Comparative Morphosyntax Notes - PDF

Comparative Morphosyntax Notes: Week 1 Lecture: What is syntax where is it? 1. The study of how sentences are formed 2. The grammatical module where sentences are formed 3. The set of operations/rules to form sentences Two important notions: Syntax is the grammar module where sentences are a...

Comparative Morphosyntax Notes: Week 1 Lecture: What is syntax where is it? 1. The study of how sentences are formed 2. The grammatical module where sentences are formed 3. The set of operations/rules to form sentences Two important notions: Syntax is the grammar module where sentences are assembled Syntax is “the grammar of sentences” You assemble sentences then divide into: PF = phonological form LF = logical form CS = narrow syntax Then you ship it to: CI = conceptual-intentional SM = sensory-motor Syntax: the underlying thesis of generative grammar is that sentences are generated by a subconscious set of procedures (like computer programs) These procedures are a part of our minds and the goal of syntactic theory is to model these procedures and figure out what we subconsciously know about the syntax of our language UG (Universal Grammar) is considered L0: children can already perceive prosody at birth and have language bias They can filter out linguistic signals and recognize them Intuitions: As native speakers of a language, we have intuitions on its syntax The aim of syntax is to create a model describing this competence A theory of intuitions / of our grammar Native speakers know Which combinations are grammatical and which not They have clear intuitions Emergentist: amount and type of language input are critical factors in language learning: structural computation Children are able to produce structures they’ve never heard before Features of generative grammar: A) Commitment to the scientific method (formulating hypothesis and confrontation with the data) B) Object of study: the unconscious knowledge that underlies ordinary Language -> the “software” that allows us to run languages in our brains as operating systems Underlying language processes The OS is not visible – we need to deduce it Syntax is the blueprint so we have to understand the structure Neurolinguistics: observes language from brain viewpoint Language is the optimal solution for interface requirement Our language structure (syntax module) interacts with sounds and meaning Optimal = not operating perfectly, best possible option Biolinguistics and psycholinguistics look at how syntax interacts with other communication systems in the brain Theta criterion: 1. Every argument bears only one theta-role 2. Every θ-role is assigned to one and only one argument Argument = Rick (subject, θ agent) eats an apple (object, θ theme) Alex eats an apple Agent Theme *Alex eats an apple a pear * = ungrammatical because it has two themes (entity that is moved, stays still or changes possession) Dative: nouns and pronouns in grammatical agreement: indirect object or recipient He gave her the book Week 1 Morphosyntax seminar: Words that are morphologically complex in Turkish can be formed by adding suffixes to a root word instead of additional words: Turkish -gel (come) geliyor (he/she is coming) geliyorum (I am coming) Important dates: 25 November, 10:00: Let her know chosen topic and languages 11 December, 17:00: submission deadline for 1st draft 24 January, 17:00: Submission deadline for the final version Descriptive and comparative essay of two different languages with a similar phenomenon Squib: 3-4 pages, not a formal analysis but provides data Look at Snippets Singe-spaced You can choose any style; just be consistent Submit in pdf Essay with starts introduction (description of the languages) Then describe of the phenomenon in language X and a description of the phenomenon in your own language Don’t check the grammars of your language Intro-explanations-comparisons-conclusions For example: you don’t have to explain what agreement is or provide sources for it Language A: your native language Language B: any language you like, as long as you do not know it - Your partner’s native language - Any language for which you can find a Langsci Press grammar Possible topics: DP, TP and CP- related topics Case Unaccusative constructions (sentences without an agent) Morphosyntactic alignment, word order Reflexives. agreement One-place predicate: They left Two-place predicate: they greeted them Essay needs appendix – reflection on feedback and why you rejected or accepted it. Reflect on collaboration process - Not part of the 4 pages Glosses required for examples: (word-by-word translation, incl. grammatical information): breaking down words into inflections For example: neg, 3-pss sg, poss.1sg Align your glosses: divide your words in morphemes through hyphens Use footnotes or paragraph at the end of your essay with glosses Example format of foreign language: Language Example Glosses Translation 3 = 3rd person, exist = existential, FF = full form, FP = feminine plural; FS = feminine singular, IF = indeterminate form; NEG = negation; RFL = reflexive Barrie Chapter 4 Notes: Possessor is the entity that owns something else and