scholarly journals Head raising analysis and case revaluation

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Ager Gondra

This paper shows that Basque relative clause construction follows the Head Raising Analysis: the CP of the relative clause is a complement to the external D and the Head of the relative clause, base-generated inside the TP, moves to the specifier position of the CP. This analysis predicts that the raised DPwill show a TP-internal Case. However, this is not the case, and the DP manifests the Case associated with the main clause. In order to address these Case inconsistencies, <em>Precariousness </em>Condition is proposed. This condition states that a <sub>D</sub>Case valued u-feature is <em>precarious</em> until it is sent to Spell-Out and therefore, the value is visible for further targeting by a c-commanding Probe.  Evidence for this multiple Agree operation comes from a DP long distance extraction.

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania E. Strahan

The Scandinavian languages are very closely related but also vary syntactically in interesting ways, making this family useful in the study of typology variation. In this paper the issue of non-local reflexives, or ‘long-distance reflexives’ (LDR) is investigated. New LDR data from the Scandinavian languages is presented to show that the Binding Conditions cannot account for the variation in LDR in these languages, since the range of domains that LDR may or may not occur in in each variety varies non-hierarchically. For instance, LDR in Icelandic may be bound out of a finite complement clause but not out of a relative clause, while the reverse is true in most Norwegian dialects. Faroese allows LDR out of both clause types, but many dialects do not allow a second person pronoun to co-occur in a sentence containing LDR, which does not generally affect Icelandic or Norwegian LDR. An extension of Dalrymple's (1993) typology of anaphora, which is set within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar, can account for this data, using a combination of inside-out and outside-in functional uncertainty equations, on- and off-path constraints and positive and negative constraints, all of which refer to elements (potentially) found in functional-structure.


Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing ◽  
Al Mtenje

This chapter takes up two additional parameters that condition grammatical tone in Chichewa, namely: negative polarity and relative clause type. There are fewer grammatical tone patterns for negative and relative verbs, compared to affirmative main clause verbs. The inflections that grouped together for the tone patterns discussed in Chapter 7 do not always group together for the corresponding negative and relative paradigms. The two core sections of the chapter illustrate in detail the tone patterns for negative and relative verbs. The concluding section of the chapter takes up the often neglected issue of where grammatical tone patterns are represented in the grammar.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTINA SUÁREZ-GÓMEZ

Old English has traditionally been considered a period of linguistic homogeneity, since most available recorded texts are generally written in the West Saxon dialect. There are, however, isolated texts which have been ascribed to other varieties, in particular Northumbrian and Mercian. In fact, recent research on syntactic dialectology in early English (Kroch & Taylor 1997; Ogura 1999; Hogg 2004, 2006a; Ingham 2006) shows that linguistic variation has been present in the English language from the earliest times. This study reassesses the existence of variation in the syntax of texts belonging to different dialectal varieties in Old English, in particular in relative constructions. Based on an analysis of relative clauses in three versions of the Gospels from late Old English, representing West Saxon, Northumbrian and Mercian dialects, we will observe differences in the texts, regarding both the paradigm of relativizers and the position adopted by the relative clause within the main clause. I relate these differences to the existence of linguistic differences in northern and southern dialects.


Diachronica ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Epps

This paper deals with the evolution of certain subordinating constructions in Hup, a Nadahup (Makú) language of the northwest Amazon. Internal reconstruction, informed by close resemblances among synchronically attested clause types, suggests that Hup’s headless relative clause has given rise to a converb construction, a subtype of adverbial in which a dedicated verb form modifies a main clause. This development provides new insight into the origins of converbs and sheds light on the crosslinguistically common resemblance between relative and adverbial constructions more generally. Additionally, the Hup converbal clause has itself developed a main clause function, and the subordinating morphology employed by the relative and converb constructions is associated with topicalization. The transitions undergone by these structures in Hup contribute to our understanding of the diachronic pathways that may be taken by clauses once they have attained syntactic complexity.


2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Fox ◽  
Sandra A. Thompson

This paper is a usage-based study of the grammar of that set of English Relative Clauses with which a relativizer has been described as optional. We argue that the regularities in the use of relativizers in English can be seen as systematically arising from pragmatic-prosodic factors, creating frequency effects, resulting in some cases highly grammaticized formats: the more the Main Clause and the Relative Clause are integrated with each other, that is, approach monoclausal status, the more likely we are to find no relativizer used; conversely, the more separate the two clauses are, the more likely we are to find an overt relativizer. These findings have led us to suggest that the more monoclausal combinations have become unitary storage and processing chunks. We thus see these findings as a contribution not only to our understanding of Relative Clauses, but to our understanding of syntactic organization in general and of the nature of the grammatical practices in which speakers engage in everyday interactions.


