Download Syntax II – Class #5 Locality in Head Movement

Syntax II, Spring 2000, Class #5
Syntax II – Class #5
Locality in Head Movement
•
French vs. English: French has V-to-I movement and V-to-C movement, English has neither.
Suggestion: V-to-C movement is dependent on V-to-I movement.
•
Early Modern English (Shakespeare) vs. Modern English: same contrast (examples taken
from Radford, 1998)
(1)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
He heard not that (Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV, ii)
I care not for her (Thurio, Two Gentlemen of Verona, V, iv)
My master seeks not me (Speed, Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, i)
I know not where to hide my head (Trinculo, The Tempest, II, ii)
Thou thinkest not of this now (Launce, Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV, iv)
She lov’d not the saviour of tar (Stephano, The Tempest, II, ii)
My charms crack not (Prospero, The Tempest, V, i)
Demetrius loves her and he loves not you (Lysander, Midsummer Night’s Dream,
III, ii)
(2)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Saw you my master? (Speed, Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, i)
Heard you this, Gonzalo? (Alonso, The Tempest, II, i)
Speakest thou in sober meanings? (Orlando, As You Like It, V, ii)
Call you this gamut? (Bianca, Taming of the Shrew, III, i)
Came you from the church? (Tranio, Taming of the Shrew, III, ii)
Know you not the cause? (Tranio, Taming of the Shrew, IV, ii)
Spake you not these words plain? (Grumio, Taming of the Shrew, I, ii)
•
(3)
(4)
Locality in Noun Incorporation (Baker, 1988)
a.
Volu nakai he tau fanau
e fua
niu?
grate Q
ERG-PL-children ABS-fruit coconut
‘Are the children grating the fruit of the coconut?’
(Niuean, Seiter 1980)
b.
Volu niu
nakai e tau fanau?
grate-coconut Q
ABS-PL-children
‘Are the children grating coconut?’
direct object
a.
Fa totou he tau faiaoga e tau tohi.
HAB-read ERG-PL-teacher ABS-PL-book
‘(The) teachers often read books.’
b.
* Fa totou faiaoga e tau tohi.
HAB-read-teacher ABS-PL-book
‘Teachers often read books.’
*subject
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Syntax II, Spring 2000, Class #5
(5)
(6)
•
a.
Ne tutala a au ke he tau tagata
PAST-talk ABS-I to
PL-person
‘I was talking to (the) people.’
b.*
Ne tutala tagata a au (ke he).
PAST-talk-person ABS-I (to)
‘I was people-talking (to).’
a.
Nofo a ia he tau ana.
live ABS-he in PL-cave
‘He lives in caves.’
b.*
Nofo ana a ia (he).
live-cave ABS-he (in)
‘He cave-lives (in).’
Marko studira
medicinu
Marko study.pres.3s medicine
‘Marko is studying medicine.’
Serbo-Croatian
Yes-No questions require the clitic particle li, which must appear in second position.
(8)
(9)
•
*prepositional object
Locality in Head Movement in Serbo-Croatian Yes-No Questions (Rivero, 1993; Phillips,
1996)
(7)
•
*prepositional object
a.
Studira li Marko medicinu?
‘Is Marko studying medicine?’
b.
Marija li ti
ga dade?
Maria Q 2s.dat 3s.acc gave.3s
‘Was it Maria who gave it to you?’
a.
b.
* Li studira Marko medicinu?
* Studira Marko li medicinu?
Recall that Serbo-Croatian allows surprising instances of participle fronting in compound
tenses.
(10)
a.
Cekali ste bili Marijinu prijateljicu
waited are been Marija’s friend
‘You had been waiting for Marija’s friend.’
b.
Istukao bejase Petra
beaten was Peter
‘He had beaten Peter.’
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Syntax II, Spring 2000, Class #5
•
Although Serbo-Croatian allows fronting of main verb participles across auxiliaries, this is
impossible in yes-no questions with li.
(11)
(12)
Citao sam
knjigu
read have.pres.1s book
‘I have read a book.’
a.
b.
* Citao li sam knjigu.
Jesam
li citao knjigu
have.pres.1s Q read book
‘Have I read a book?’
Extra: Head Movement in Belfast English (Henry, 1995)
•
Unlike Standard English, Belfast English allows inversion in embedded clauses.
(13)
She asked were they leaving.
(14)
a.
b.
She asked who had I seen.
They wondered what had John done.
(15)
a.
b.
[Can you get a job] depends on who can help you.
[Was he a vegetarian] was what was puzzling them.
(16)
a.
b.
We couldn’t establish did he meet them.
The police found out had he stolen the goods.
•
In embedded interrogatives, a wh-phrase and that may co-occur, but the presence of that
blocks auxiliary inversion.
(17)
a.
b.
I wonder which dish that they picked.
They didn’t know which model that we had discussed.
(18)
a.
b.
* I wonder which dish that did they pick.
* They didn’t know which model that had we discussed.
•
Inversion is not restricted to the clause where the wh-phase appears overtly. It can also
appear in the clause where the wh-phrase originated, and all intermediate clauses.
(19)
(20)
a.
b.
c.
What did John hope would he see?
What did Mary claim did they steal?
I wonder what did John think would he get?
Who did John say did Mary claim had John feared would Bill attack?
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Syntax II, Spring 2000, Class #5
(21)
a.
b.
* Who do you think did John convince did Mary go?
Who do you think did John convince that Mary went?
Verb-Second Languages without Independent V-to-I Movement (Vikner, 1995)
•
Danish: ‘Bridge-verbs’, optional ordering of verb and adverb.
(22)
Peter troede at …
P.
believed that …
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
•
SpecCP
… Helge
…
H.
C SpecIP
ville
Helge
would
I
Adv
gerne
gerne
readily
… den her bog ville Helge
gerne
* … den her bog
Helge ville gerne
* … den her bog
Helge
gerne
this book
would H.
readily
V
ville
ville
laese den her bog
laese den her bog
read this book
laese
laese
laese
read
Non-bridge verbs, obligatory subject-initial clauses, finite verb must follow adverb.
(23)
Det var en overraskelse at …
It was a surprise that …
a.
b.
SpecCP
* … Helge
…
C SpecIP
ville
Helge
I
Adv
gerne
gerne
c.
d.
e.
* … den her bog
* … den her bog
* … den her bog
ville Helge
gerne
Helge ville gerne
Helge
gerne
V
ville
laese den her bog
laese den her bog
ville
laese
laese
laese
References
Baker, Mark. (1988). Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Henry, Alison. (1995). Belfast English and Standard English. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Radford, Andrew. (1998). Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Rivero, María-Luisa. 1993. Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian Yes/No Questions. V0-raising to -LI
versus -LI Hopping. Linguistic Inquiry 24, 567–575.
Seiter, William. (1980). Studies in Niuean Syntax. New York: Garland.
Vikner, Sten. (1995). Verb Movement and Expletive Subjects in the Germanic Languages. New
York: Oxford University Press.
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