is typically represented as a noun phrase (NP) within a larger phrase (DP) - It is usually the DP: John’s book - Functions as subjects of nouns Pronouns replace full nominal phrases, which are DPS They are represented as the D head It occupies specifier position of the sentence TP / \ DP T' | | D VP | | She runs TP (Tense Phrase) = head of a sentence This is followed by T (tense head): syntactic head that expresses tense and agreement and mediates the relationship between subject and predicate Tense is sometimes encoded separately from VP To represent simple past: add PST to T There is also affix-hopping or T-to-V movement - Putting the past tense affix on verb (-ed in T for washed) - The inflectional feature (e.g., tense/agreement is realized on V) A Complementiser Phrase (CP) is a syntactic structure that governs clauses and is headed by a complementizer (C) like that, if, or whether: Introduces subordinate clauses: "I think [that she left]." Handles questions: o Yes/No: "I wonder [if she will come]." o Wh-questions: "I wonder [who will come]." Appears in relative clauses: "The book [that I read] was interesting." Defines clauses: Declarative, interrogative, exclamative, hortative Hosts infinitival clauses: "I want [to leave]." Illocutionary force: whether clause is statement or question Week 2 Lecture: Transitive verb: requires subject and object, 2 theta roles/arguments External argument = subject (Mary ate the apple) Internal argument = object (The apple was eaten) Constituency tests: An element that constitutes a syntactic unit All phrases are constituents but not all constituents are phrases If at least 1 test works then it’s a constituent How to know whether something is a constituent (a group of words or morphemes that function as a single unit within a sentence): 1. Substitution (pro-form) 2. Movement: clefting (it is), pseudo-clefting (what … is) 3. Question: if a group of words can answer a question about the sentence, it’s most likely a constituent 4. Stand-alone 5. Coordination (constituents can often be joined by and/or) 6. Dislocation: passivization, topicalization, scrambling 7. Right-node raising C-command: a node b c-commands a node c, iff every branching node that dominates b also dominates c, and b does not dominate c Antecedent must c-command the pronoun within the syntactic structure C-command: everything on same level (sister) and below it Head gives category to phrase: you cannot do without One node (A) c-commands another node (B) if: 1. A and B are like siblings or "in the same family." 2. A isn’t buried inside B, and B isn’t buried inside A. 3. You can trace a path up the tree from A to a shared branching point, then down to B. Week 2 Seminar: DP, TP, CP Adjunct is a word, phrase or clause that provides additional information. Often modifiers that describe time, manner, place, reason or other details You always start with V (verb) I = inflectional head CP = adjunct TP = specifier (subject) Subject moves up due to subject-verb agreement EPP: every clause must have a subject in the specifier position of TP Heads are always constituents Complementary distribution: linguistic elements that never occur in same context or environment Possessor goes in specifier and ‘s in head position Week 3 reading notes: Light verbs: indicated by v, carry little to no meaning and appear with all triadic and dyadic verbs (verbs that take 2-3 arguments, e.g. object, subject, indirect object). Can verbalize other things (solid-ify) Lexical verb always raises to v in active voice: it goes from V to v Overt light verbs (verbalizers): A. Ize: verbalize, prioritize B. -ify: objectify, horrify C. -ate: formulate, active Subject does not receive a θ-role from verb and it’s severed from the verb: v assigns the external theta-role (external argument) and accusative to DO When a movement takes place, you leave a trace (t) in the original position of the moved object. The trace and moved object are labelled with «i». and additional traces are labelled j, k, l, etc. If external argument (subject) is introduced in specifier of vP it must raise to TP and include traces as well External argument can raise from SpecVP to SpecTP Floated quantifier: a quantifier (e.g., all, both, each) that appears separate and displaced from noun phrase instead of preceding it 1. All the children have tasted the chocolate. 2. The children have all tasted the chocolate. When no subject is available, an expletive appears in TP specifier. Expletive = word or phrase that serves grammatical function but does not contribute to meaning in a sentence (It is raining, there is a problem) Extended Projection Principle (EPP): XP requiring elements in their specifier; sentences require subjects EPP (Extended Projection Principle) If a head, X, has EPP, then the Specifier of XP must be filled. In English, T has the EPP property. The verb and object are adjacent to each other: John often eats apples In French: verb raises to T without aux present English undergoes affix hopping or affix lowering due to need of morpheme to attach to a word English has T-to-C movement: C is focus of illocutionary force (whether statement is a question or