Download Syntax: samenvatting Category Main lexical categories Noun (N

Syntax: samenvatting
Category
Main lexical categories
 Noun (N)
 Verb (V)
 Preposition (P)
 Adjective (Adj)
 Adverb (Advr)
How do we distinguish?
 Distributional (Place)
 Morphological
1. Inflectional
ex. N → take plural inflection
A → take comperative endings
V → can take tense endings
2. Derivational
Affixes attach to certain things
ex. “un-” attatches to A
“re-” & “ment” attatch to verbs
“-ize” attatches to nouns/adjectives
Certain elements can belong to more than one class.
Verbs
Two types
Transitive: two arguments
ex. To eat (Iarg1 eat souparg2)
Intransitive: one argument
ex. To fall (Iarg1 fell - *Iarg1 fell souparg2)
two types
Ergatives (unaccusative)
 Unergatives





ex. to sleep
Hww = hebben
Can not be a participial adjective
(ex. *de geslapen jongen)
can take agentive -er
(ex. de slaper)
logical/semantic subject in the subject
position (SpecVP)





ex. to fall, to to come
Hww = zijn
Can be a participial adjective
(ex. De gevallen appel)
cannot take agentive -er
(ex. *de valler)
logical/semantic subject in the OBJECT
position (complement of V0)
Burzio's generalization
If a verb does not assign an external theta-role, it cannot assign accusative case.
→ ergative verbs do not assign external theta-role, but cannot assign accusative case. This
is why, in ergative verbs, the logical/semantic subject is in the object position.
Movement
Head to head movement
(V0 → T0 (→C0))
To preserve word order (Verb second phenomenon in Dutch)
Specifier tot specifier movement
Subject of a verb moves up to get case (SpecVP → SpecTP)
Theta-theory
Principle A: A theta role can be assigned to only one DP
Principle B: A DP can only be assigned one theta role
Projection principle
Principle A: All theta-roles of a verb must be assigned.
Principle B: Theta-relations remain constant throughout the derivation
Extended projection principle
Every verb needs a subject.
→ expletives appear in the subject position in verbs that don't assign an external
theta-role (raising verbs)
Case filter
Every DP gets case
C-command
A c-commends B (and al the nodes B dominates) is the first branching node that
dominates A also dominates B, and A and B don't dominate each other.
(maw A en B zijn zusters)
Governement
A governs B if
 A is a head
 A c-command B
 No barrier between A and B
When A governs B, A can assign case to B
Binding theory
bound
free
binding domain
= co-indexation with a c-commending antecedent
= not bound
= Smallest clause containing a bindee, governor of this bindee and a
subject
bindee
= the thing which is bound (anaphor or pronoun)
governor
= case assigner
A: An anaphor must be bound within it's binding domain
B: A pronoun must be free in it's binding domain
C: An R-expression needs to be free
Hulpwerkwoorden in het Nederlands (uit het boek: p201,202)
In het Nederlands selecteren hulpwerkwoorden van tijd (zijn en hebben) een VP als
complement, met in V0 het 'echte' werkwoord in voltooid deelwoord vorm.
Modale werkwoorden (moeten, kunnen, willen, ...) gedragen zich als lexicale werkwoorden
en doen dit dus ook.
Het hulpwerkwoord verhuist van V0 (1) door naar C0 omdat Nederland V2 is.
Wh-movement
why? to type a clause as a question
Covert movement? Wh-phrases are also quantificational elements (need to be in
non-argument positions)
landing site: SpecCP
tail: case marked position
There is also covert movement:
Quantifier raising
Motivation: quantifiers need to be in non-argument position to take scope
Lading site: adjunction
Wh covert movement
Wh-in situ languages (like Chinese): the Wh-phrase moves up (and back) to mark a clause
as a question.
The English what in “Who bought what” is comparable.
OVERT: English, Dutch, French, …
COVERT: Chinese, multiple questions in Dutch, English, ...
Successive cyclic movement
Partial Wh-movement indicates intermediate landing spots. Child languages also confirm
the existence of these intermediate landing spots. Wh-phrases (and DP's) land in every
possible landing spot. They do not skip spots.
Types of nominals of traces
DP trace: like anapors: bound in the A-domain (A=argument) → A-movement
Wh trace: like R-expression: A-bar-binding (non-argument binding) → A-bar movement
Islands
Descriptive term for domains from which a DP cannot move out.
Why not?
Distance (locality)
Binding of traces
Wh-islands
Adjunct islands
Sentential subject islands
Complex DP islands (relative or noun-complement)
Relative clauses
Noun-complement
die of dat
GAP
vb/ de student die __ een boek las
het boek dat de student __ las.
subject relative – object relative
dat
NO gap
vb/ de bewering dat Jan slim is
Subjacency
Subjacency violations
‣ movement which cross more than one bounding node
at a time.
‣ an antecedent cannot bind its trace across more than one bounding node
‣ DP and IP are bounding nodes
Empty category principle
An empty category must be properly governed.
Proper government:
a properly governs be if:
→ a lexically governs b
OR
→ a's antecedent governs b
Lexical government: government by a lexical element
Antecedent government: subjacent c-commanding antecedent
OBJECT: always lexically governed → only subjacency violation
SUBJECt: violation of both ECP and subjacency
Extraposition
In Dutch, the clausal arguments are always to the RIGHT of V0
→ extraposition: the whole clause adjoins to the right