: Its syntactic and semantic characteristics

Abstract According to Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) languages with configurational structures are expected to derive fixed word order. Hungarian is a typical example, deriving a fixed word order while retaining configurational structures. The moment Hungarian loses its configurational structure it yields free word order. This paper claims that there are languages with configurational structures, yet which allow free word order. Kuroda's dichotomy into “agreement forced and non-forced” languages accounts for this phenomenon. Agreement forced languages like English keep fixed word order, because the subject must occupy the position of the Specifier of Tense Phrase (TP-Spec) to get its features to agree with those of Tense in terms of person, number and gender. Agreement non-forced languages like Japanese allow any argument to fill the TP-Spec position, giving rise to free word order with configurational structures. Contrary to LCA, configurational structures do not necessarily result in fixed word order.

Ranking the Linear Correspondence Axiom

The overarching question addressed here is how syntactic structures based on constituency (dominance, c-command) are to be mapped onto linear phonetic strings. I argue that both prosodie principles and narrow-syntactic principles play a role in the linearization of syntactic structures. I take Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom as a starting point: (asymmetric) c-command maps onto precedence relations. Two wide-ranging predictions of Kayne's theory are that specifiers precede their heads and that a head can only have one specifier or adjunct. Although abundant evidence supports these predictions, there is nonetheless a well-known class of apparent counterexamples: Romance languages allow both rightward and multiple dislocations. I take the LCA to be a soft constraint, overruled by a constraint of the Wrap family that seeks to combine a verb and its extended projection in one intonational phrase. Apparent rightward movement is the outcome of rightward linearization forced by Wrap. The possibility of multiple dislocations is compatible with the LCA within the assumptions made here.

Desymmetrization: Parametric Variation at the PF-Interface

AbstractI advance the thesis that the narrow syntactic component of CHL is purely symmetrical, with all apparent asymmetries reducing to interface conditions. Properties of Germanic object shift and scrambling, in particular the VO order-preservation (Holmberg’s Generalization), derive from symmetry-breaking strategies which dispose of superfluous (symmetric) syntactic information and ensure the PF-legibility (linearization). These interface desymmetrization strategies provide a Minimalist analysis of non-lexical (macro-)parameters, such as the head-directionality parameter.The Linear Correspondence Axiom is reconciled with the VO/OV head parameter such that linear “shape” is preserved across the derivation. This allows object shift and scrambling to emerge as two sides of a single parametric coin. The implications of this system for the A/A-bar movement typology are explored, and a Minimalist reconceptualization is offered.

Minimise Ad (?/*In-)finitum? In Defense of Weakly Cartographic Computational Models

Minimise Ad (?/*In-)finitum? In Defense of Weakly Cartographic Computational Models This paper provides a critical overview of the strongly derivational and non-cartographic approaches to syntax based solely on the relation between a newly selected lexical item (LI) and the so-called derivational space (the existing syntactic object) treated as the pivot of the syntactic derivation. Specifically, it is argued that, given the asymmetry requirement requisite for linearization, as stated in Kayne's (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) and Chomsky's (1994) Bare Phrase Structure (BPS), the abovementioned procedure is unattainable in certain strongly derivational syntactic configurations. The latter sections of the paper, while still arguing against the excessively minimized derivational space, focus on the non-cartographic Escape system proposed by Zwart (2007). It is shown that the data (comprising mostly the so-called "look-ahead"- based cases) that prove problematic for Escape can be captured within a moderately (i.e. weakly) cartographic view of the left periphery in accord with Thráinsson's (1996) Limited Diversity Hypothesis.

The interaction between across‐the‐boardwh‐movement and left‐branch extraction

Abstract. This paper explores the interaction between two independently well studiedwh‐movement strategies: across‐the‐boardwh‐movement and left‐branch extraction. Focusing on Slavic languages, which allow both ATB movement and left‐branch extraction in isolation, it shows that ATB left‐branch extraction is subject to a rather surprising restriction: the ‘‘remnants’’ inside the second conjunct must be distinct from their ‘‘correspondents’’ inside the first conjunct. The account of this restriction developed in this paper relies on the interaction of two independently motivated principles: the Linear Correspondence Axiom ofKayne 1994and a structural economy condition formulated within the framework ofChomsky's (1995)Minimalist Program.

The universal base hypothesis: VO or OV?

he universal base hypothesis postulates that all languages have the same underlying word order, which is advantageous because it simplifies language acquisition. According to Kayne’s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA), this order is VO so that the OV-languages are derived by letward movement of various types of VP-internal constituents: DP-objects, PP-objects, predicative phrases, etc. Haider (1997a) and Barbiers (2000) propose an underlying OV-order and claim that this gives rise to a simpler grammar, since the VOlanguages can be derived by means of a single operation, namely V-movement across the VP-internal constituents. his paper will argue that this simplification is only apparent.1 I start with a brief discussion of Haider’s (2000) Branching Constraint (slightly different formulations can be found in Haider 1997a,b; Section 3.2 will discuss the somewhat extended version from Haider 2003).

The Syntax of Aspect in Thai

This paper describes the syntax and semantics of the aspect system of Thai. Its interaction between linear order and scope has not been described in detail in the previous literature and its complexity makes it particularly relevant to discussions of the similarity of syntactic and semantic structures. It is argued that Thai presents challenges to some hypotheses about the interface between the syntax and semantics of semantic modifiers, in particular, Cinque’s (1999) hypothesis that the semantic structures of modifiers are isomorphic to the syntactic structures that express them, as well as Kayne’s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom. The syntax of aspect in Thai suggests that syntactic and semantic structures are independent levels of representation that are not mapped uniformly onto each other and that a functional category’s lexical entry must record both its part of speech and its combinatorial potential.