statement) In yes/no questions, C attracts the T- head. T-head empty? -> do-insertion The position of tensed verb with respect to adverbs of frequency is way to distinguish between languages with V- to-T movement (e.g., French and English) SVO languages: post-nominal relative clauses SOV languages: pre-nominal relative clauses Headness parameter/Head-Directionality Parameter: head of XP can be either on the left or right of the compliment English and French: left-headed Pro-drop parameter determines whether a language requires overt subjects or not (explicitly stated) Verb-initial languages include many common properties: 1) Post-nominal adjectives 2) Inflected prepositions 3) Preverbal particles that mark tense, mood, aspect VSO languages: embedded clauses are verb-initial which argues against analysis where VSO is derived by V-to-C movement Verb second (V2): tensed verb of a matrix/main clause appears as second element in a sentence. Found in all Germanic languages except English If auxiliary is present it appears in V2 and main verb at the end V2 is a result of verb raising to C-head and EPP on C, but it can be blocked by another element in the clause such as a complementizer English has conditional inversion: if complementizer is absent, the auxiliary verb raises to C and moves to left of the subject Seminar 3.2 Notes: Indicate V-to-V movement: 1. Verb appears before adverbs 2. Verb can move before negation 3. Verb directly combines with tense or aspect markers V-to-T leads to verb inflection Mirror Principle: morphological derivations follow syntactic derivations (from bottom to top of tree, backwards). Verb (V) gets something from every movement, such as V, T and AgrS elements: it requires affixes by moving through heads Head-initial languages: V is to the left Sentential word order: six possible orders SVO (head-initial) SOV (head-final) VSO (head-initial) VOS (head-initial) OVS (head-final) OSV (head-final) Head always needs a complement Head-final languages: question marker at the end Week 4 reading notes: Case shows the grammatical roles of nouns (arguments) in a sentence Nominative case: assigned to subject Accusative case: assigned to object Case with lower ‘c’: various morphological markings in Latin, Korean, Russian, Finish and other languages with overt case morphology Case with capital ‘C’: identifies structural position of the noun; whether the noun in subject position or object position Nominative Case is assigned by tensed T head to vP specifier which moves to DP Accusative case is assigned by the light verb head v to direct object Expletive (it is raining): it’s there for T to assign nominative Case Case-assigning head (T or v) looks down and assigns Case to first DP it finds Prepositions assign Case to their complements a. John baked a cake for me (for assigns accusative case to pronoun) b. *John baked a cake for I In English: object of preposition is inflected with accusative case Case Filter: All DPs must be assigned case once and only once Passivization: object of active sentence is subject of the passive sentence, formed by be + past participle (Mary ate the mango -> the mango was eaten) 1. External argument is absent or demoted to a by-phrase 2. No accusative case assigned Grammatical subject: entity in specifier TP with nominative case. It triggers subject agreement on verb or highest auxiliary Thematic subject: bears external θ-role (agent or experiencer) Grammatical object: sister to V and bears accusative case. In some languages object triggers agreement distinct from subject agreement (lacking in passive) Thematic object: bears internal θ-role (theme, patient, goal) Get-passive: to express unintentional or unexpected event (stative) Do-support necessary to form polarity questions, therefore auxiliary get does not appear under T Middle voice construction: DP with θ-role object appears as subject Middle voice implies a general state and requires adverb or negation a. Peter washed the cashmere sweater b. Cashmere sweaters do not wash easily Inherent case: case assigned directly by a lexical item (usually a verb), based on semantic role and word stays the same Impersonal passives: passives about events that took place without saying who participants were (There was dancing) Morpheme SE in romance languages: formed with active form of main verb that agrees with argument and presence of SE morpheme Ba-Construction: SVO becomes S ba-O V in Mandarin Analytical Passive: forming passives by using auxiliary verbs. To be + past participle Morphological Passive: forming passives synthetically through extending morphemes and using inflections Comparative Morphosyntax – Week 4: Case is a marker Languages use case to know what subject and object is V and P select NP complement N and A do not allow NP complement V and P complement: NP is object with accusative marking Complement to N: genitive, locative, ablative Declension: variation of noun forms that identify grammatical case, number and gender If you see something in a language such as case marking, you might not see it in others for historical reasons In languages with case marking any nominal that can show case must do so Case