Person agreement with inherent case DPs in Chirag Dargwa

The article argues that the syntactic behavior of non-absolutive subjects of finite clauses in the Nakh-Daghestanian language Chirag Dargwa is a result of their interaction with two different functional heads in a clause: v and T. Discussing empirical data from Chirag, I present the puzzling behavior of person agreement, which shows selective sensitivity to arguments in the ergative, dative, and genitive cases. The primary evidence comes from the periphrastic causative, which displays some typologically unusual properties in case marking and agreement. I show that the ability to trigger person agreement is not an intrinsic property of ergative, dative, and genitive DPs in Chirag, but rather is endowed to the highest DP in T’s c-command domain over the course of the derivation. I propose that all non-absolutive subjects start out as DPs assigned inherent case and a theta-role by v, and that T further assigns structural nominative case to the DP in Spec,vP, thus making it accessible to φ-probes.

Where are thematic roles?

In ‘Where are thematic roles? Building the micro-syntax of implicit arguments in nominalizations’, Roeper attempts an approach to capture implicit arguments in a fashion that is closely linked to the projection of verbs. Roeper argues for clitic-like projections that accompany the verb, particularly evident in nominalizations: These separate the lexical Argument-theta projections of the verb from the conditions for projecting Maximal Projections which enter into syntactic operations, while the larger pattern of subject, object, and control behavior remains consistent across the syntax and the lexicon. Roeper argues that bare nominalizations (e.g. a look, a glance, a comment) all carry argument structure capable of motivating syntactic binding. Moreover, argument projections into the Possessive of nominalizations show predictable sensitivity to passive morphemes (-ed, -able) buried inside nominalizations. They allow only an object projection in nominalized Possessives precisely as they do in verbal structures. The theory of Theta-role projection must allow projection of an AGENT to Subject in little v, Subject in TP, and Subject in Possessives, and if acquisition is efficient, it should all follow automatically from UG. Roeper then argues that impersonal passives that appear in a subset of languages call for both special syntax and a special vision of possible integration into discourse structure. <206>

Superlative syntactic amalgams in an Iberian Spanish dialect

This article addresses an as yet unnoticed Spanish superlative construction attested in the mid area of Northern Spain. This construction features two striking properties: (i) it contains a relative pronoun which, at first glance, does not seem to introduce a TP (there is no overt verb to its right), which raises the question how the relative pronoun can obtain its Case/theta role; (ii) even if it were true that the relative pronoun actually introduces a TP and heads a full subordinate clause (presumably a free relative), the latter would arise in an anomalous position which disrupts the natural word order of the main clause and where it seems to lack any obvious licensor (as an adjunct, argument or predicate). A simultaneous answer to both problems will be obtained from the proposal that the construction at issue is a “syntactic amalgam” (Lakoff 1974): (i) assuming Kluck’s (2011) approach to amalgams, the relative pronoun of the construction can unproblematically be considered to introduce a sluiced TP, so it heads a full relative clause and does have a (covert) Case/theta-role licensor; (ii) the disruptive position of the relative clause and the opacity for licensing from the main clause are now expected as they are the defining properties of the so-called “interrupting clauses” in Horn-/Andrews-amalgams. As in Kluck (2011), such properties will be assumed to result from the operation “par-merge” giving rise to paratactical configurations (de Vries 2007).

German Passives and English Benefactives

In both English benefactive constructions (John baked Mary a cake) and German kriegen/bekommen-passives (Er kriegte einen Stift geschenkt ‘He got a pen gifted’), the theme argument is accusative-marked but has no way of getting structural accusative case. In English benefactive constructions, this is because the beneficiary argument intervenes between the voice head and the theme, and in German kriegen/bekommen-passives, it is because there is no active voice head. This paper proposes that, in both languages, the applicative head introducing the beneficiary/recipient (more generally, the affectee argument), comes with an extra case feature that can license case on the theme argument. In English, this non-canonical accusative case feature comes with the regular applicative head introducing the beneficiary argument. In contrast, in German, it comes with a defective applicative head which introduces the recipient but is unable to assign to it the inherent dative case that normally comes with the Affectee theta-role. The paper offers a unified analysis of English and German double object constructions and also of German werden (‘be’) and kriegen/bekommen (‘get’)-passives.

The syntactic status of English dative alternation structures in bilingual and in monolingual acquisition data

This study deals with the syntactic (non-)derivational relationship of English dative alternation (DA) –double object constructions (DOCs) and to/for-datives–, as seen in the spontaneous production of English-Spanish bilinguals when compared to English monolinguals. While a chronological progression and a difference in use between the two English DA constructions could suggest a syntactic-derivational relationship between DOCs and to/for-datives, a fairly similar emergence and a possibly similar rate of use could point to the two constructions not displaying a syntactic-derivational status. We also explore whether English-Spanish bilinguals show divergent developmental paths when compared to English monolinguals. To address these issues, we analyze data from nine English-Spanish bilingual children and twelve English monolingual children, along with the adults interacting with them. The analysis shows that both DA structures emerge at a similar age, which suggests they are not syntactically derived from one another. Despite these differences, the later onset and the lower incidence of to/for-datives could be associated with the case and theta role mediated properties of prepositions as well as with the frequency of exposure to DA in the adults’ speech. As no differences appear between bilinguals and monolinguals, transfer from Spanish does not seem to be an issue.

