Latest documents http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/index/index/ Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:28:29 +0100 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:28:29 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/12624 Word formation in Distributed Morphology (see Arad 2005, Marantz 2001, Embick 2008): 1. Language has atomic, non-decomposable, elements = roots. 2. Roots combine with the functional vocabulary and build larger elements. 3. Roots are category neutral. They are then categorized by combining with category defining functional heads. Artemis Alexiadou article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/12624 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:28:29 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11887 Artemis Alexiadou; Florian Schäfer workingpaper http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11887 Tue, 05 May 2009 15:41:27 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11886 In the recent literature the phenomenon of long distance agreement has become the focus of several studies as it seems to violate certain locality conditions which require that agreeing elements in general stand in clause-mate relationships. In particular, it involves a verb agreeing with a constituent which is located in the verb's clausal complement and hence poses a challenge for theories that assume a strictly local relationship for agreement. In this paper we present empirical evidence from Greek and Romanian for the reality of long distance agreement. Specifically, we focus on raising constructions in these two languages and we show that they do not involve movement but rather instantiate long distance agreement. We further argue that subjunctives allowing long distance agreement lack both a CP layer and semantic Tense. However, since the embedded verb also bears phi-features, these constructions pose a further problem for assumptions that view the presence of phi-features as evidence for the presence of a C layer. Finally, we raise the question of the common properties that these languages have that lead to the presence of long distance agreement. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou; Gianina Nicoleta Iordăchioaia; Mihaela Adriana Marchis preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11886 Tue, 05 May 2009 15:38:28 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11882 The aim of this paper is to address two main counterarguments raised in Landau (2007) against the movement analysis of Control, and especially against the phenomenon of Backward Control. The paper shows that unlike the situation described in Tsez (Polinsky & Potsdam 2002), Landau's objections do not hold for Greek and Romanian, where all obligatory control verbs exhibit Backward Control. Our results thus provide stronger empirical support for a theoretical approach to Control in terms of Movement, as defended in Hornstein (1999 and subsequent work). Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou; Gianina Nicoleta Iordăchioaia; Mihaela Adriana Marchis preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11882 Tue, 05 May 2009 15:24:53 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11881 Artemis Alexiadou preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11881 Tue, 05 May 2009 15:20:45 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9830 This paper examines the development of periphrastic constructions involving auxiliary "have" and "be" with a past participle in the history of English, on the basis of parsed electronic corpora. It is argued that the two constructions represented distinct syntactic and semantic structures: while the one with have developed into a true perfect in the course of Middle English, the one with be remained a stative resultative throughout its history. In this way, it is explained why the be construction was rarely or never used in a number of contexts, including past counterfactuals, iteratives, duratives, certain kinds of infinitives and various other utterance types that cannot be characterized as perfects of result. When the construction with have became a true perfect, it was used in such contexts, regardless of the identity of the main verb, leading to the appearance of have with verbs like come which had previously only taken be. Crucially, however, have was not spreading at the expense of be, as the be perfect had never been used in such contexts, but rather at the expense of the old simple past. At least until the end of the Early Modern English period, the shift in the relative frequency of have and be perfects is to be explained in terms of the expansion of the former into new contexts, while the latter remained stable. A formal analysis is proposed, taking as its starting point a comparison with German which shows that the older English be perfect indeed behaves more like the German stative passive than its haben and sein perfects. Thomas McFadden; Artemis Alexiadou bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9830 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:57:30 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9829 In this paper, we will argue for a novel analysis of the auxiliary alternation in Early English, its development and subsequent loss which has broader consequences for the way that auxiliary selection is looked at cross-linguistically. We will present evidence that the choice of auxiliaries accompanying past participles in Early English differed in several significant respects from that in the familiar modern European languages. Specifically, while the construction with have became a full-fledged perfect by some time in the ME period, that with be was actually a stative resultative, which it remained until it was lost. We will show that this accounts for some otherwise surprising restrictions on the distribution of BE in Early English and allows a better understanding of the spread of HAVE through late ME and EModE. Perhaps more importantly, the Early English