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Lecture 7: Tense and Negation ADVANCED SYNTAX INTRODUCTION: CLAUSE STRUCTURE The clause is made up of distinct structural areas with different semantic purposes The VP One or more verbal head introducing arguments The IP An inflectional head introducing finiteness The CP A complementiser introducing force THE NON-THEMATIC VP Between the thematic VP and the IP there can be other elements which are verbal but not thematic These elements are to do with voice and aspect They don’t introduce arguments ... That John has been being followed perfect progressive passive We have argued that these elements are represented by the bound morphemes The verb moves to support the nearest one of these Auxiliaries are inserted to support the rest ha -s be -en be -ing -en show THE NON-THEMATIC VP We will distinguish these non-thematic verbal elements by denoting them as “v” (as opposed to V) While little v is clearly verbal and non-thematic, we cannot say that it is functional either, as that would make it indistinguishable from inflection: This is commonly called ‘little v’ Verb = [-F, +V, -N] Inflection = [+F, +V, -N] We don’t want to add another categorial feature as that would predict an extra 8 more distinct categories The solution is to allow categories to be undefined on certain features Little v = [+V, -N] THE NON-THEMATIC VP STRUCTURE POSITION The inflection seems to be able to have a VP or a vP complement, depending on whether there are aspectual morphemes: He may [VP win the race] He had [vP been winning the race] I selects for [-F, +V, -N] complements This covers thematic VPs which have exactly these features And vPs, which are not defined for the [F] feature THE PROBLEM Auxiliary verbs are inserted to support verbal morphemes which cannot be supported by the verb The verb can support at most one overt morpheme He He He -ed [VP smile ] -ed -en [VP see the paper] -ed -ing [VP read the paper] THE PROBLEM Auxiliary verbs which follow modals and the infinitive to, do not appear to support any morpheme: They are always in their base form He may be winning ... for him to have won If there is no morpheme here, there is no explanation as to why the auxiliary is present A POSSIBLE SOLUTION By this reasoning, there must be a morpheme present in these cases This morpheme is phonologically null He may be- winning ... for him to have- won WHAT IS THIS MORPHEME It is apparently absent in the presence of a tense inflection: He be–ed (=was) winning * He was be- winning This might suggest that the morpheme has something to do with tense TENSE AND MODALS Modals and the tense morphemes are in complementary distribution He smiled He will smile * he will smiled But this is not completely true MODAL FORMS Most modals have two forms could might should would Historically these are tense forms In modern English these forms are not usually used to express tense distinctions can may shall will He might come he may come (in the past) But in some cases they are: When I was young, I could play the piano MODAL FORMS Modals in subordinate clauses are used to match the tense of the main clause: I think he will come I thought he would come * I thought he will come This is called tense sequencing MODAL FORMS This suggests that tense is not absent with modals INFINITIVES AND TENSE One might have thought that tense and infinitives are mutually exclusive However, again the situation is not so straightforward Infinitives are always subordinate Like tense sequencing in finite clauses, the time reference of the infinitive is often dependent on the main clause Different types of infinitive have different time interpretations CONTROL CLAUSES AND TENSE The temporal interpretation of a control clause is co-temporal with the main clause He tried [PRO to start the car] He is trying [PRO to start the car] He will try [PRO to start the car] Clearly the ‘trying’ and the ‘starting’ are happening at the same time (regardless of whether it is successful) RAISING CLAUSES AND TENSE Raising clauses are like control clauses in that their temporal interpretation is co-temporal with the main clause The door1 seemed [ t1 to close by itself] The door1 seems [ t1 to be closing by itself] The door1 seems [ t1 to close by itself] Like tensed clauses the use of the progressive indicates present time the use of the plain verb indicates the habitual EXCEPTIONAL CLAUSES AND TENSE Exceptional clauses often refer to an event which takes place at some point after that referred to by the exceptional verb I expected [the door to open] I expect [the door to open] The door opening (or not) happens at some time after the expectation is formed I expected the door to open, but when I tried it, it was locked TENSE IN INFINITIVES - CONCLUSION If time reference is mediated through a tense element, it seems that a tense element is present in the infinitive In infinitives the tense element is similar to a pronoun in that its reference is linked to its antecedent Though not of the same nature as that in finite clauses i.e. The tense of the main clause We might refer to this as ‘anaphoric’ tense TENSE AND INFLECTION This all suggests that tense and inflection are not the same element in a structure Therefore we would expect them to have different positions It could be that tense is the phonologically null morpheme that follows modals and the infinitival marker: He may be-pres singing ... for him to be-ana singing THE STRUCTURAL POSITION OF TENSE Clearly the tense element follows the inflection So it must head a phrase that sits in the complement position of the inflection THE CATEGORY OF TENSE We know that inflection subcategorises for a [+V, -N] complement Therefore tense must be of the category ‘little v’ TENSE IN TENSED CLAUSES Tensed clauses are still IPs So there must be an inflection when there is a morphological tense The most obvious suggestion would be that the inflection is a null morpheme in this case: [IP He [vP -ed [VP smile]]] This is what was assumed in BESE TENSE IN TENSED CLAUSES But this raises the question of why inflection must be null when tense is overt and tense must be null when inflection is overt There seems to be a conspiracy to make it look like tense and inflection are in complementary distribution when they are not! TENSE IN TENSED CLAUSES Another possibility is that the ‘tense’ morphemes ARE inflections Therefore they cannot be ‘tense’ They would get their tense interpretations from the null tense element that accompanies them [IP He –ed [vP - [VP smile]]] In this way the tense morpheme is exactly like a modal Though it carries no modal meaning TENSE IN TENSED CLAUSES This allows a very uniform analysis: Tense in English is