Niuean

This book presents a detailed descriptive and theoretical examination of predicate-argument structure in Niuean, a Polynesian language within the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Pacific island of Niue and in New Zealand. Niuean has VSO word order and an ergative case-marking system, both of which raise questions for a subject-predicate view of sentence structure. Working within a broadly Minimalist framework, this volume develops an analysis in which syntactic arguments are not merged locally to their thematic sources, but instead are merged high, above an inverted extended predicate which serves syntactically as the Niuean verb, later undergoing movement into the left periphery of the clause. The thematically lowest argument merges as an absolutive inner subject, with higher arguments merging as applicatives. The proposal relates Niuean word order and ergativity to its isolating morphology, by equating the absence of inflection with the absence of IP in Niuean, which impacts many aspects of its grammar. As well as developing a novel analysis of clause and argument structure, word order, ergative case, and theta role assignment, the volume argues for an expanded understanding of subjecthood. Throughout the volume, many other topics are also treated, such as noun incorporation, word formation, the parallel internal structure of predicates and arguments, null arguments, displacement typology, the role of determiners, and the structure of the left periphery.

Tense Driven Asymmetries and Clitic Placement in Compound Verbs of Pashto Language

The tense driven asymmetry of the Pashto clause is analyzed from the perspective of the minimalist framework The study proves that the split ergativity in Pashto is tense based and does not have the aspect driven features proposed by Roberts 2000 The study argues that the object is assigned a theta role by the V and the subject is assigned a theta role by the little v The accusative case is assigned by the little v but the nominative and ergative cases are assigned by T It claims that the T head assigns multiple cases as the split ergativity is tense driven It highlights the syntactic effects of the possible phonological processes in combining some of the closely adjacent words and making a single phonological word The study also discusses clitic placement and prosodic inversion to refute the assumption that perfective feature is a strong feature in Pashto

Verbal working memory resources and comprehension of relative clauses in children with cochlear implants

Verbal working memory resources may impact syntax comprehension. Thirteen Italian children with cochlear implants (CIs) were assessed in relative clause (RC) comprehension, digit span and nonword repetition and compared to 13 chronological age peers (CA) and 13 younger controls (LA) with normal hearing (NH). The RC comprehension task tested subject relatives (SR), object relatives with preverbal (OR) and postverbal subjects (ORp) where number features were manipulated. Children with CIs show worse performance than controls in RC comprehension and nonword repetition. In the RC task, number features facilitated comprehension by children with NH, but not by children with CIs. The memory measure that predicted RC comprehension was digit span. In the LA group, backward digit span predicted comprehension of all RC types. Forward digit span predicted comprehension of ORs with number mismatch in the CA group, and comprehension of ORs with number mismatch and ORps in children with CIs. In these conditions, high memory resources are needed to exploit number features in theta-role assignment.

Thematic Roles in the Tale of "Macbeth" by E.F. Dodd

The research deals with predicates and arguments in the theoretical framework of Transformational Generative Grammar in terms of Thematic Roles or Theta Roles proposed by Chomsky (1981), Haegeman (1994) and his followers Radford (1981) and Ouhalla (1999). Thematic Roles may be defined as the participants of the arguments of a clause. It means that Thematic roles refer to the relationship between verbs and their arguments. Thematic Roles is focused to eight types of theta role. They are agent, patient, theme, experiencer, beneficiary/ benefactive, goal, Source and location. The analysis of Thematic Roles is taken form tne tale of “Macbeth” by E.F, Dodd in six tales of Shakespear. The result shows that agent is the biggest thematic roles found in the tale of Macbeth and source is the lowest one. Keywords: Thematic Roles, Verbs, Arguments

Grammatical Reanalysis and the Multiple N-Words in African American English

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is developing a class of previously undescribed function words, facilitated by the semantic generalization of the word nigga. The authors demonstrate that nigga is unspecified for race, gender, or humanness. They argue that there are multiple n-words, fulfilling different grammatical and social functions. Using a variety of sources, they show that there are new pronouns in AAVE based on nigga—moreover, they pattern with pronouns, not imposters, with respect to binding, agreement, and theta-role assignment. Vocatives and honorics are also explored. The article concludes with a discussion of the origin of these forms and their relevance both to linguistic controversy and to societal controversy around the taboo word and the stigmatized dialect.