Nordlyd ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Ankelien Schippers ◽  
Margreet Vogelzang ◽  
David Öwerdieck

This article reports on the processing and comprehension of COMP-trace violations in German. The status of the COMP-trace effect in German is a controversial issue. It has been argued that judgments on long-distance (LD) subject questions are distorted because of parsing problems in the main clause, the embedded clause, or both, and that LD subject questions are sometimes misinterpreted as object questions. Our self-paced reading data shows that processing difficulties with LD subject questions occur in the embedded clause, not the main clause, particularly at the point at which an embedded subject gap is postulated. Our study furthermore shows that readers are garden-pathed towards object readings of subject long-distance questions, but only when the embedded clause contains a case-ambiguous DP. A case-ambiguous DP thus functions as a superficial work-around for a COMP-trace violation. As we argue, our data support the view that German has a genuine COMP-trace effect and that potential parsing problems only occur in the context of local ambiguities. We propose that differences in the magnitude and fatality of COMP-trace violations between languages can be explained by formulating the COMP-trace effect in terms of accessibility, rather than a categorical syntactic constraint.


2021 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-260
Author(s):  
José Marcos Macedo

Abstract Lycian funerary inscriptions, being overall legal statements regarding the correct management of the tomb after the death of its owner, comprise many future conditional clauses consisting of two types, paratactic and hypotactic. In the latter a preposed relative clause precedes a resumptive main clause, while in the former two adjoining main clauses are interpreted as protasis and apodosis without any obligatory subordinator. In the last case, the general rule is that some constituent pertaining to the preceding prohibition clause against unauthorized burial undergoes left dislocation, the contrastive topic pointing to the conditional character of the sentence. The lack of an overt subordinator in the paratactic type - the odd modal particle e͂‘if’ is at best optional - points to an archaism in Lycian, as opposed to Hittite and Luwian. This paper aims at providing a critical description of the future conditionals in the corpus, accounting for how they are formed and used.


Author(s):  
Victor A. Friedman

This chapter gives a grammatical overview of the Kumukh dialect of Lak, which is the basis of the Lak standard language, which is one of the offical languages of the Republic of Daghestan in the Russian Federation. Lak is a member of the Dagestanian branch of the Nakh-Daghestanian (Northeast) Caucasian family and is spoken by close to 200,000 people, mostly in the central highlands of Daghestan. Topics of interest covered in this chapter include glottalization and gemination in stops and affricates, pharyngealized vowels, agglutination, exuberant gender agreement, Lak’s complex tense-aspect-mood-evidential system, ergative and biabsolutive agreement patterns, and long-distance anaphora wherein a reflexive in a subordinate clause can refer to the absolutive or ergative (= genitive) subject of the main clause. Among Daghestanian languages, Lak is also remarkable for the fact that its dialectal differentiation is not as strong as in other Daghestanian branches, especially its closest relative, Dargwa.


JURNAL SPHOTA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Wahyu Nugraha ◽  
I Komang Sulatra ◽  
Purwati

A subordinate clause (dependent clause) is a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it does not express a complete thought. It explains and gives more information to the main clause. There are three major types of subordinate clause such as: Complement Clause, Relative Clause, and Adverbial Clause (Miller, 2002:63). This research is a library research that aims to find out types and functions of subordinate clause found in Adultery. This research uses several theories from expert in other to analyze the problems in this study. The book written by Jim Miller (2002) entitled An Introduction to English Syntax and the book written by Bas Aarts (2001) entitled English Syntax and Argumentation, Second Edition are used. It is stated that there are three major types of subordinate clause that can be recognized as Complement clause, Relative clause, and Adverbial Clause. Then, the clause functions such as Clauses Functioning as Subject, Clause Functioning as Direct Object, Clauses Functioning as Adjunct and Clauses Functioning as Complements within Phrases.  The result of this research shows that three major types of subordinate clause are found. Furthermore, the clause functions are also found as well, however only Clauses Functioning as Subject weren’t found in this research.


2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Deutscher

In the earliest attested stage of the Akkadian language, relative clauses were introduced by a pronoun which agreed in case with the head noun in the main clause, rather than with the relativized NP in the relative clause. Such a system is extremely rare across languages, is demonstrably dysfunctional, and has been termed ‘inherently disfavoured’. This article attempts to explain how Akkadian acquired this rogue relative construction, and how the language then managed to get rid of it. I argue that this construction was only an unstable way-station in the emergence of a new relative clause in the language. The final section of the article examines the few parallels from other languages to the Old Akkadian system.


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