Narrow Syntax Research Articles

Across the boundary: The formalization of the interface between episodic memory and narrow syntax computation of human language

A growing number of studies indicate that the hippocampus plays an essential role in language processing as well as episodic memory. However, there is no consensus on how it is engaged in both domains and how it connects the two domains. From a theoretical perspective, this paper delves into the intricate relationship between episodic memory and the narrow syntax of human language. To be more specific, I focus on the functions of the hippocampus in event processing and propose that hippocampal phasic activity supports the cyclic interaction between episodic memory and narrow syntax. Through such cyclic interaction, the event in the episodic memory is assigned a linguistic format that can be communicated, while narrow syntax is provided with an interpretative engine that underlies reference. This hypothesis predicts that when episodic memory is impaired, corresponding abnormalities appear in linguistic reference.

On Hilbert’s epsilon operator in FormSequence

This paper examines Chomsky’s recently proposed and abandoned FormSequence operation and presents a middle-ground implementation of it in a way that conforms to the Strong Minimalist Thesis. Special attention is paid to the role of Hilbert’s epsilon (ϵ) operator in this operation. I argue that while the ϵ-operator can give FormSequence its desired effect, the sequence-choosing mechanism should more adequately be attributed to the cognitive-computational context (mainly the interfaces) instead of Narrow Syntax. In other words, FormSequence is not entirely syntactic in nature but only partly so. I implement its syntactic part as repeated Pair Merge of a coordinator with a number of conjuncts, which yields a partially ordered set as output instead of a sequence. This implementation reconciles FormSequence with the Strong Minimalist Thesis and maintains a purely hierarchical syntactic module of human language. Furthermore, I compare the use of the ϵ-operator in FormSequence and its more established use in formal semantics and eventually promote a domain-general perspective on the fundamental cognitive procedure of sequence formation.

Flat structure: a minimalist program for syntax

Abstract We explore the possibility of assuming largely flat syntactic structures in Simpler Syntax, suggesting that these are plausible alternatives to conventional hierarchical structures. We consider the implications of flat structure for analyses of various linguistic phenomena in English, including heavy NP shift, extraposition, topicalization and constituent order variation in the VP. We also sketch a general strategy to circumvent some of the problems flat structure is said to cause for semantic interpretation. Our proposals eliminate the need for movement, unpronounced copies and feature-bearing nodes postulated to trigger syntactic operations. We assume the Parallel Architecture and use declarative schemas to establish direct correspondences between phonology on the one hand and syntactic and semantic structures on the other. The resulting picture is one in which narrow syntax can be relatively stable across languages and constructions, largely reflecting the structure of human thought, and the main source of linguistic variation is the linearization of conceptual and syntactic structures. Unlike other minimalist theories that reach a similar conclusion, the theory we propose takes mappings to phonology to be central to the architecture of grammar.

Agreement Switch in Verb-Echo Answers: Evidence for Distributed Ellipsis

Abstract In this article, we claim that syntactic objects undergoing ellipsis can be targeted by both narrow syntactic and PF operations. We base this conclusion on experimental evidence from the interaction between single conjunct agreement and verb-echo answers in South Slavic, which we show to be derived via verb-stranding VP ellipsis. Adopting the view that Vocabulary Insertion replaces Q-variables on lexical heads (Halle 1991) and ellipsis is a syntactic operation which deletes Q-variables (Saab 2022), we demonstrate that constituents properly included in the ellipsis site can undergo Internal Merge in the narrow syntax, and can participate in PF processes from the derived position. The interaction between ellipsis, Internal Merge and Agree-Copy that accounts for these patterns of data follows naturally within the Distributed Ellipsis approach.

The Syntax of Speech Acts: Deictic Inversion as an Evidential Strategy in English

This paper presents empirical evidence to support the so-called syntactization of discourse, that is, the projection of relevant pragmatic features in the narrow syntax. In particular, it analyses deictic inversion in English, a construction which is used by the speaker to point at a proximal or distal location and bring the addressee’s attention to an entity related to that location (e.g., Here comes the bus). It offers a novel account of this construction, which takes it to be an evidential strategy in a language that does not have standard evidential markers; this evidential status explains its main differences with locative inversion, a construction with which it is pragmatically and structurally related. Deictic inversion therefore receives a natural explanation in a framework that maps syntax with the speech act and introduces in the derivation pragmatic information about the participants in the communicative exchange and about the source of the information for the proposition asserted.