always null Some inflections select present tense will, Some can, shall, may, -s/- inflections select past tense would, One to could, should, might, must, -ed inflection select anaphoric tense TENSE AS A BOUND MORPHEME The fact that an auxiliary must be inserted after a modal and an infinitive in cases where the verb is supporting an aspectual morpheme shows that tense is a bound morpheme: He will be - -ing [VP read ] TENSE AS A BOUND MORPHEME The fact that no auxiliary is inserted when there is no aspectual morpheme shows that the verb can move to support tense He will - [VP read ] TENSE AS A BOUND MORPHEME When there is a bound inflection (-ed or –s) and the verb cannot support it, we can assume that the auxiliary is inserted into tense and then moves to support the inflection A verb can support only one OVERT morpheme, but any number of covert ones He will -ed be be- - -ing [VP read ] TENSE AS A BOUND MORPHEME When there is a bound inflection (-ed or –s) and there is no other over morpheme, the verb can move to support both tense and the inflection He -ed read- - [VP read ] TENSE: SUMMARY Tense is always null It heads a vP which is the complement of the inflection Different inflections select for different tenses Tense is a bound morpheme which needs supporting When the verb cannot do this, an auxiliary is inserted Whatever supports tense will support the bound inflection by moving from v to I NEGATION Negation in English is typically marked by the use of not This sits behind the inflection and in front of the main verb You shall not pass It can sit anywhere between these two (with meaning differences), but not in front of I or behind V * He not will have been being followed He will not have been being followed He will have not been being followed He will have been not being followed He will have been being not followed * He will have been being followed not THE STATUS OF THE NEGATIVE PARTICLE It has been argued that not must be a head of a phrase which sits in the non-thematic verbal part of the structure This is because it blocks V movement to I He –d [VP smile] => he smile-d [VP t] THE STATUS OF THE NEGATIVE PARTICLE Normally the verb can move to I (via tense) He smile1-2-ed [vP t2 [VP t1 ]] THE STATUS OF THE NEGATIVE PARTICLE But when the negative particle is present, this movement is blocked This can be explained by Relativised Minimality * he smile1-2-ed [ not [vP t2 [VP t1 ]] A head must move to its nearest head position But this only works if the negative is a head THE STATUS OF THE NEGATIVE PARTICLE In this case, the verb can support the tense But do has to be inserted to support the inflection He do-ed [ not [ smile1- [ t1 ]]] do THE CATEGORY OF NEGATION If this analysis is correct, the category of the negative particle must be ‘little v’ Because: I selects for a vP complement The phrase headed by the negative can be the complement of I EVIDENCE FOR THE VERBAL STATUS OF NEGATION Although not does not have many verbal qualities in English, in other languages the negative particle can behave like a verb Finnish tiedän I-know tiedät you-know en tiedä I-not know et tiedä you-not know PROBLEMS: CONTRACTED NEGATION The head status of the negative seems to be supported by negative contraction: I haven’t seen him He isn’t here This might be treated in the same way that bound morphemes are: The auxiliary moves into the negative head before moving to I He –s –n’t be- here As heads can only move to head positions, this seems to show that negation is a head PROBLEMS: CONTRACTED NEGATION But this predicts the wrong morpheme order as the negation should be closer to the verb than the inflection: * He be-n’t-s here It also isn’t clear why main verbs cannot do the same thing: * He read-n’t the book PROBLEMS: CONTRACTED NEGATION Modal auxiliaries can also bear the contracted negation: I wouldn’t know But modals cannot move through the negation as they are higher in the structure The contracted modals sometimes have a different base form Can’t won’t shan’t Some modals cannot appear with the contracted negation at all *mayn’t PROBLEMS: CONTRACTED NEGATION Such observations argue that the contracted negation is better seen as a form of auxiliaries rather than as an independent morpheme PROBLEMS: INVISIBILITY OF NEGATION When a bound morpheme cannot be supported by the main verb, an auxiliary is inserted Which auxiliary is used depends on the following verbal morpheme Main verb do -ed Perfect have He you know did you know –ed –en see he had seen Everything else be He –ed –ing run he was running He –ed –en beat he was beaten PROBLEMS: INVISIBILITY OF NEGATION However, the choice of the auxiliary is never dependent on the presence of the negation He did not know me He had not seen me He is not running He was not beaten In these cases, the negation behaves as though it is invisible It is the verbal element following the negation that determines which auxiliary to use But this is unexpected if negation is a verbal head ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANALYSIS In general, modifiers do not interfere with syntactic processes: Did he always know the answers? He has sometimes watched the news He is often running This might suggest that the negative particle is an adverbial modifier rather than a verbal head So why does it block head movement? ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANALYSIS Negative adverbial modifiers have a restricted position with respect to the verb I never win * I win never This is not so for all adverbial modifiers I sometimes win I win sometimes ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANALYSIS We know that the negative particle never follows the verb * he smiled not When the negative adverb precedes the finite verb, it must precede the inflection which the verb is supporting He never win-s ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANALYSIS Negative adverbs can precede inflections (with special emphasis) He never will find out The negative particle cannot precede the inflection – even with special emphasis * he not will find out ANOTHER POSSIBLE ANALYSIS It seems that there are two ordering conditions The negative particle must precede the main verb The negative particle must follow the inflection These two together will prevent the main verb from moving to I * he not smiled * he smiled not The only option left is for the verb to stay below the inflection and for the inflection to be supported by do He did not smile SUMMARY: NEGATION Possibly the best analysis for the negative particle is as an adverbial modifier There are two conditions on its placement It cannot follow the verb It cannot precede the inflection Otherwise it can go anywhere between the two