scholarly journals Predicate union and the syntax of Japanese causatives

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Dubinsky
Keyword(s):  
Case Marking ◽  
Relational Grammar ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Relative Status ◽  
Matrix Subject

This paper presents a monoclausal, multipredicate analysis of Japanese causatives, adopting the fundamental assumptions of Relational Grammar. Evidence is provided for the existence of two distinct classes of causatives, distinguished on the basis of the agentivity of the matrix subject. It is also demonstrated that the surface case marking of the causee is constrained by its relative status to the matrix subject with respect to a set of Proto-Agent entailments (as proposed in Dowty 1991).

Apparent raising in Tongan and its implications for multiple case valuation

2021 ◽  
pp. 192-215
Author(s):  
Yuko Otsuka
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Parametric Adjustment ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Case Feature ◽  
Activity Condition

Apparent raising (AR) constructions in Tongan resemble raising constructions in that the thematic subject of the embedded clause seems to occur in the matrix subject position. Unlike regular raising, however, Tongan AR shows characteristics of A-bar movement such as long-distance dependency, sensitivity to islands, and syntactic ergativity. This chapter argues that Tongan AR involves three operations: (a) topic movement of a DP to the embedded [Spec, C], (b) cancelation of the previous valuation of the case feature on the DP in [Spec, C], and (c) subsequent case valuation under Agree with the matrix v. The proposed analysis calls for a parametric adjustment to the activity condition to allow for multiple case valuation: in languages like Tongan, a DP located at the edge of a phase not only remains active, but the valuation of its case feature gets undone upon completion of the CP phase.

Infinitival complementation from Caucasian Albanian to Modern Udi

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-138
Author(s):  
Dmitry Ganenkov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Historical Changes ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Infinitival Complements ◽  
Diachronic Changes

The article investigates diachronic changes in infinitival complementation from Caucasian Albanian to modern Udi dialects. It describes the syntactic structure of infinitival complements in Caucasian Albanian, 19th century Vartashen Udi and two modern dialects, and concentrates on case marking of overt subjects in constructions with the matrix verbs ‘can, be able’, ‘begin’ and ‘want’. From a diachronic point of view, the data presented in the article allow us to conclude that historical changes in both the lexical form of complement-taking predicates and the morphology of their complements obey Cristofaro’s (2003) Complement Deranking Hierarchy.

The time course of long-distance anaphor processing in Korean

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-hye Han ◽  
Dennis Ryan Storoshenko ◽  
Betty Hei Man Leung ◽  
Kyeong-min Kim
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Null Pronouns ◽  
Anaphor Resolution ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
Matrix Verb ◽  
Matrix Subject

While early studies on the Korean long distance anaphor caki describe it to be subject-oriented in that it can only take subject antecedents, similarly to long distance anaphors in many other languages, more recent studies observe that it can take non-subject antecedents as well, especially in the context of certain verbs. This paper presents a visual-world eye-tracking study that tested whether the antecedent potential of caki in an embedded subject position is a function of the matrix subject, the matrix verb, or both, and whether the subject and the verb effects constrain the interpretation of caki in the same way as null pronouns, a commonly used pronominal form in Korean. These questions were addressed through an investigation of how the subject effect and the verb effect were manifested in processing these pronouns. We found that when caki, but not null pronouns, was first processed, there were more fixations to the images representing the matrix subject than the images representing the matrix object regardless of the matrix verb. We further found that the proportions of fixations to the images in both caki and null trials changed after the processing of some sentential verbs. These findings demonstrate that while null pronoun interpretation is a function of the verb effect only, caki-interpretation is a function of both the subject and the verb effect, supporting a multiple-constraints approach to anaphor resolution.

A contrastive analysis of absolute constructions in French, German and Norwegian

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Hobæk Haff
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
General Question ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The One ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Matrix Subject

This paper is an exploration of similarities and differences concerning absolute constructions in French, German and Norwegian. In the first part, I have examined a more general question raised by these constructions: the connections between these types of absolute constructions and the matrix subject. I have shown that the means by which the absolute constructions are related to the subject can be morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic. The second part contains a purely contrastive analysis. Two issues have been examined: on the one hand, the absolute constructions and their congruent and non-congruent correspondences, on the other, the use of determiners. Essentially, French is different from the two Germanic languages, but similarities also exist between French and German, which are the center of a European Sprachbund.

Conceptual perspective-taking and children's interpretation of pronouns in reported speech

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Verbal Task ◽  
Anaphora Resolution ◽  
Reported Speech ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Shift Model ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
And Task

ABSTRACTThis study examines the role of cognitive development in children's use of pragmatic cues for anaphora resolution. Reported speech sentences like Minnie told Dorothy that she knew Superman are biased toward the matrix subject. This bias is claimed to depend on two conceptual shifts, first to the speaker's and then to the listener's perspective. 141 children aged 5;0–8;0 performed two tasks with biased and neutral sentences. In the Verbal task, they gave antecedent choices in response to a question (e.g.… that WHO knew Superman?). In the Puppet task, which prompts the perspective shift, they made a puppet say the reported speech portion (e.g. I/you know Superman). Violations of the pragmatic constraint decreased with age and task, consistent with the perspective-shift model. Parallel function effects in neutral sentences were weaker than in previous research on conjoined sentences, but similar to recent results for adults with these materials.