A Sentence Medial Clause Typing Intoneme in Mandarin A-NOT-A Questions

A sentence medial intoneme is argued to be responsible for typing Mandarin A-NOT-A questions. In narrow syntax, it is merged higher than deontic modals and lower than Tense; after spell out, it is realized phonetically as a high low intonation starting from the left edge of the A-NOT-A predicate. Th is proposal is supported by a sentence medial segmental particle in Chinese dialects, which further corroborates the Intonation Particle Hypothesis by showing that typing particles in non sentence final positions are also variants of intonations. Besides, the Mandarin nu clear stress rule derives two prosodic features of A-NOT-A questions : No intonational breaks within the A-NOT-A predicate and destressing of the negation word. The two features follow from the requirement that only one intonation is allowed in the nuclear stress domain and instantiate interaction among different stresses

On the verb-raising analysis of non-constituent coordination in Japanese

Abstract This study argues against the verb-raising analysis of Japanese Non-Constituent Coordination (NCC), and consequently supports an alternative analysis with no recourse to verb movement in Narrow Syntax. I show that the verb-raising analysis under-generates regarding VP-fronting in Japanese. Furthermore, I point out that this analysis makes wrong predictions about the scope between heads and elements inside NCC. I conclude that there is no syntactic V-to-T-to-C verb-raising in Japanese NCC.

Telicity judgments in L2 English by L1 Slovak speakers

Abstract The study investigates the acquisition of telicity in L2 English by L1 Slovak speakers as a function of L2 proficiency (measured by a cloze test score), exposure (operationalized as length of stay in an English-speaking country) and instruction type (monolingual vs. bilingual). Telicity judgments were collected from Slovak learners of L2 English (n = 50) and a control group of American English native speakers (n = 15) in two offline acceptability judgment tasks. Two types of telicity encoding were examined: (1) the contribution of the [±quantized] feature of the object argument to predicate telicity, which involves processes in narrow syntax; and (2) the contribution of adverbial modifiers to telicity interpretations, including coercion contexts, which involve processes of aspectual reinterpretation. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that the contribution of the [±quantized] feature of the object argument to predicate telicity, which is a syntactic phenomenon, will be easier to acquire than aspectual coercion by means of adverbial modifiers, which relies on pragmatic cues. The results indicate that the most significant predictor of telicity judgments based on syntactic cues is L2 proficiency, while length of stay affects telicity judgments in predicate categories involving coercion contexts.

Habituality, Perfectivity and Ergativity in Nepali

This paper argues that in Nepali, the position of aspect heads leads to the ergative case assignment on agents of perfective clauses and optional marking on the agents in habitual sentences. Along with split ergativity, Nepali exhibits ergative marking also for stage vs. individual level readings of the subjects in habitual sentences. A marked subject has an individual level reading and an unmarked subject has a stage level reading. In the context of the data presented in the paper, it is argued that the case marking on the agent is an inherent case, assigned to the agent in its theta position. Furthermore, such inherent case assignment or the environment in which the agent is marked, is motivated and conditioned by the aspect of the clause, represented through various aspect heads in narrow syntax.

Korean VP-Ellipsis and a Derivational Approach to Ellipsis

This article argues that under the assumption that the verbal domain contains VoiceP, distinct from vP, Korean has VP-ellipsis, where the morpheme ha, which lacks semantic content, is located in v in the surface representation and its complement VP—consisting of a verbal noun and its preceding theme—is elided. It also proposes that ellipsis is a narrow syntax operation that removes only phonological feature matrices of terminals including lexical items, but preserves their formal feature matrices (cf. Abels 2012). As a result, since elided elements do not have an appropriate venue for inserting phonological features at PF, they are not pronounced. However, they are able to participate in formal operations occurring after ellipsis, contra Baltin (2007, 2012) and Aelbrecht (2010). This is supported by the fact that elements elided inside VP, which have been deprived of their phonological feature matrices, can establish an Agree relation with a head outside the ellipsis site or move farther out of the ellipsis site in narrow syntax. The article also argues that derivational ellipsis is constrained by a modified version of Richards’s (2016) Contiguity Theory.

