scholarly journals The Problem of Word Order and Verbal Movement in Moroccan Arabic

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-54
Author(s):  
Inass Announi
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Moroccan Arabic ◽  
New Information ◽  
Cyclic Movement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Feature Checking ◽  
Minimalist Framework

This paper attempts to investigate word order and verbal movement in Moroccan Arabic in the Minimalist framework. We observe that the unmarked word order in MA is SVO while the derived structure is VSO. SVO follows an English-like derivation where the subject moves from [Spec, vP] to [Spec, TP] whilst the verb moves from v to T. This paper raises the issue of the verbal movement when it comes to VSO order in languages that have VSO as the derived order and SVO as the underlying order. To derive VSO, we propose that the verb moves from T to Focus based on pragmatic reasons: verbs positioned in the left-periphery denote new information that is focused compared to SVO. We also test our new proposal against the marginal word orders OSV and OVS and propose that object topicalization is the result of the object moving to [Spec, TopicP] which dominates FocusP. Moreover, we go back to the issue of verbal movement and trace the verbal cyclic movement. We argue that the verb moves from V to v based on the position of the adverb. The verb further moves to T based on the quantifier evidence and feature checking: Focus and T form a complex and probe into v to check [TNS] and [V] features. Moreover, T-to-Focus occurs in wh-constructions except when /lli/ ‘that’ is present. In WH-VO (WH as a wh-subject), the verb stays in T while the wh-subject stays in [Spec, TP]. If /lli/ ‘that’ is present, then the wh-subject is forced to move further to [Spec, FocusP]. In WH-SV, the wh-elements move to [Spec, FocusP] while the subject moves to [Spec, TopicP] and the verb moves to Topic. In WH-VS, the wh-elements move to [Spec, FocusP] while the verb moves to Focus.

On the Subject of Negative Auxiliary Inversion

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Blanchette ◽  
Chris Collins
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Polarity Items ◽  
West Texas ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scope Freezing

AbstractThis article presents a novel analysis ofNegative Auxiliary Inversion(NAI) constructions such asdidn't many people eat, in which a negated auxiliary appears in pre-subject position. NAI, found in varieties including Appalachian, African American, and West Texas English, has a word order identical to a yes/no question, but is pronounced and interpreted as a declarative. We propose that NAI subjects are negative DPs, and that the negation raises from the subject DP to adjoin to Fin (a functional head in the left periphery). Three properties of NAI motivate this analysis: (i) scope freezing effects, (ii) the various possible and impossible NAI subject types, and (iii) the incompatibility of NAI constructions with true Double-Negation interpretations. Implications for theories of Negative Concord, Negative Polarity Items, and the representation of negation are discussed.

Word order in Croatian Sign Language

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 169-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Milković ◽  
Sandra Bradarić-Jončić ◽  
Ronnie B. Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
New Information ◽  
Information Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Head Positions

This paper focuses on the basic word order of Croatian Sign Language (HZJ) and factors that permit alternative word orders to occur in sentences and in context. Although they are unrelated languages, the basic word order in HZJ is the same as in spoken Croatian: SVO. One of the factors allowing alternative word orders in context is information status (old or new), which influences constituent placement, as in other languages. HZJ has a tendency to omit old, previously mentioned information, usually the Subject, and the part that is expressed is the new information (Rheme). When old information is expressed, it appears at the beginning of the sentence, preceding the Rheme. Like other languages, HZJ word order can be influenced by the nature of the arguments (Subject, Object) as well as the type of Verb. Sentences with ‘reversible’ arguments (i.e. both are animate and could be agents) tend to use the basic word order, whereas those with nonreversible arguments allow more variable word order. Basic word order also occurs more often with plain verbs (those that do not agree with their arguments). Agreeing and spatial verbs use other word orders in addition to SVO, including the tendency to position Verbs at the end of sentences. Investigation on the interaction of word order and the grammatical usage of facial expressions and head positions (nonmanual marking) indicates that nonmanual markings have pragmatic roles, and could have syntactic functions which await further research.

scholarly journals Prosodic and information-structural factors in word order variation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Hinterhölzl ◽  
Svetlana Petrova
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Left Edge ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
New Information ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Semantic Types ◽  
Information Focus

This chapter proposes an analysis that derives the word order variation in dependent clauses in OHG within a universal VO base order, plus additional cyclic leftward movement operations that target different information-structural projections in the complex left periphery of the clause. More precisely, it is argued that categories conveying contrastive information land in [Spec,FocP], with the finite verb targeting Foc° and marking the left edge of the new-information focus domain, while background information is placed further left, between ForceP and FocP. This positional realization of the verb and phrases expressing different semantic types of focus is considered a special strategy of disambiguating broad from narrow focus, as well as of avoiding the clash of two focus phrases in the middle field of clauses with multiple foci.