facts also provide insight into the genesis of the kind of auxiliary selection found in German, Dutch and Italian. Our analysis of them furthermore suggests a promising strategy for explaining cross-linguistic variation in auxiliary selection in terms of variation in the syntactico-semantic structure of the perfect. In this introductory section, we will first provide some background on the historical situation we will be discussing, then we will lay out the main claims for which we will be arguing in the paper. Thomas McFadden; Artemis Alexiadou article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9829 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:46:57 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9625 The retreat of BE as perfect auxiliary in the history of English is examined. Corpus data are presented showing that the initial advance of HAVE was most closely connected to a restriction against BE in past counterfactuals. Other factors which have been reported to favor the spread of HAVE are either dependent on the counterfactual effect, or significantly weaker in comparison. It is argued that the effect can be traced to the semantics of the BE perfect, which denoted resultativity rather than anteriority proper. Related data from other older Germanic and Romance languages are presented, and finally implications for existing theories of auxiliary selection stemming from the findings presented are discussed. Thomas McFadden; Artemis Alexiadou bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9625 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:04:58 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9623 It has often been noticed that one syntactic argument position can be realized by elements which seem to realize different thematic roles. This is notably the case with the external argument position of verbs of change of state which licenses volitional agents, instruments or natural forces/causers, showing the generality and abstractness of the external argument relation. (1) a. John broke the window (Agent) b. The hammer broke the window (Instrument) c. The storm broke the window (Causer) In order to capture this generality, Van Valin & Wilkins (1996) and Ramchand (2003) among others have proposed that the thematic role of the external argument position is in fact underspecified. The relevant notion is that of an effector (in Van Valin & Wilkins) or of an abstract causer/initiator (in Ramchand). In this paper we argue against a total underspecification of the external argument relation. While we agree that (1b) does not instantiate an instrument theta role in subject position, we argue that a complete underspecification of the external theta-position is not feasible, but that two types of external theta roles have to be distinguished, Agents and Causers. Our arguments are based on languages where Agents and Causers show morpho-syntactic independence (section 2.1) and the behavior of instrument subjects in English, Dutch, German and Greek (section 2.2 and 3). We show that instrument subjects are either Agent or Causer like. In section (4) we give an analysis how arguments realizing these thematic notions are introduced into syntax. Artemis Alexiadou; Florian Schäfer article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9623 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:51 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9622 What explains the rich patterns of deverbal nominalization? Why do some nouns have argument structure, while others do not? We seek a solution in which properties of deverbal nouns are composed from properties of verbs, properties of nouns, and properties of the morphemes that relate them. The theory of each plus the theory of howthey combine, should give the explanation. In exploring this, we investigate properties of two theories of nominalization. In one, the verb-like properties of deverbal nouns result from verbal syntactic structure (a “structural model”). See, for example, van Hout & Roeper 1998, Fu, Roeper and Borer 1993, 2001, to appear, Alexiadou 2001, to appear). According to the structural hypothesis, some nouns contain VPs and/or verbal functional layers. In the other theory, the verbal properties of deverbal nouns result from the event structure and argument structure of the DPs that they head. By “event structure” we mean a representation of the elements and structure of a linguistic event, not a representation of the world. We refer to this view as the “event model”. According to the event model hypothesis, all derived nouns are represented with the same syntactic structure, the difference lying in argument structure – which in turn is critically related to event structure, in the way sketched in Grimshaw (1990), Siloni (1997) among others. In pursuing these lines of analysis, and at least to some extent disentangling their properties, we reach the conclusion that, with respect to a core set of phenomena, the two theories are remarkably similar – specifically, they achieve success with the same problems, and must resort to the same stipulations to address the remaining issues that we discuss (although the stipulations are couched in different forms). Artemis Alexiadou; Jane Grimshaw article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9622 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:59:19 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9621 In many languages, a passive-like meaning may be obtained through a noncanonical passive construction. The get passive (1b) in English, the se faire passive (2b) in French and the kriegen passive (3b) in German represent typical manifestations. This squib focuses on the behavior of the get-passive in English and discusses a number of restrictions associated with it as well as the status of get. Artemis Alexiadou bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9621 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:57:26 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9620 The