Filter: all DPs must be assigned case once and only once English has ACC but not GEN/DAT/ABL Zero Case Morphology: depends on the language, not case Chomsky (1981): list of all lexical categories with features identifying them A = +N, +V N = +N, -V V = -N, +V P = -N, -V Case assigners (V, P) vs not assigners (A, N) Accusative case assignment: A assigns accusative case to B only if 1) A is V or P 2) B is complement of A How to identify subject and object: 1) Word order 2) Substitution (constituents) 3) Changing tense Little V: I have an object; you are in relationship with me because you are a transitive verb and you have an accusative object I assign Break, broke: lexically same, syntactically different Finite T assigns nominative case to its specifier Case theory also accounts for NP movement to spec. TP (i.e. subject position) Only finite T assigns case to its specifier a. We were happy [that Mary won the prize] b. We would be happy [for Mary to win the prize) B is allowed because preposition “for” allows NP complement T looks down at its c-command domain because nothing is above it Case assign the closest element EPP (Extended projection principle) in TPP: sentence must have a subject Where subject is first born/merged, it needs to be in TP specifier In English: subject does not need to be moved to TP specifier but it does EPP feature: fill my specifier (can be T) Infinitive doesn’t assign case; only finite (won, not to win) Prepositions (for) also assigns accusative Inherent case is assigned by verb and thematically and lexically restricted, while structural case is assigned on the basis of structure and syntactic position of noun (e.g. nominative for subjects, accusative for objects) Structural cases alternate under A-movement and in argument structure alternations, while inherent ones do not. It always stays the same case, even during passivation To test it: passivize the sentence. Inherent stays the same. Week 4 Case Theory: Nominative case: marked by T and controls agreement Accusative case: marked by v Abstract case: when case isn’t in the word Morphological case: when word is changed to mark case Oblique case Verbs and little v assign theta-roles Case and theta roles are different German examples: Little v assigns accusative case and external argument Big V assigns dative to DP Thematic: based on semantics Grammatical: based on syntax Case needs to be discharged as soon as possible Little v is assigned to both external argument theta role and it can sign accusative case Seminar 4.2: Midterm 1. Sinhala DP: head-initial VP: head-final PP: … AP: ? NP: ? CP: ? TP: head-final Identify all the phrases, say whether it’s head-initial or head-final and then examples 2. A. compatible (head-final VP) B. ungrammatical: (head-initial VP) C. compatible: initial CP T must be head-final Finite verb and object are separated in C: verb moved to little V and moves to T 3. Mirror Principle: order of morphemes mirrors syntactic derivation Look at order of affixes and tree position Mal-ha-yass-ni: head-final: compatible Week 5 Notes: Ergative: the subject of a transitive clause (the AGENT) (He eats the dinner) Unergative: intransitive verb with agentive subject, more active participants than unaccusative Absolutive: subject of intransitive and the object of a transitive clause (the PATIENT) (The dinner is eaten) (He eats the dinner) Unaccusative: intransitive verbs whose subjects are inherently more like objects. Often originates in object position and describes states or events that happen to subject (e.g., the vase broke) Common: arrive, fall, die, break, melt Lacks agentive subject and external argument Lacks vP (little V can’t assign accusative) Can appear in there-sentences Examples: The ice melted The glass broke Verb Nominative-Accusative Languages Ergative-Absolutive Type (e.g., English) Languages Intransitive Subject: nominative (He runs) Subject: absolutive (He runs) Subject: nominative (He sees Subject: ergative (He sees Transitive her), Object: accusative (her) her), Object: absolutive (her) Week 5 Lecture Notes: Agreement: when a word changes form depending on other words Mostly between the subject and the verb It depends on the subject Verb is there for agreement Definition 1: when two items carry the same ending Definition 2: Two words agree if they have covariance and share semantic formal property; if one form changes so does the other (flowers grow) Definition 3: syntactic relation cross-linking two or more elements and made explicit by a marker Controller: element which determines ending on other element (probe) Target: element having a changed ending (verb, goal) Head-marking languages: languages which morphologically mark agreement relation on head of the phrase Head: Thing that gives the category and carries meaning of a phrase e.g., Verb in a verb phrase Dependent marking is the morphological marking of the agreement relation on the dependent elements but not on the head Agree is a syntactic operation taking place between a probe P and a goal G between which a Matching relation holds. Not every matching pair includes agree. To do so, G must be in domain D(P) of P and satisfy locality