The syntax and interpretation of embedded null subjects in Chinese, and their acquisition by English-speaking learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 191-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Xia Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Government ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Matrix Subject

This article reports an investigation of embedded null subjects in both L1 and L2 Chinese. Chinese null embedded subjects can refer either to a matrix subject or to a discourse entity. In the Government-Binding (GB) framework, these two possibilities resulted from the null subject being either pro or a variable. Neither pro nor a variable is compatible with the assumptions of the more recent Minimalist Program, however. This article proposes an alternative account for null embedded subjects in Chinese that is consistent with the Minimalist Program: deletion of the anaphor ziji and deletion of a topic under identity with appropriate antecedents. It then reports a study of knowledge of such deletion in the Chinese of L2 speakers. Although the existing literature has found that embedded null subjects are allowed by L2 learners of Chinese at early stages of development, no research has investigated whether they are interpreted in a target-like way by L2 speakers. A picture judgment task and a written interpretation task showed that English-speaking learners of high-intermediate proficiency in Chinese allow an embedded null subject to refer to the matrix subject, but not to a discourse entity. It is only at advanced proficiency that L2 speakers allow co-reference with both a matrix subject and a discourse entity. The implications of these results are discussed.

Syntax of causative-passive correlation from a cross-linguistic perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-112
Author(s):  
Xiaoshi Hu
Keyword(s):  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Syntactic Movement ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Matrix Subject

Abstract Causatives and passives are two different types of syntactic constructions, but their interaction can be observed cross-linguistically. By investigating the causative-passive correlation in Chinese, English and French, we try to offer an appropriate account for the causative-passive correlation by specifying its necessary conditions. We argue that the constructions which involve the causative-passive correlation must be mono-phasal, and the embedded object can be co-referred to the matrix subject by syntactic movement.

Conditions on prominent internal possessors in Turkish

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asli Göksel ◽  
Balkiz Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Psych Verb

This chapter investigates the syntactic properties of the prominent possessor constructions in Turkish. Possessors of possessive phrases become prominent only in a set of well-defined constructions, namely, from within an adverbial clause, typically containing a body part idiom. These idioms have the structure NP-POSS V, where N is a noun of inalienable possession, V is an unaccusative verb, and the idiom itself is paraphraseable as a psych-verb. The chapter analyses the syntactic structure of these idioms and proposes that the subject position in the adverbial clause is occupied by PRO. PRO is in the c-command domain of the matrix subject and is the locus of the experiencer of the unaccusative verb. The possessor is coindexed with this experiencer via its morphosyntactic features.

When Richard met CG: reference-point and English copy-raising

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHONGWON PARK ◽  
DANIEL TURNER
Keyword(s):  
Reference Point ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Point Property ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Copy Raising ◽  
Matrix Subject

abstractThe aim of this paper is to develop a Cognitive Grammar-based analysis of English Copy-raising (CR) constructions such as Richard seems like he is dancing. We argue that the notion of reference-point plays a crucial role in licensing the matrix-subject of the construction. In CR, with the epistemic verbs seem and appear, the matrix-subject functions as a reference-point in relation to the pronominal copy (if a copy exists) in the embedded clause. The aboutness topicality of the matrix-subject in CR is expected, owing to its reference-point property. The epistemic CR construction is acceptable without a pronominal copy if the matrix-subject functions as a reference-point in relation to the complement clause. The same type of analysis is applied to the CR construction with perceptual resemblance (PR) verbs – sound, look, feel, and smell – leading to the conclusion that the strong dichotomy between epistemic and PR verbs is illusory. It is further demonstrated that expletive there-raising in CR is motivated by the same reference-point phenomenon. The difference between there-raising and other CR examples stems from the role of there as a setting subject. Our reference-point-based analysis predicts a metonymic interpretation of the matrix-subject, which we attribute to the connection between reference-point and metonymy.

scholarly journals The Development of Exceptional Case Marking in Romance with a Particular Focus on French

Probus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-400
Author(s):  
Michelle Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Old French ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Middle French ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
University Of Massachusetts ◽  
Exceptional Case Marking ◽  
Causative Verbs

AbstractThis paper traces the development of so-called Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) under perception, permissive and causative verbs in Romance. Synchronically, we can observe various patterns in the distribution of ECM complements under these verbs. In Portuguese and Spanish, ECM is often possible under all permissive and causative verbs, whereas in French, Catalan and Italian it is usually restricted to perception and permissive verbs. A detail that has not been much discussed is the fact that, for many speakers, ECM with a given verb is often restricted to contexts in which the embedded ‘subject’ is a clitic. Some speakers of Modern French display this pattern with the verb faire ‘make’, for example (Abeillé, Anne, Danièle Godard & Philip Miller. 1997. Les causatives en français : Un cas de compétition syntaxique. Langue Française 115. 62–74. https://doi.org/10.3406/lfr.1997.6222). In this paper, I claim that laisser ‘let’ probably also displayed this pattern in Middle French. In Old French, however, what appears to be the opposite pattern is observed. Following (Pearce, Elizabeth. 1990. Parameters in Old French syntax: Infinitival complements. Dordrecht: Kluwer), I attribute this to the morphological variability of dative case in Old French. I propose a case-based analysis of the clitic ECM pattern, whereby ECM complements in Romance are phases unlike clause union complements (see Sheehan, Michelle & Sonia Cyrino. 2018. Why do some ECM verbs resist passivisation? A phase-based explanation. In Sherry Hucklebridge & Max Nelson (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 48 (vol 3), 81–90. University of Massachusetts). Where such complements are embedded under light verbs, the Phase Impenetrability Condition (Chomsky, Noam. 2001. Derivation by phase. In Michael Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken hale: A life in language, 1–52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) prevents accusative case from being assigned to the lower subject except in instances of cliticization. When the matrix verb is reanalysed as a full verb, however, v becomes the case-assigning head and so ECM becomes generally available, regardless of the clitic/non-clitic status of the causee.

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