Old Sardinian

2018 ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Sam Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Medieval Romance ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
Movement Characteristic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clauses

This chapter presents a detailed study of the word order of Old Sardinian. The Sardinian data are of particular interest as the language has been claimed to have a form of verb-initial grammar in the small existing literature on the topic. Old Sardinian is shown to have the V-to-C movement characteristic of other Medieval Romance varieties but to lack obligatory fronting of a phrasal constituent, typical of V2 grammars. It is shown to have multiple subject positions, sensitive to the discourse status of the subject. Unusually within Romance, Old Sardinian is shown to have a VSO order in embedded clauses, with a strict adjacency between the embedded verb and the complementizer or relativizer. Overall, Old Sardinian is argued to have half of the V2 constraint, in that it has obligatory verb fronting into the left periphery, but no requirement for a phrasal constituent to also be merged.

scholarly journals Studying word order differences in a historical parallel corpus: An example from Old Spanish and Old Portuguese

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Gunn Eide
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
New Information ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Old Portuguese

In this article, I use a parallel corpus from the 13th and 14th century to tease out some of the structural differences that existed between Old Spanish and Old Portuguese. While these two related languages were relatively similar in many respects, and the parallel corpus reflects these similarities, differences in syntax and information structure are also apparent. By comparing the syntactic and information structural properties of the sentences that display different word orders, it is possible to pinpoint more exactly what these differences were. The parallel sentences show that information structural properties of the left periphery, where Spanish allows for new information where Portuguese does not, account for differences in both object and subject placement.

Old Gallo-Romance

2018 ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Sam Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Old French ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
New Information ◽  
Old Occitan ◽  
Information Focus

This chapter provides a detailed account of the word order properties of Old French and Old Occitan. It shows that Old French is a descriptively stricter V2 system than Old Occitan but that both are V2 grammars, with a prefield nonspecialized for subjects, a dominant V2 order, Germanic inversion, and matrix/embedded asymmetries. However, as with Old Italo-Romance the precise makeup of the left periphery is distinct between varieties, later Old French does not license new information focus like Occitan, and both differ in their clitic pronominal and null subject properties.

Old Italo-Romance

2018 ◽  
pp. 35-64
Author(s):  
Sam Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
New Information ◽  
Information Focus

This chapter provides a detailed account of the word order properties of Old Sicilian and Old Venetian. It shows that the two Old Italo-Romance varieties have much in common, namely a preverbal field not specialized for subjects, a dominant V2 order, two types of V2-related inversion, and matrix/embedded asymmetries. However, certain texts differ with respect to the regularity with which the verb appears in second position, the types of verb-initial and verb-third orders found, and whether new information focus can occur in the left periphery. The Tobler–Mussafia clitic system is also shown to be subject to intertextual variation.

scholarly journals Word order in wh-questions in a North Norwegian dialect: some evidence from an acquisition study

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Richardsen Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
New Information ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
The Subject

While standard Norwegian is a V2 language, some Norwegian dialects exhibit V3 in certain types of wh-questions. In some previous work on the Tromsø dialect, V3 has been considered the ‘true’ dialect and speakers' acceptance of V2 simply a result of the influence from the standard language. Based on child and adult data from a study of the acquisition of word order in the Tromsø dialect, I will argue that both V2 and V3 orders are part of the dialect – used by adult speakers and acquired (more or less) simultaneously by children. It will further be argued that the choice between the two depends on the information structure of the sentence, more specifically, on the interpretation of the subject as given or new information.

scholarly journals The acquisition of Irish: a study of word order development

1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Hickey
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Verbal Nouns ◽  
Verbal Noun ◽  
New Information ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Subject

ABSTRACTThis study examines the development of word order patterns in Irish, a strict VSO language. It was found that the three children studied used subject-initial utterances considerably more frequently than adults in input, and that in both adult and child the elision of the verb ‘to be’ played a significant role. Another significant factor was found to be the different restrictions on main verbs and verbal nouns with regard to the subject: in neutral sentences the main verb always precedes the subject, while the verbal noun always follows it. The Bates & MacWhinney (1979). hypothesis that early verb initialization results from a tendency to place new information before given information was also investigated.

Mismatching nominals and the small clause hypothesis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
PAUL ROGER BASSONG
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Split Topicalization ◽  
Feature Checking

I propose a comprehensive analysis of what has been commonly referred in the literature to as split, discontinuous noun phrases or split topicalization. Based on data from Basaá, a Narrow Bantu language spoken in Cameroon, I partly capitalize on previous authors such as Mathieu (2004), Mathieu & Sitaridou (2005) and Ott (2015a), who propose that this morphosyntactic phenomenon involves two syntactically unrelated constituents which are only linked semantically in a predication relation in a small clause (Moro 1997, 2000; Den Dikken 1998). According to these analyses, split noun phrases are obtained as a result of predicate inversion across the subject of the small clause. Contrary to/but not against these views, I suggest that what raises in the same context in Basaá is rather the subject of the small clause as a consequence of feature-checking under closest c-command (Chomsky 2000, 2001), and for the purpose of labelling and asymmetrizing an originally symmetric syntactic structure on the surface (Ott 2015a and related work). The fact that the target of movement is the subject and not the predicate of the small clause follows from agreement and ellipsis factors. Given that the subject of predication is a full DP while the predicate is a reduced DP with a null head modifier, the surface word order is attributed to the fact that noun/noun phrase ellipsis is possible if the elided noun is given in the discourse and is recoverable from the morphology of the stranded modifier. This paper offers a theoretical contribution from an understudied language to our understanding of this puzzling nominal construction.

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