scholarly journals Towards an HPSG Analysis of Object Shift in Danish

2013 ◽  
pp. 69-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Müller ◽  
Bjarne Ørsnes
Keyword(s):  
Object Shift

Equidistance returns

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Longenbaugh ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Object Shift ◽  
Case System ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Case Licensing ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Text Content ◽  
Semantic Object

Abstract Modern generative linguistic theory furnishes a variety of general principles that appear to be at work in the grammar of all the world’s languages. One of the most basic and uncontroversial of these principles is that Agree/Move operates according to the constraint Attract Closest, which dictates that the closest suitable goal must be the target for the relevant operation (Rizzi 1990; Chomsky 1995, 2000; Richards 1998). The Polynesian language Niuean (Tongic subgroup, predicate initial word order, ergative-absolutive case system) presents a well known challenge to the universality of {Attract Closest}. The challenge manifests in a variety of distinct constructions in Niuean, but the best known case involves an operation first documented by Seiter (1980), which he terms “raising.” Specifically, Niuean raising appears to license an A-type dependency between the subject position of the matrix clause and the object position of an immediately embedded clause. This is illustrated in (1), where the semantic object of the embedded subjunctive clause, Sione, appears as the syntactic subject of the matrix predicate maeke. (1) To maeke a Sione$_{1}$ [ke lagomatai he ekekafo $t_{1}$]. fut possible abs Sione sbj help erg doctor ‘It’s possible the doctor can help Sione.’ (lit.: Sione is possible that the doctor help [him]) Granting that the filler-gap dependency in (1) is A-type, this is both a clear violation of {Attract closest} (Rizzi 1992; Chomsky 1995; Richards 1998) and a typological anomaly. Our aim in this paper is to argue that such apparent violations of {Attract Closest} are only that. Specifically, we show first that the challenge inherent in Seiter’s raising construction is pervasive throughout the language: in general, objects are accessible to syntactic operations even if the intervening clause-mate subject is also a licit target. In other words, Niuean clause-mate subjects and objects are equally accessible to syntactic operations. Then, we argue that this typologically uncommon equal-accessibility follows from the convergence of several otherwise independently attested operations: (i) a configurational system of case licensing, with a $v$P as the case computation domain; (ii) obligatory object shift to Spec($v$P); (iii) an EPP on T triggering V/VP-raising rather than DP externalization. The resulting basic clause structure is then as below, so that Niuean adheres to standard locality constraints. (2)

scholarly journals Object Shift and linearization at the PF interface

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Balázs Surányi
Keyword(s):  
Object Shift ◽  
Pf Interface

Object Shift and Event-Related Brain Potentials

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 462-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Roll ◽  
Merle Horne ◽  
Magnus Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Object Shift

scholarly journals Transitive expletive constructions and the object shift parameter

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 159-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Koster ◽  
C. Jan-Wouter Zwart
Keyword(s):  
Shift Parameter ◽  
Object Shift

Object Shift

2007 ◽  
pp. 392-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sten Vikner
Keyword(s):  
Object Shift

Object Shift, Phases, and Transitive Expletive Constructions in Germanic*

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 139-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Richards
Keyword(s):  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Strong Form ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Object Shift ◽  
The Core ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Universal Interface ◽  
Crosslinguistic Variation

This paper reconsiders the analysis of Transitive Expletive Constructions (TECs) across Germanic in light of recent developments in the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995 et seq.). I argue that prevailing views of expletives as merged directly into the Spec-TP position are untenable under the Probe-Goal Agree system of Minimalist Inquiries, and propose that T is anomalous amongst the core functional categories (C, T, v) in lacking the Merge-Expl property. This anomaly, I propose, is reducible to another anomaly setting T apart from C and v, namely T’s status as a nonphase head. It follows from the resolution of a basic indeterminacy in the composition of phases that Expl must merge in Spec-vP, the Object Shift position. This, in turn, throws new light on the patterns of complementary distribution that characterize the interaction between Expl, external arguments, and raised internal arguments exhibited by TECs. A strong form of Bures’s Generalization emerges — TECs are directly tied to the availability of full-DP Object Shift in a manner that is arguably both empirically and conceptually superior to existing analyses. Universal, interface-imposed, phase-based constraints on Object Shift and Merge-Expl are thus sufficient to account for the observed patterns of crosslinguistic variation in TEC distribution.

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