Agreement asymmetries in Arabic varieties dissolved: A feature inheritance-based account

The paper revisits the issue of the structural representation of subject-verb agreement in Arabic varieties with a particular reference to Standard Arabic and seven Arabic dialects, i.e., Saudi Arabic, Yemeni Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Jordanian Arabic, Tunisian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Lebanese Arabic. The paper recasts agreement asymmetries proposed in the literature of Arabic syntax: partial agreement in VSO but full agreement in SVO. Empirical evidence shows that such proposed asymmetries should be dissolved as all language varieties display agreement between the verb and the subject in all features except the number feature in the VS order of standard variety. Even in the VS order of this variety, the verb fully agrees with the subject when the latter is a pronoun. Based on empirical observations, the puzzling phenomenon of agreement can receive a straightforwardly unified account based on the Feature Inheritance model of syntax (FI). Irrespective of the possible order used in Arabic, full agreement morphology is always predicted as a result of an Agree relation, via FI, between the probe T and the subject generated at Spec; vP. However, the number feature alternation in the VS order of Standard Arabic is attributed to the PF interface rather than the narrow syntax, i.e., the possibility to spell out the number feature periphrastically rather than affixially.

Is PRO Necessary?

This study aims to show that a derivative of the pure stipulation, PRO, should be dispensed with from the grammar, and a bound variable, a bare NP, can successfully replace PRO. Given control involves the relationship between the unexpressed pronouns and the overt antecedents, a pure syntactic approach seems invalid. First, it suggests that PRO is highly deficient and has no Φ-features through comparison with other pronominals. This prevents PRO from the subject position of most finite clauses. Second, adopting Wurmbrand & Lohninger (2020), this paper assumes that infinitival complements come in three different sizes: CP, TP, and VP. PRO is assumed to be located at the subject position of the VP corresponding to the theta domain among them. From those two assumptions, it concludes that a referential variable, bare NP provides sufficient functions for an argument structure of the VP complements in narrow syntax. The overt case of PRO in Icelandic and the plural subject meaning of partial control are derived post-syntactically.

A syntactic analysis of Predicate Doubling Clefts in Korean

The aim of this paper is to provide a syntactic analysis of Predicate Doubling Clefts (PDCs) in Korean. Previous literatures based on multiple phonetic realizations of a single copy chain do not provide proper explanations for some challenges such as non-isomorphic arguments, the impossibility of ha-insertion, and asymmetrical predicates in the second predicate. This paper suggests that Korean PDC is not a PF phenomenon but it should be explained in narrow syntax. Partly following Cable

The syntax of plurals of collective and mass nouns: Views from Jordanian Arabic

AbstractThis research paper provides a syntactic account of the observation that plurals of non-count nouns (i.e., collective and mass nouns) in Jordanian Arabic (JA) may express different readings, namely a counting reading and paucity in quantity. We propose that availability of such readings or lack thereof depend crucially on whether or not Division Phrase (DivP) (Borer, 2005) projects in narrow syntax. When DivP projects over nP, a counting reading is available for the plural of singulatives. On the other hand, when DivP does not project, no counting reading is available, and alternatively a small-quantity reading is held. This implies that pluralization in JA is subject to the availability of functional projections that form the relevant DP, hence supplying evidence against the lexical hypothesis of plural formation. As for paucity in quantity, we argue that it is a product of (or a subtype of) the well-known paucal plural (cf. Ojeda 1992; Mathieu 2013).

Abolishing Gender on D

AbstractThis article presents a Minimalist syntactic analysis of sociopragmatically conditioned gender features on pronouns. To account for inter- and intra-speaker variation, I locate the parameter for social gender in the presence or absence of an unvalued gender feature on the phase head D. Supporting this analysis, I show that variation in English speakers’ acceptability and use of definite, specific singular they, as in (i), is sensitive to reference; this sensitivity is robustly explained by the location of gender features on D.(i) Taylori is writing theiri own autobiography.For speakers who report (i) as ungrammatical, a crash results from the uGender feature on D remaining unvalued. For innovative speakers, uGender is not present on D and no crash results from a lack of gender features. This analysis explains why a pragmatic feature like social gender can cause true syntactic ungrammaticality, since the narrow syntax encodes certain pragmatic features as obligatory.