present paper deals with the distribution of the definite determiner and certain related aspects of adjectival modification in Greek DPs. As (1) shows, determiners in Greek DPs precede adjectives and adjectives precede nouns. All three categories overtly agree in gender, number and case. Artemis Alexiadou; Chris Wilder bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9620 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:56:53 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9619 In this paper we investigate Greek, an optional clitic doubling language not subject to Kaynes generalization (Jaeggli 1982), and we argue that in this language, doubled DPs are in A-positions. We propose that Greek clitics are formal features that move, permitting DPs in argument positions. This leads to a typology according to which there are two types of clitic/agreement languages -configurational and nonconfigurational ones-, depending upon whether clitics are instantiations of formal features or not. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou book http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9619 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:55:48 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9618 The paper is structured as follows. Section 2.1 introduces the basic classes of adjectives that constitute the factual core of the paper. Section 2.2 summarizes in greater detail the X° and the XP movement approaches to word order variation within the DP. Section 3 briefly discusses problems for both approaches. Sections 4.1, 5.1, and 5.2 draw from Alexiadou (2001) and contain a discussion of Greek DS and its relevance for a re-analysis of the word order variation in the Romance DP. Section 4.2 introduces refinements to Alexiadou & Wilder (1998) and Alexiadou (2001). Section 5.3. discusses certain issues that arise from the analysis of postnominal adjectives in Romance as involving raising of XPs. Section 6 discusses phenomena found in other languages, which at first sight seem similar to DS. However, I show that double definiteness in e.g. Hebrew, Scandinavian or other Balkan languages constitutes a different type of phenomenon from Greek DS, thus making a distinction between determiners that introduce CPs (Greek) and those that are merely morphological/agreement markers (Hebrew, Scandinavian, Albanian). Artemis Alexiadou bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9618 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:55:09 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9617 In this article, we adress (i) the form and (ii) the function on inflection class features in minimalist grammar. The empirical evidence comes from noun inflection systems involving fusional markers in German, Greek, and Russian. As for (i), we argue (based on instances of transparadigmatic syncretism) that class features are not privative; rather, class information must be decomposed into more abstract, binary features. Concerning (ii), we propose that class features qualify as the very device that brings about fusional infection: They are uninterpretable in syntax and actas probes on stems, with matching inflection markers as goels, and thus trigger morphological Agree operations that merge stem and inflection marker before syntax is reached. Artemis Alexiadou; Gereon Müller bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9617 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:53:22 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9615 The goal of this paper is to re-examine the status of the condition in (1) proposed in Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (2001; henceforth A&A 2001), in view of recent developments in syntactic theory. (1) The subject-in-situ generalization (SSG) By Spell-Out, vP can contain only one argument with a structural Case feature. We argue that (1) is a more general condition than previously recognized, and that the domain of its application is parametrized. More specifically, based on a comparison between Indo-European (IE) and Khoisan languages, we argue that (1) supports an interpretation of the EPP as a general principle, and not as a property of T. Viewed this way, the SSG is a condition that forces dislocation of arguments as a consequence of a constraint on Case checking. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9615 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:00:56 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9614 This paper investigates the conditions under which Argument Supporting Nominalizations (ASNs) can receive plural marking. Under ASNs, we discuss deverbal nouns that express an event and preserve argument structure. In our discussion we consider ASNs in Romanian, English and German. Artemis Alexiadou; Gianina Nicoleta Iordăchioaia; Elena Soare preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9614 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:51:40 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9613 In this paper we compare the distribution of PPs introducing external arguments in nominalizations with PPs introducing external arguments in the verbal domain. We show that several mismatches exist between the behavior of PPs in nominalizations and PPs in the verbal domain. This leads us to suggest that while PPs in the verbal domain are licensed by functional structure alone, within the nominal domain, PPs can also be licensed via an interplay of the encyclopaedic meaning of the root involved and the properties of the preposition itself. This second mechanism kicks in in the absence of functional structure. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou; Florian Schäfer article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9613 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:48:33 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9612 In this paper we discuss three types of adjectival participles in Greek, ending in -tos and –menos, and provide a further argument for the view that finer distinctions are necessary in the domain of participles (Kratzer 2001, Embick 2004). We further compare Greek stative participles to their German (and English) counterparts. We propose that a number of semantic as well as syntactic differences shown by these derive from differences in their respective morpho-syntactic composition. