Going city

In certain varieties of Dutch spoken among young people, the preposition and determiner in locative and directional PPs can sometimes be omitted. We argue on the basis of language data taken from Twitter and intuitions of young speakers of Dutch that nominal arguments in these constructions do not have a DP layer, the absence of which leads to a special interpretation. The option to omit the preposition is related to the structural and semantic complexity of the verb. The bare construction is possible only with simple verbs, and not with manner-of-motion verbs. We present an analysis that accounts for the non-pronunciation of prepositions in directional predicates by claiming that they can be licensed through incorporation into the verb. This type of incorporation is blocked if the verb is structurally complex.

Mapping meaning to argument structure

This chapter investigates the phenomenon of morphological case in so-called ‘ergative-absolutive aligned’ languages, with a detailed case study of the Polynesian language Samoan. The focus is on the interaction of morphological case marking and the lexical semantics of verbs, proposing that the case marking pattern on a verb’s arguments are closely linked to the verb’s entailments, especially those relating to how the participants denoted by the verb’s nominal arguments participate in the event being described. Through empirical investigation of novel Samoan data, the chapter argues that ergative morphological case marking is linked to the agent argument’s status as a ‘self directed initiator’ of the event. In providing an analysis of this phenomenon, this chapter proposes a formal model of how a verb’s lexical semantics interacts with the morphological case component of grammar, employing insights from Optimality Theory.

Variation in Classifier Languages

Chapter 5 develops a uniform account of bare nominal arguments (i.e., bare numeral classifier phrases, bare classifier phrases, bare nouns) in classifier languages. It achieves that by extending the scope of discussion to more classifier languages. It starts with three points on which Mandarin and Nuosu Yi differ and which make this comparison interesting from the perspective of building a theory of cross-linguistic variation. Their differences are: (i) whether or not they have the function category D in their grammar, (ii) whether or not they freely allow numeral-less classifier phrases to appear in argument positions, as a result of applying covert argument formation operations unrestrictedly, and (iii) whether or not they allow one-deletion from the [one Cl N] phrase in the PF. Three parameters based on these differences account for the variation.

Nominal Arguments and Language Variation

This book investigates nominal arguments in classifier languages. A long-held claim is that classifier languages do not have overt article determiners (D). This book, however, brings to the forefront the theoretical investigation on the typologically unique Nuosu Yi, a classifier language that will be shown to have an overt article determiner. By comparing nominal arguments in Nuosu Yi to those in Mandarin, the book provides a parametric account of variation among classifier languages and extends the account to argument formation in general. This book begins with a detailed examination of bare numeral classifier phrases in Mandarin by comparing them with bare numeral noun phrases in number marking languages, such as English, French, and Russian. The book argues for a unified structure of bare numeral containing phrases with no reference to D across languages as well as for a D-less structure for various types of nominal arguments in Mandarin. It further studies nominal argument formation in Nuosu Yi. The facts from Nuosu Yi essentially alter the landscape of empirical data and constitute an immediate (prima facie) challenge to the proposed analysis of nominal arguments based on the Mandarin data. This book argues that despite the fact that Nuosu Yi has an overt article determiner, this should not force us to change anything about the proposed analysis of nominal arguments. Lastly, the book puts the analysis of Mandarin and Nuosu Yi nominal arguments in a broader, cross-linguistic perspective and develops a parametric account of variation in nominal argument formation in general.

Introduction

This chapter offers a brief introduction to the book. It provides general criteria for the definition of a “classifier language” and offers an overview of the properties along which classifier languages may vary. After briefly discussing two ongoing debates regarding nominal arguments—one is about the syntax of nominal arguments and the other is about the reference of bare nominal argument terms—this chapter provides a brief summary of each of the remaining chapters.

Nominalization and selection in two Mayan languages

In ‘Nominalization and selection in two Mayan languages’ Coon and Royer investigate nominalization in languages from two subbranches of the Mayan family: Ch’ol and Chuj. At the heart of this work is the tension between semantic requirements of certain roots, and the syntactic structure available to license arguments in different types and sizes of constructions. The fact that roots in Mayan belong to well-defined and diagnosable root classes, combined with the rich inventory of derivational morphology, sheds light on the division of labor between roots and functional heads in governing the appearance of nominal arguments. The authors show that roots belonging to transitive and (unaccusative) intransitive classes in Ch’ol and Chuj always require semantic saturation of an argument slot, but that this is accomplished by different means in the Mayan equivalents of the types of nominalizations examined in Chomsky 1970. They attribute this difference to the variation in the realization of the internal argument to the site of nominalization—specifically, to the presence or absence of functional heads available internal to the nominalization to syntactically license arguments.

Conclusion

Chapter 7 summarizes the major claims of this work and offers avenues for future research. The five claims are (i) bare numeral containing phrases have identical D-less structures in classifier and number marking languages; (ii) for classifier languages, it is not necessary to assume a functional category D to account for nominal arguments; (iii) the Universal DP Hypothesis is inadequate to account for cross-linguistic variation and makes different predications about classifier languages than those in this book; (iv) article determiners in classifier languages are expected; and (v) language variation is due primarily to four factors (outlined in the book).

Implications on Nominal Argument Formation in General

Chapter 6 discusses the relationship between argument formation in classifier languages and argument formation more generally. It begins with a discussion on the variable and uniform properties concerning nominal arguments in NMLs and shows that their variation can be captured by two of the parameters in classifier languages proposed in Chapter 5. It further shows that the variation in whether nouns are coded as kinds or properties can differentiate classifier languages from NMLs. It then discusses languages, which have neither a general classifier system (unlike Mandarin or Nuosu Yi) nor obligatory singular/plural marking on nouns (unlike English or Hindi). Building on previous analyses, this chapter analyzes Yudja as a language with a silent Cl and Lhasa Tibetan a language with a silent Div. This chapter allows us to further update the variation and typology of nominal argument formation and to predict more types of languages.

Plurality and Complex Nominal Arguments in Mandarin

Chapter 3 focuses on -men in Mandarin, a morpheme that has been analyzed as a plural marker and/or a collective marker and has been used to argue for the existence of DP projections in Mandarin. It defends the view that -men is a plural marker but argues against the analysis of placing -men in the D position. By treating -men as a plural morpheme, the Mandarin fact may seem to argue against the proposed uniform D-less structure of numeral containing phrases in Chapter 2. However, this chapter argues that the Mandarin fact does not force us to change the proposed structure in Chapter 2. Specifically, it proposes an analysis of -men as an associative plural marker. The analysis of -men further argues for the lack of DP in Mandarin.

Introducing Arguments and Modifiers in the Noun Phrase

Noun phrases, such as this photo, can often appear both with modifiers, such as the adjective old, and with arguments, typically PPs such as of the queen. Most of the literature on the syntax of DPs has adopted the hypothesis that adjectives are base-generated higher than nominal arguments, just as adverbs are merged higher than arguments in the clause. This squib looks at the syntax of the Italian DP, focusing on the distribution of modifier PPs and argument PPs, and offers novel evidence that, contrary to the received view, nominal modifiers such as adjectives are in fact base-generated lower than nominal arguments.