22,390 research outputs found
Postsyntactic morphology and the syntax of verb clusters
No full textIt is argued that the properties of restructuring constructions in Dutch can be deduced straightforwardly on a dynamic approach to syntactic structure, where complex elements (including verb clusters) are generated in separate derivations feeding into the Numeration of the clause in which these complex elements appear. This ‘derivation layering’ is independently needed to describe the periphrastic past (finite or nonfinite) in a model of grammar in which morphology is the postsyntactic realization of the bundles of features created in Narrow Syntax. Temporal auxiliaries, on this approach, are not (in fact, cannot be) generated in functional heads, but are a by-product of morphological realization during postsyntactic externalization. In this model of grammar, restructuring is what we get when verbs are merged in a separate derivation layer. Nothing excludes this separate derivation to involve a tense operator associated with the embedded verb. The most natural assumption, then, would be to assume that this tense operator can always be present, and receives dependent or independent interpretation depending on the lexical semantics of the matrix predicate
Relevance of typology to minimalist inquiry. Relevance of typology to minimalist inquiry
No full textABSTRACT This article considers to what extent sample based typological research may shed light on questions of central concern within the minimalist program of generative grammar. Focusing on the nature of the structure building operation assumed within the minimalist program (Merge), it is argued that typological data may be relevant to the question whether the product of Merge, a pair of sisters, is symmetric or asymmetric. To this end, a case study is presented showing a fundamental and universal asymmetry between the members of a binary noun phrase coordination, such that the relation between the two conjuncts is invariably marked on the second conjunct. Assuming coordination to present the product of 'pure Merge' (i.e. undisturbed by further movement operations or rearrangements of any other kind), the result suggests that Merge creates an asymmetric sister pair, in which linear order and morphological dependency marking are consistently patterned. The article argues that this is generally the case in contexts of 'restricted syntax', which might equally well be studied using large typological samples. The article furthermore argues that the asymmetry between members of sister-pairs involves both phonological and semantic dependence, suggesting that the asymmetry originates within the central syntactic component of grammar. Keywords: minimalism, typology, dependence, sisterhood, coordination, linear order, restricted constructions 1 Relevance of typology to minimalist inquiry Jan-Wouter Zwart Author's address: Department of Linguistics, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 716, NL-9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected] Abstract ABSTRACT HERE Keywords KEYWORDS HER
A note on the periphrastic past in Afrikaans
Full text linkThe periphrastic past tense of Afrikaans, involving the auxiliary het, is compared with its ancestor construction in Dutch. I argue that the situation in Afrikaans provides support for the analysis of Germanic verb clusters in Zwart (2017), where periphrastic verb forms occupy cells in morphological paradigms, and enter the syntax only after the syntactic derivation has run its course
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