Optional agreement as successful/failed Agree

We investigate optional predicate agreement in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan). Several generalizations emerge: (i) inanimate arguments base-generated as complements control agreement optionally; (ii) some animate arguments base-generated as complements control agreement optionally; (iii) all arguments base-generated as specifiers control full agreement obligatorily. We propose that two conditions must be met for the operation Agree to succeed, resulting in the exponence of all the features of the agreement controller. First, a goal must be visible (bear the right feature). Second, a goal must be accessible (be in the right structural position). If one or both conditions are not met, Agree fails, but the derivation converges and 3sg agreement is exponed. While Agree is deterministic, surface optionality arises when the operation fails. We use optional agreement to diagnose the syntactic structure of understudied constructions in Mayan (nominalizations, Agent Focus). We discuss microvariation, highlighting methodological considerations that arise when assuming an I-language approach.

Differential object marking in Catalan

In this paper we provide a comprehensive picture of differential object marking in Catalan, focusing on both the empirical facts and their theoretical contribution. We support some important conclusions. First, Catalan differential object marking is quite a robust and widespread phenomenon, contrary to what prescriptive grammars assume. Second, we show that, from a formal perspective, Catalan differential object marking cannot be completely subsumed under hierarchical generalizations known as scales. The contribution of narrow syntax mechanisms and nominal structure is fundamental, supporting recent views by López (2012) or Ormazabal and Romero (2007, 2010, 2013a, b), a.o. Building on these works as well as on observations initially made by Cornilescu (2000) and Rodríguez-Mondoñedo (2007), a.o., we adopt an analysis under which canonical, animacy-based differential marking results from the presence of an additional (PERSON) feature, beyond Case. This structural make-up is not only at the core of differences marked objects exhibit from unmarked objects with a Case feature, but also derives the prominence of differential marking on (animates) under information-structure processes, in the high left (and right) periphery, in contexts of the type discussed by Escandell-Vidal (2007a, b, 2009).

The locus of parametric variation in Bantu gender and nominal derivation

In this paper, we capture the crosslinguistic variation in Bantu nominal structure in a unified analysis of gender on n (Kramer 2014, 2015). We demonstrate that this analysis accounts for the morphosyntactic properties of basic nouns as well as locative and diminutive derivations. Moreover, it allows us to capture intra- and inter-language morphosyntactic variation by reference to just three parameters – one strictly morphological and two structural. The presence of one or two n heads, and the size of the complement distinguish between different types of locatives (structural variation); the presence or absence of a spell-out rule of adjacent n heads differentiates “stacking” versus “non-stacking” prefixes in diminutive and augmentative derivations (morphological variation only).

The relative order of foci and polarity complementizers

According to Rizzi & Bocci’s (2017) suggested hierarchy of the left periphery, fronted foci (FOC) can never precede polarity complementizers (PolC); yet languages like Bulgarian and Macedonian appear to display precisely such an ordering configuration. On the basis of a cross-linguistic comparison of ten Slavic languages, I argue that in the Slavic subgroup the possibility of having a focus precede PolC is dependent on the morphological properties of the complementizer itself: in languages where the order FOC < PolC is acceptable, PolC is a complex morpheme derived through the incorporation of a lower functional head with a higher one. The order FOC < PolC is then derived by giving overt spell-out to the intermediate copy of PolC rather than to the topmost one. In turn, this option is linked to the possibility, recorded in all languages which allow for FOC < PolC, to also realize the morpheme expressing interrogative polarity as an enclitic particle attaching to fronted foci.

Revisiting extraction and subextraction patterns from arguments

Extraction and subextraction tend to receive separate attention in syntax, which leads to the assumption that they should be analyzed independently, even though they both illustrate an asymmetry between subjects and objects. By looking at various phenomena in English, German, Spanish and Norwegian I propose that this parallel behavior is not accidental, but that there is a previously unnoticed generalization: subextraction is allowed iff extraction is possible and the target of subextraction is not an indirect object. I propose that a revised version of Spec-to-Spec antilocality (Erlewine 2016) is necessary: movement of and out of an XP must cross a Projection Line (PL) (Brody 1998), i.e. the set of all projections of a head. This version of antilocality can derive Freezing effects, Huang’s (1982) CED, and their exceptions; and Comp-trace effects and their neutralization, extending them to subextraction. However, antilocality on its own cannot derive the extraction-subextraction asymmetry in indirect objects. I propose that the Principle of Minimal Compliance (PMC) (Richards 1998) can suspend antilocality if agree between a probe and a goal has happened. The version adopted here will allow extraction of the whole XP, but disallow extraction of its specifier due to the lack of an agree relation. Antilocality and the PMC combined also make the right predictions in other domains such as the lack of do-support in matrix subject questions and A-movement of the subject in declarative clauses, providing evidence that antilocality is a constraint that should apply to (at least) both A and A′-movement.

Pattern replication and extraction from spatial PPs in Molise Slavic

This paper investigates P-stranding under A′-extraction in spatial PPs in Molise Slavic (MSL). After showing that P-stranding bijectively correlates with dative case on the Ground argument of P, I argue that the cases of extraction at stake instantiate grammatical convergence in the form of “pattern replication” (Matras & Sakel 2007). A′-extraction is licensed by the presence of borrowed additional functional material valuing and interpreting K(ase). The richer structure allows for KP to move out of the PP Phase without violating Anti-Locality. Both Italian and MSL secondary Ps displaying P-stranding are characterized as instantiating one of two possible structural options for P-stranding. The alternative structure is argued to be instantiated in Germanic, consistently with existing proposals (Abels 2012). The choice between the two options, as well as the productivity of the selected option in a given grammatical system, is a matter of (micro-)variation in the availability of functional vocabulary.

(No) variation in the grammar of alternatives

The paper reports the results of an in-depth crosslinguistic study of intervention effects and the grammar of alternatives in a typologically diverse sample of five languages: Palestinian Arabic (Afro-Asiatic, Semitic), Russian (Indo-European, Slavic), Samoan (Austronesian, Oceanic), Turkish (Altaic, Turkic), and Yoruba (Niger-Congo, Defoid). In all of these languages, we find an interesting asymmetry in that focus evaluation interrupts question evaluation and causes an intervention effect, but not vice versa. We take our data to inform the crosslinguistic analysis of two alternative-evaluating operators, the squiggle operator and the question operator. To capture the observed absence of variation, we propose two semantic universals: The squiggle operator unselectively evaluates all alternatives in its scope. The question operator, on the other hand, is selective.

Gradability across grammatical domains

This paper argues that ordered abstract scales are applicable to analyses of a range of grammatical domains. We argue this based on data from a number of unrelated languages, primarily Logoori (Bantu, JE 41; Kenya). The Logoori verb kudoka can be translated into English as ‘to arrive’/‘to reach,’ ‘to be enough,’ and ‘must,’ depending on its linguistic context. We propose that these meanings arise from a single semantic denotation that is sensitive to a shared gradable component in the semantics of linguistic expressions referring to spatial paths, gradable predicates, measures of plural count nouns/mass nouns, and modals. The central theoretical issue addressed in this paper is the application of ordered, abstract scales in a model of grammar. This data and proposal is an important contribution to the literature arguing for a gradable model of modality (Lassiter 2014, 2017b, among others).