Reducing ‘case’ to denotational primitives

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Rita Manzini ◽  
Leonardo M. Savoia
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Nominal Inflection ◽  
Late Insertion

The nominal inflection system of Albanian includes specifications of case, definiteness, number and nominal class (gender). Our analysis recognizes three types of properties as theoretically relevant, namely N(ominal class), Q(quantification), D(efiniteness). Q inflections are responsible for the so-called oblique case - effectively a dyadic operator yielding a ‘zonal inclusion’ (possession) relation between the element to which it attaches and the internal argument of the verb (dative) or the head of a noun phrase (genitive). Q inflections are further responsible for plurality, while N inflections satisfy argument-of contexts (accusative)and D characterizes EPP contexts(nominative). Syncretisms (e.g. of dative and genitive, nominative and accusative) are not the result of morphological rules requiring Late Insertion of exponents (Distributed Morphology). Rather they are instances of ambiguity, resolved in the syntax (different embeddings) or at the interpretive interface. As such they are compatible with projection of the morphosyntax from lexical entries. Keywords: Case, nominative, accusative, oblique, syncretism, nominal class, plural, definiteness, possessor, locative.

Suppletive verbal morphology in Korean and the mechanism of vocabulary insertion

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
INKIE CHUNG
Keyword(s):  
Short Form ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
Vocabulary Insertion ◽  
Correct Form ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Feature Negative ◽  
Late Insertion

This paper provides a Distributed Morphology analysis of the paradoxical interaction of the two cases of verbal suppletion in Korean, and argues that the two suppletion types are characterized by two different types of morphological operations. The two roots found with short-form negation and honorification suggest different morphological structures: [[Neg-V] Hon] for al- ‘know’, molu- ‘not.know’, a-si- ‘know-hon’, molu-si- (not *an(i) a-si-) ‘neg know-hon’; and [Neg [V-Hon]] for iss- ‘exist’, eps- ‘not.exist’, kyey-si- ‘exist-hon’, an(i) kyey-si- (not *eps-(u)-si-) ‘neg exist-hon’. Predicate repetition constructions support the [[Neg-V] Hon] structure. In this structure, however, the negative suppletion (analyzed as fusion of negation and the root) is blocked by the honorific suffix structurally more peripheral to the root. C-command is the only requirement for context allomorphy in Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993). Since the [+hon] feature c-commands the root, the root can show honorific suppletive allomorphy in the first cycle with negation intervening between the root and [+hon]. Negation fusion occurs in the second cycle after vocabulary insertion of the root. Fusion, then, should refer to vocabulary items, not abstract features, and will be interleaved with vocabulary insertion. If the output of the root is /kyey/ due to the honorific feature, negative suppletion will not apply and the correct form an(i) kyey-si- will be derived. Therefore, both of the distinct morphological operations for suppletion, i.e., fusion and contextual allomorphy, are necessary. The revised formulation of fusion shows that certain morphological operations follow vocabulary insertion. This derivational approach to the suppletion interaction provides support for separation of phonological and nonphonological features and for late insertion of phonological features.

scholarly journals Hindi nominal suffixes are bimorphemic: A Distributed Morphology analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Yash Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
The Other ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Morphology Analysis ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Right ◽  
Phonological Rules

This paper provides a Distributed Morphology (DM) analysis for Hindi nominal (noun and adjectival) inflection. Contra Singh & Sarma (2010), I argue that nominal suffixes contain two morphemes – a basic morpheme, and a restrictedly distributed additional morpheme. The presence of two different morphemes is especially evident when one compares noun and adjectival inflectional suffixes, which Singh & Sarma (2010) do not, since they only look at noun inflection.  I also show that the so-called adjectival inflectional suffixes are not limited to adjectives, and may occur on nouns, provided the noun is not at the right edge of the noun phrase. On the other hand, the regular noun inflection is only limited to nouns at the right edge of the noun phrase. This is demonstrated using a type of coordinative compound found in Hindi. Then, I take the fact that nouns can take either the regular noun inflection or the so-called “adjectival” inflection as motivation for a unified analysis for both sets of suffixes. I demonstrate that after undoing certain phonological rules, the difference between the “adjectival” and regular noun inflectional suffixes can be summarized by saying that the additional morpheme only surfaces in the regular noun inflectional suffixes. Finally, I provide vocabulary entries and morphological operations that can capture the facts about the distribution of the various basic and additional morphemes.

scholarly journals Hindi noun inflection and distributed morphology

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smriti Singh ◽  
Vaijayanthi M. Sarma
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
Indian Languages ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Nominal Inflection