Pronominal demonstratives in homeland and heritage Scandinavian

AbstractThis paper discusses pronominal demonstratives (PDs) in homeland and heritage (American) Norwegian and Swedish. We establish a baseline approximating the language of the early emigrants, based on 19th/20th century Norwegian dialect recordings and Swedish texts. Baseline Norwegian had a fully established PD expressing psychological distance (see Johannessen 2008a). In Swedish, however, PDs do not quite behave like (distal) demonstratives: they can combine with a definite determiner or a regular demonstrative, and they do not fully have the pragmatic functions that demonstratives have. We propose that the Swedish PD is a pronoun rather than a demonstrative, without the full set of regular pronominal features, but with logophoric features that activate knowledge shared between the speaker and addressee. Data from AmNo show that PDs are preserved in this heritage language, across several generations. On the assumption that PDs are indexical and that speech act participants are represented in narrow syntax, it comes as no surprise that they are retained (Polinsky 2018:63–65), although this may, on the face of it, appear to be at odds with the Interface Hypothesis (e.g. Sorace & Filiaci 2006, Sorace 2011).

Parenthetical niching: A third‐factor phonosyntactic analysis

AbstractIn this article, I develop a theory of how a syntactically unintegrated parenthetical is integrated with its host at the sensorimotor interface. First, I observe that thenichesopen to parentheticals, traditionally described in syntactic terms, are more accurately described in the terms of prosodic‐hierarchy theory. In particular, I show that a niche corresponds to a phonological‐phrase boundary. I then argue that this follows if a parenthetical is constructed in a separate syntactic workspace and is integrated with its host at the sensorimotor interface (without ever being integrated in narrow syntax) in a manner that is constrained by (i) certain properties of the syntactic workspace, (ii) the No‐Tampering Condition, and (iii) certain properties of the syntax–phonology mapping.

Verb Movement and Pair-Merge

Government and Binding posited that the head operation in question involves adjunction of a lower head to a higher head in narrow syntax. It has been noted early, however, that this approach is highly problematic because head-adjunction violates several well-motivated constraints like proper binding condition, extension condition, chain uniformity condition and A- over-A principle. Thus Chomsky(2015) redefines head movement under pair- merge of heads, which can not be seen in syntax due to the fact that head is thought to be attached to the moved head on a separate plane. However in this article this internal pair -merge of heads(head adjunction) seems to be no longer available because it potentially produces multi-dominance and violation of some desiderata (Chomsky 2019) like RCR, DA, Strict Binary and also anaysis of bridge verb construction as well. Thus this proposal proposes that MERGE can redefine internal pair-head merge like R-to-v movement under feature sharing with an identical feature, which renders two-membered pair-merge into one-membered MERGE(amalgam). This operation with feature sharing ensures the basic derivation in Chomsky (2019)’s 7 desiderata as well as multi-dominance, extention condition and A-over-A principle.

Verb Doubling in Turkish: Data from Trabzon Dialect

This study investigates verb doubling structures in Trabzon dialect of Turkish. Based on the similarities and the differences between this structure and the similar phenomena in other languages, I aim to identify the structural properties of VDbl in order to provide a representation of this structure within the Minimalist framework (Chomsky 1993). Following Harizanov and Gribanova’s analysis on Russian predicate clefts, I claim that this structure can be analyzed via the presence of two different movement processes: A focus related movement in narrow syntax, and a post-syntactic head movement.

L2 effects on L1 in foreign language learners: An exploratory study on object pronouns and verb placement in wh-questions in Polish

This study investigates L2 effects on L1 grammar in foreign language learners. As partof a cross-sectional study, 25 Polish native speakers learning English and German, and16 Polish monolingual speakers participated in an acceptability judgment test in Polish The test involved two grammatical phenomena: anaphoric object pronouns which lie at thesyntax-pragmatics interface, and verb placement in wh-questions, which is a propertyof narrow syntax. The analysis shows that multilingual learners accepted overt anaphoricobject pronouns in a sentence-internal position significantly more frequently than monolingual speakers from the control group. Object pronouns in the native language seem to bean element open to the influence of a foreign language, in contrast to linguistic propertieswhich are solely syntactic. This study thus confirms that interface phenomena are moreprone to cross-linguistic influence than purely syntactic features, but it also extends thisthesis to include L2 effect on L1