conditions. They must be in the same domain. Probe wants a value: verb (target, verb) Goal: provides the value (controller, subject) T is verb: t-head “probes” down External argument provides person and number values to T It probes further down; even with interfering elements such as NEG Goal is subject, assigning nominative case Probe (verb) wants inflection from goal (subject) Simplest assumptions for probe-goal system: 1. Matching is feature identity 2. D(P) is sister of P: in same domain (CP) 3. Locality reduces to closest c-command Unaccusative: verbs or VPs that feature only one argument (transitive), with this argument being internal (perceived like objects) No agentivity involved in theme: verbs such as grow Common: arrive, fall, die, break, melt The ice melted, the vase broke Lacks external argument and vP head that introduces it Can appear in there-sentences Unergatives: intransitive verbs with only an external argument He walks (introduced by little v) Unaccusatives: constitute class of their own They have a syntactic behavior which is “in between” transitives and intransitives Roughly, unaccusative verbs are: - Change of state verbs - Motion verbs - State in existence verbs Participial Agreement: Unaccusative participles show subject agreement (IA) Unergative participles don’t Auxiliary Selection: Unaccusative selects be Unergative selects have Absolute participle: Unaccusatives can be used as absolute participles Unergatives can’t Russian Genitive of Negation: Russian uses Neg-Gen with countable objects in neg clauses It is some sort of partitive case Unaccusatives uses Neg-Gen Unergatives don’t Unaccusative constructon: grammatical subject is underlying object. No space for cognate object or dummy reflexive. Unaccusative: arrive Unergative: sneezed 5.2 Seminar: Laugh is not an accusative verb. Unergative; it only requires an external argument/agent And cannot take a direct object only an external argument: intransitive Cannot take an object and only an external argument meaning it’s unergative and intransitive Cough: unaccusative but unergative and intransitive because it does not take a direct object and only an external argument Unergatives: it requires an external argument (agent/subject) Intransitive: does not take object Unaccusative: subjects that undergo action or state. Appear verbs and require only 1 argument. Subject that is inherently like object and appears in there-sentences and is the object of a transitive verb Open: causative alternation. The window opened Assignment: 1 English Swear phrases In 2, all sentences use the emphatic negative quantifiers in subject position 2: all active 3: all passive (unaccusative) With internal arguments: qualifier can appear Week 6 Lecture: Morphosyntactic Alignment Grammatical subject and object: in tree Thematic subjects and objects: theta roles Intransitive: unaccusative (The ice melted) and unergative (I walk) Case: nominative, accusative (vs object, subject) T assigns nominative case and v accusative case S = The sole argument of intransitive verb (subject) - I am going, she is going A = The agent of transitive verbs - I hear her, she hears me O = The object of transitive verbs (book: P for patient) No object agreement in English Case marking: nominative, accusative Verb agrees with nom-marked element Nominative-accusative languages: A and S are clustered together while O doesn’t control agreement and gets a different case. Rare: you can also cluster O and A for transitive agreement English: They(A) saw them(o) They(s) left S and O are grouped together: both receive similar case morphology Languages show different morphologic alignment patterns depending on factors: Sentence coordination with gapping: A gapped subject needs an antecedent in the same case He saw her and returned -> he saw her and he returned A and S: nominative accusative, O receives accusative In ergative-absolute languages: S and O receive absolutive case, whereas A receives ergative case Ergative: the subject of a transitive clause (the AGENT) (He eats the dinner) Unergative: intransitive verb with agentive subject, more active participants than unaccusative Absolutive: subject of intransitive and the object of a transitive clause (the PATIENT) (The dinner is eaten) (He eats the dinner) Direct alignment: When A, S and O do not differ in marking. Such as in last dataset; present has no marking in A, S and O Week 6 – Seminar 2: Short Comparative Essays Line spacing 1 Introduction: “This essay will be comparing these languages in Turkish and German” Use tables Don’t compare or mention the opposing language in descriptions Introduction – Descriptions of Turkish and German – Comparison – Conclusion Other aspects: Case marking in nouns and pronouns History of case marking Case marking in agreement Alignment types: both nominative-accusative but potential splits to differentiate their case marking Leave out morphological case Mention that they do have prepositions but do not focus on word order: be consistent and leave it to case-marking Keep it to case-marking Style points: For glosses: opmaak -> klein kapitaal -> ACC Remove the extra blank line in the table: single spaced