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9612 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:33:11 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9611 In this paper we investigate the distribution of PPs related to external arguments (agent, causer, instrument, causing event) in Greek. We argue that their distribution supports an analysis, according to which agentive/instrument and causer PPs are licensed by distinct functional heads, respectively. We argue against a conceivable alternative analysis, which links agentivity and causation to the prepositions themselves. We furthermore identify a particular type of Voice head in Greek anticausative realised by non-active Voice morphology. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9611 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:28:40 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9610 In the recent literature there is growing interest in the morpho-syntactic encoding of hierarchical effects. The paper investigates one domain where such effects are attested: ergative splits conditioned by person. This type of splits is then compared to hierarchical effects in direct-inverse alternations. On the basis of two case studies (Lummi instantiating an ergative split person language and Passamaquoddy an inverse language) we offer an account that makes no use of hierarchies as a primitive. We propose that the two language types differ as far as the location of person features is concerned. In inverse systems person features are located exclusively in T, while in ergative systems, they are located in T and a particular type of v. A consequence of our analysis is that Case checking in split and inverse systems is guided by the presence/absence of specific phi-features. This in turn provides evidence for a close connection between Case and phi-features, reminiscent of Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) Agree. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9610 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:07:44 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9609 The paper is structured as follows. In section 2, I briefly summarize the facts on English and Greek nominalizations. In section 3, I discuss English nominal derivation in some detail. In section 4, I turn to the question of licensing of AS in nominals. In section 5, I turn to the issue of the optionality of licensing of AS in the nominal system. Artemis Alexiadou preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9609 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:03:19 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9608 The causative/anticausative alternation has been the topic of much typological and theoretical discussion in the linguistic literature. This alternation is characterized by verbs with transitive and intransitive uses, such that the transitive use of a verb V means roughly "cause to Vintransitive" (see Levin 1993). The discussion revolves around two issues: the first one concerns the similarities and differences between the anticausative and the passive, and the second one concerns the derivational relationship, if any, between the transitive and intransitive variant. With respect to the second issue, a number of approaches have been developed. Judging the approach conceptually unsatisfactory, according to which each variant is assigned an independent lexical entry, it was concluded that the two variants have to be derivationally related. The question then is which one of the two is basic and where this derivation takes place in the grammar. Our contribution to this discussion is to argue against derivational approaches to the causative / anticausative alternation. We focus on the distribution of PPs related to external arguments (agent, causer, instrument, causing event) in passives and anticausatives of English, German and Greek and the set of verbs undergoing the causative/anticausative alternation in these languages. We argue that the crosslinguistic differences in these two domains provide evidence against both causativization and detransitivization analyses of the causative / anticausative alternation. We offer an approach to this alternation which builds on a syntactic decomposition of change of state verbs into a Voice and a CAUS component. Crosslinguistic variation in passives and anticausatives depends on properties of Voice and its combinations with CAUS and various types of roots. Artemis Alexiadou; Elena Anagnostopoulou; Florian Schäfer preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9608 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:59:19 +0200 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9607 This paper deals with the variable position of adjectives in the Romanian DP. As all other Romance languages, Romanian allows for adjectives to appear in both prenominal and post-nominal position. In addition, however, Romanian has a third pattern: the so-called cel construction, in which the adjective in the post-nominal position is preceded by a determiner-like element, cel. This pattern is superficially similar to Determiner Spreading in Greek. In this paper we contrast the cel construction to Greek DS and discuss the similarities and differences between the two. We then present an analysis of cel as involving an appositive specification clause, building on de Vries (2002). We argue that the same structure is also involved in the context of nominal ellipsis, the second environment in which cel is found. Artemis Alexiadou; Mihaela Marchis preprint http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9607 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:51:02 +0200