This paper primarily presents an analysis of nominal inflection in Hindi within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993, 1994 and Harley and Noyer 1999). Müller (2002, 2003, 2004) for German, Icelandic and Russian nouns respectively and Weisser (2006) for Croatian nouns have also used Distributed Morphology (henceforth DM) to analyze nominal inflectional morphology. This paper will discuss in detail the inflectional categories and inflectional classes, the morphological processes operating at syntax, the distribution of vocabulary items and the readjustment rules required to describe Hindi nominal inflection. Earlier studies on Hindi inflectional morphology (Guru 1920, Vajpeyi 1958, Upreti 1964, etc.) were greatly influenced by the Paninian tradition (classical Sanskrit model) and work with Paninian constructs such as root and stem. They only provide descriptive studies of Hindi nouns and verbs and their inflections without discussing the role or status of affixes that take part in inflection. The discussion on the mechanisms (morphological operations and rules) used to analyze or generate word forms are missing in these studies. In addition, these studies do not account for syntax-morphology or morphology-phonology mismatches that show up in word formation. One aim of this paper is to present an economical way of forming noun classes in Hindi as compared to other traditional methods, especially gender and stem ending based or paradigm based methods that give rise to a large number of inflectional paradigms. Using inflectional class information to analyse the various forms of Hindi nouns, we can reduce the number of affixes and word-generation and readjustment rules that are required to describe nominal inflection. The analysis also helps us in developing a morphological analyzer for Hindi. The small set of rules and fewer inflectional classes are of great help to lexicographers and system developers. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of Hindi inflectional morphology based on DM and its implementation in a Hindi morphological analyzer has not been done before. The methods discussed here can be applied to other Indian languages for analysis as well as word generation.

ɸ-Features at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: Evidence from Nominal Inflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivona Kučerová
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Syntactic Feature ◽  
Morphology Model ◽  
Nominal Inflection ◽  
Feature Values ◽  
Novel Model

I argue for a novel model of feature valuation in the CI interface and explore under what circumstances a syntactic feature is semantically interpretable. As the groundwork for the investigation, I propose an explicit Distributed Morphology model of Italian nouns of profession. The data provide evidence that the morphology accesses the narrow-syntax representation at two different temporal points within a phase: the earlier point (Spell-Out) returns a morphological realization faithful to feature values present in narrow syntax, while the later point (Transfer) allows for a narrow-syntax representation to be enriched by the CI component. Thus, there is no syntactic distinction between interpretable and uninterpretable features: a syntactic feature appears to be interpretable only if it has been licensed by the CI interface.

Roots and the Derivation

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason D. Haugen ◽  
Daniel Siddiqi
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Noun Incorporation ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Syntactic Derivation ◽  
Late Insertion

Contrary to recent work in Distributed Morphology adopting Early Root Insertion (the notion that Roots are present from the outset of the syntactic derivation), we argue that Late Insertion applies to Roots just like other morphemes. We support this conclusion with empirical evidence (Root suppletion and hyponymous direct objects in noun incorporation and related constructions) and conceptual considerations (including the beneficial obviation of readjustment operations and the possibility that narrow syntax is universal). Additional data (Latin semideponent verbs) allow us to recast Embick’s (2000) licensing analysis of Latin deponent verbs as a further argument for Late Root Insertion.

scholarly journals Middle-passive voice in Albanian and Greek

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. RITA MANZINI ◽  
ANNA ROUSSOU ◽  
LEONARDO M. SAVOIA
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Open Position

In this paper we consider middle-passive voice in Greek and Albanian, which shows a many-to-many mapping between LF and PF. Different morphosyntactic shapes (conditioned by tense or aspect) are compatible with the same set of interpretations, which include the passive, the reflexive, the anticausative, and the impersonal (in Albanian only). Conversely, each of these interpretations can be encoded by any of the available morphosyntactic structures. Specialized person inflections (in Greek and Albanian), the clitic$u$(Albanian) and the affix -th- (Greek) lexicalize the internal argument (or the sole argument of intransitive in Albanian) either as a variable, which is LF-interpreted as bound by the EPP position (passives, anticausatives, reflexives) or as generically closed (impersonals, in Albanian only). The ambiguity between passives, anticausatives and reflexives depends on the interpretation assigned to the external argument (generic closure, suppression or unification with the internal argument respectively). In perfect tenses, auxiliaryjam‘be’ in Albanian derives the expression of middle-passive voice due to its selectional requirement for a participle with an open position. Crucially, no hidden features/abstract heads encoding interpretation are postulated, nor any Distributed Morphology-style realizational component.

scholarly journals The Morphosyntax of the Demonstrative System in Classical Arabic: A Distributed Morphology Account

