agreement nov 7, 2012 – day 29 introduction to syntax anth 3590/7590 harry howard tulane...
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AgreementNov 7, 2012 – Day 29Introduction to Syntax
ANTH 3590/7590
Harry Howard
Tulane University
Course management
http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/ANTH3590/ We need to spend our $150 from the
Provost’s Undergraduate Activities Fund.
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AGREEMENT, CASE & A-MVTRadford §7.1-4
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AGREEMENT & VALUATIONRadford §7.2-3
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Agreement What is agreement in grammar? Some data
I am happy. ~ We are happy. You are happy. ~ Y’all are happy. She/he/it is happy. ~ They are happy. There is a fly in my soup. ~ They are several flies in
my soup. Call the features of person and number that are
the basis of agreement phi/ɸ features. A verb lacks values for phi features and must find
them in order to be conjugated and so is called a probe;
a noun has values for phi features and so is called a goal (of the probe).
A probe must find its goal within its c-command domain.
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QPseveral prizes
[3-Pers][Pl-Num]
Agreement with passive be and there (2, 4), first draft
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CP
TPCø
T’
VPTBE
[Past-Tns][ -Pers][ -Num]
Vawarded
V assigns THEME to its complement
PRNthere
Probe finds a goal in its c-command
domain.
3Pl
Goal supplies phi features to probe.
Case
What is case in grammar? Remember that case in English only shows
up on pronouns Nominative: I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they Accusative: me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them Genitive: my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
Treat case as another feature, [u-Case], for agreement Nominative comes from agreement with finite T,
see next slide.
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PRNthey
[3-Pers][Pl-Num]
[ -Case]
Case with passive be (7, 9), first draft
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CP
TPCø
T’
VPTBE
[Past-Tns][ -Pers][ -Num]
Varrested
V assigns THEME to its complement
Probe finds a goal in its c-command
domain.
3Pl
Goal supplies phi features to probe.
Nom
PRNthey
[3-Pers][Pl-Num]
[Nom-Case]
---------
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UNINTERPRETABLE FEATURES§7.4
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Recall the shape of the grammar
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Syntax
Phonetic form/interpretation:syntactic structure is spelled out;unvalued features cause the derivation to crash.
Semantic representation:syntactic structure is converted to a meaning; uninterpretable features cause the derivation to crash.
Uninterpretable features
Constituentinterpretable
featuresuninterpretable
features
Ttenseaspectmood
personnumber
(redundant with subject?)
Nominalpersonnumbergender
case(redundant with
context)
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Features are interpreted in the semantics, or not. (13)
How to get rid of uninterpretable features?
Feature deletion (14) An uninterpretable feature is deleted
immediately after any operation it is involved in applies and is thereafter invisible in the syntactic and semantic components (but visible in the PF component).
Simultaneity condition (18) All syntactic operations involving a given probe
apply simultaneously.
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PRNthey
[3-Pers][Pl-Num]
[ -Case]
Repeat example of passive be (16, 17)
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CP
TPCø
T’
VPTBE
[Past-Tns][ -Pers][ -Num]
[EPP]
Varrested
V assigns THEME to its complement
Probe finds a goal in its c-command
domain.PRNthey
[3-Pers][Pl-Num]
[Nom-Case]
---------
---------------------
------------
3Pl
goal supplies phi features to probe.
Nom
----------------------
-----------------
EPP: attracts the closest nominal to spec-T, so
EPP looks like EF
EXPLETIVE IT SUBJECTS§7.5
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Introduction Some data
19a) It is said that he has taken bribes. ~19b) It is difficult to cope with long-term illness. ~19c) It’s a pity that they can’t come.
The problem: what does be agree with?that
that probably doesn’t have phi features (19b) has no that
the subject of the embedded clause the embedded clause in (19b) has no subject the embedded clause in (19c) has a plural subject impenetrability prevents it from entering into a
relationship with a higher headit
OK, so what are its features? only [3-Per, Sg-Num] & these are uninterpretable; no
gender or case
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So how does be agree with it?
Sneaky assumption: only heads can be probes, not phrases. So it cannot be a probe; only a goal of agreement.
If it originates in Spec-T, it is not c-commanded by its probe.
The only solution is for it to originate in spec-V, just like any other subject, see next slide. Evidence
i. They said that he has taken bribes. (25a) active saidii. I won’t have it said that he has taken bribes. (25b)
passive said
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PRNit
[3-Pers][Sg-Num]
------------
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PRNit
[3-Pers][Sg-Num]
Expletive it (26-27)
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CP
TPCø
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VPTBE
[Pres-Tns][ -Pers][ -Num]
[EPP]
Vsaid
Probe finds a goal in its c-command
domain.
3Pl
Goal supplies phi features to probe.
V'
CPthat he has taken bribes
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NEXT TIMEContinue §7
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