Wh-P and the Intervention Effect of negation

Following the Government and Binding theory mainly developed by Chomsky (1981, 1982, 1986), I explore wh-P and the Intervention Effect of negation in Late Archaic Chinese (LAC). I propose that the inverted order of wh-P in LAC is generated via PP inversion followed by the separate preposing of wh and P. The wh-complement raises to [Spec, PP] and further moves to the specifier position of a functional projection. If the wh-PP is base-generated preverbally, the preposition moves to the head position of the functional projection directly; if the wh-PP is base-generated postverbally, the preposition must first incorporate to a V0 and then move to the head position of the functional projection through excorporation. In terms of the Intervention Effect, wh-arguments and adverbials that usually move to the Low focus position below negation are subject to a blocking effect caused by negation, so these wh-phrases have to land in the High focus position above negation which is expected to accommodate ‘high’ adverbials exclusively. I argue that the Intervention Effect in LAC is a consequence of Q-binding as feature movement of [wh], interacting with fronting into the hierarchy of clause-internal positions driven by [Focus] feature.

Sentential Negation in English and Izon Languages

This paper is a contrastive study of Sentential Negation in English and Izon languages. Contact language situations have given rise not only to the influences of one language over the other but also to the differences between the structures of the two languages in contact and the likely learning difficulties which an L1 learner of a second language may likely encounter in learning the structure of the L2. Thus, the data for this study were sourced from competent native speakers of the Ogbe-Ijo dialect of the Izon language and a contrastive approach was adopted using the Chomskyan’s Government and Binding theory as a theoretical framework with a view to identifying the structural variations, hierarchy of difficulties and the likely learning problems an Izon learner of English as a second language may encounter at the level of Negation. It discovers that there were obvious parametric variations between the English and Izon languages at the levels of do insertion and the negative particle not among others. It then recommends that conscious efforts should be made by teachers and Izon learners / speakers of English as a second language at the level of realisation of negation in English as a second language.

A Diagnostic Chomskian View to Arabic Asymmetry

Agreement asymmetry is one of the significant linguistic phenomena that Arab and Western linguists (Ghaly,1995; Parkinson, 1995; Benmamoun,1998; Collins, 2001; Dayf, 1986) and Aoun, 1994) have tried to account for within the framework of the Government and Binding theory. They focused upon the number asymmetry in different varieties in Arabic. Most linguists assert that in different types of Arabic there is always gender agreement between the subject and the verb. This study aims at giving much evidence for the lack of gender agreement in Modern Standard Arabic(MSA), and at accounting this gender asymmetry within the framework of the Minimality Program (Chomsky, 1995). The sample consists of 37 sentences collected from some Arabic textbooks. To analyze the data collected, a qualitative diagnostic research design was adopted. One of the essential findings of this study is that there is no gender agreement in Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) sentences between the postverbal subject and the verb if the subject is (a) an unreal feminine Noun Phrase (NP), (b) a broken plural NP, (c) an inanimate collective NP, (d) a collective NP, (e) a regular sound feminine plural NP, (f) an irregular sound feminine plural NP, (g) an irregular sound masculine plural NP, and (h) a real feminine NP separated from its verb by any category. This study concludes that the head C in VSO sentences in MSA carries a weak gender feature represented as [-Strong]. Therefore, in VSO sentences, if the verb disagrees with its subject in gender, it will move from V to I and then to C because C is [-Strong]. A final conclusion is that the head I in VSO sentences in MSA carries a strong gender feature, represented as [+Strong]. Therefore, in VSO sentences, if the verb and its subject agree in gender, the verb will move from V to I; it will not move further.

Nominative and Accusative Cases in English and Urdu: A Comparative Study

Languages show variations in terms of their syntactic patterns. Their comparison reveals the effective strategies to explore and illustrate the difficulties that language learners may come across in the course of acquiring any new language. This study aims at the exploration of nominative and accusative properties in English and Urdu with the help of Chomsky’s Case theory as first introduced within the boundaries of the Government and Binding theory in 1981. It effectively presents the properties of any nouns in order to be declared as either nominative or accusative cases in any languages. Along with the case theory, the researcher has used qualitative and further the descriptive and content analysis approach as applied to the few English sentences taken from the New Headway Workbook by Liz and John Soars, meant for language learners at Elementary level. The study presents the thorough analysis of few English sentences and their Urdu translations to highlight similarities and differences as present in English and Urdu nominatives and accusatives in relation to other parts of speech as these properties haven’t been explored by the previous researches instead the focus has been on ergativity in Urdu.

Functional Heads in the Dholuo Determiner Phrase

This paper focuses on functional heads existing in a Dholuo DP. The notion of functional heads in the extended Projection of the CP (Complementizer Phrase) has led to a new approach in the analysis of projections in syntactic theory. The objective was to identify the functional elements in the Dholuo DP, analyze the functional elements and explain their occurrence. The study used Government and Binding theory which enables us to analyze the functional heads. The study also used descriptive research design to analyze collected data. The data was collected from 40 informants aged 35 years to 50 years; which was a sample from population of Dholuo speakers living in Homa Bay County around Lake Victoria. Data collected had sentences with Dholuo DPs. The study found eleven elements commonly occurring in Dholuo DP. These elements form the structure of Dholuo DP and can be categorized as lexical and functional heads. The lexical elements identified in the Dholuo DPs are: Nouns, Adjectives, prepositional phrases and genitive phrases. The functional elements identified included: Pronouns, article affixes, demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers, numerals, and relative clauses. In Dholuo, genitive phrases have prepositions acting as possessives. Relative clauses on the other hand, contain relative word, verb, pronoun, preposition and demonstratives.

Sentential negation in South African Sign Language: A case study

As with other sign languages, South African Sign Language (SASL) expresses negation using both manual and non-manual features. In this case study, naturalistic data provided by two native signers of SASL are analysed to show the syntactic relationship between these two sets of features. Using a Principles and Parameters approach and Government and Binding Theory, we investigate the syntactic scope of negation in our SASL data. We observe that side-to-side headshake, as a non-manual feature, appears to be the chief clausal negator in SASL, with a clause-final manual negative particle, NOT, playing a secondary role. We describe the negative headshake as a featural affix which is base-generated in the head of NegP and triggers V-to-Neg raising. The negative particle NOT appears to be base-generated in the Specifier of NegP. Suggestions for further syntactic research on SASL are provided.