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Classical Arabic

The current study explores the morphosyntax of the demonstrative system in Classical Arabic (CA) within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993, 1994; Halle 1997; and Embick and Noyer 2005). The paper decomposes the demonstratives into bimorphemic forms. The first morphemes represent the deictic information and capture the three types of demonstratives in CA: proximal, medial and distal. The second morphemes bear number, gender and case features which are presumably copied from the modified noun phrase. In this article, I show that the under specification of the demonstrative vocabulary items can account for all the patterns under study. However, in certain cases, context-sensitive features are required to reconcile the competition between equally competitive candidates. To account for unpredictable gaps in the paradigm, where the distal dual demonstratives are missing, I formulate an impoverishment rule as proposed by Zwicky (1985), Stump (1993) and Noyer (1998) who equip such rules with feature-changing capabilities.

scholarly journals Generative Grammar: A Meaning First Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uli Sauerland ◽  
Artemis Alexiadou
Keyword(s):  
Logical Form ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Transformational Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Analyses ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Multiple Languages ◽  
Emotive Meaning ◽  
Late Insertion

The theory of language must predict the possible thought—signal (or meaning—sound or sign) pairings of a language. We argue for a Meaning First architecture of language where a thought structure is generated first. The thought structure is then realized using language to communicate the thought, to memorize it, or perhaps with another purpose. Our view contrasts with the T-model architecture of mainstream generative grammar, according to which distinct phrase-structural representations—Phonetic Form (PF) for articulation, Logical Form (LF) for interpretation—are generated within the grammar. At the same time, our view differs from early transformational grammar and generative semantics: We view the relationship between the thought structure and the corresponding signal as one of compression. We specify a formal sketch of compression as a choice between multiple possible pronounciations balancing the desire to transmit information against the effort of pronounciation. The Meaning First architecture allows a greater degree of independence between thought structures and the linguistic signal. We present three arguments favoring this type of independence. First we argue that scopal properties can be better explained if we only compare thought structures independent of the their realization as a sentence. Secondly, we argue that Meaning First architecture allows contentful late insertion, an idea that has been argued for in Distributed Morphology already, but as we argue is also motivated by the division of the logical and socio-emotive meaning content of language. Finally, we show that only the Meaning First architecture provides a satisfying account of the mixing of multiple languages by multilingual speakers, especially for cases of simultaneous articulation across two modalities in bimodal speakers. Our view of the structure of grammar leads to a reassessment of priorities in linguistic analyses: while current mainstream work is often focused on establishing one-to-one relationships between concepts and morphemes, our view makes it plausible that primitive concepts are frequently marked indirectly or unpronounced entirely. Our view therefore assigns great value to the understanding of logical primitives and of compression.

scholarly journals Participial Perception Verb Complements in Old English

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Brian Lowrey
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Perception Verbs ◽  
Present Participle

Abstract In this paper, I shall examine the complements of perception verbs in Old English involving a noun phrase and a present participle. What kind of perception is described by these structures? Do they evoke the perception of an event, or that of an entity? It will be shown here that there are good reasons to believe that an NP + present participle sequence could function as the equivalent of the traditional “AcI” construction when used with perception verbs. I shall also attempt to determine to what extent the syntax of this construction matches the semantics: is the internal argument of the perception verb the NP alone, or some kind of combination of the NP and the participle? This question is particularly interesting in the light of Declerck’s (1982) remarks on participle perception verb complements in modern English. Finally, I shall take a look at morphological parametres: sometimes the participle inflects to agree with the NP, whereas on other occasions it does not. What might the implications of this kind of variation be?

scholarly journals Root Suppletion and the Theory of Allomorphic Locality

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Leila A Lomashvili
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Direct Relation ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Internal Argument ◽  
Local Material ◽  
Recent Developments

The paper investigates the root suppletion phenomena with its direct relation to the theory of allomorphic locality as it is couched in the Distributed Morphology (DM) framework (Halle & Marantz 1993, 1994) and its recent developments. The paper covers the suppletion phenomena of two varieties, those conditioned by the number of an internal argument and tense-aspect-mood (TAM) features of functional heads merging above roots. The empirical data is brought up to support the main claim that the suppletion of verbal roots can be conditioned not only by the most local elements such as the number of the internal argument, but it can also be triggered by the TAM features of the functional heads which are outside of the XP boundary where the roots are merged (Harley et al. 2009, Bobaljik 2012, Harley 2015 among others). To account for the TAM-conditioned suppletion, the paper is using the phase-theoretic approach following Chomsky (1999) and Embick (2010) by positing a variety of non-cyclic heads merging above roots that render the interaction between TAM features and roots possible even though some of the intervening heads between roots and these features may be overtly realized. The paper arrives at the conclusion that the suppletion can still be triggered by the local material converging with other authors mentioned above.  

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