Like other syntactic elements, affixes are sometimes said to be heads or modifiers. In Russian, one suffix,
-onok
, can be either: as a head, it is a size diminutive denoting baby animals, and as a ...modifier, it is an evaluative with a dismissive/affectionate flavor. Various grammatical properties of this suffix differ between the two uses: gender, declension class, and interaction with suppletive alternations, both as target and trigger. We explore a reductionist account of these differences: the baby diminutive comprises a lexical morpheme plus a functional nominalizing head, while the evaluative affix is the lexical morpheme alone. We contend that our account is superior to two conceivable alternatives: first, the view that these are homophonous but unrelated affixes, and second, a cartographic alternative, whereby diminutives attach at different levels in a universal structure.
In several three cell paradigms, it has been observed that one logically conceivable pattern – ABA under some arrangement of cells – is unattested. Existing approaches assume that such *ABA ...generalizations provide evidence for feature inventories which are restricted to features that stand in containment relations, and are thus subject to Pāṇinian rule order. We present a novel approach to *ABA generalizations that derives from general properties of feature-based morphology. To this end, we develop a formal account of the widespread view that morphological paradigms derive from rules that relate abstract features from an inventory to morphological exponents. We demonstrate that the feature-based view restricts the space of typological patterns even without any further assumptions. We show furthermore that the feature-based theory derives *ABA as a special case of a broader class of generalizations if the number of features in the inventory must be minimal, and that these generalizations arise under a variety of general assumptions about feature-algebras (extrinsically ordered or Pāṇinian and with or without feature intersection). We discuss which explanation might be correct for actual cases of *ABA constraints, and we explore the consequences of the feature-based general approach for a range of paradigm sizes including those with more than three cells.
This paper develops an argument for the copy theory of movement based on consideration of Holmberg's Generalization HG, a well-documented constraint on object shift in the Germanic languages. A ...particular formulation of HG is presented, tying it to verb movement, and this is defended against the alternative formulation presented in Holmberg (1999). It is argued that HG is the result of a morphophonological constraint on verb inflection, requiring merger under PF-adjacency, support for which comes from differences between VO and OV languages. The account of HG is related to PF-merger proposals for do-support, and a theory of adverb ordering within the Spell Out component is sketched, accounting for the apparent invisibility of adverbs, problematic on earlier approaches. On the standard model, the characterization of HG presented here requires invocation of a PF filter; the copy theory permits an alternative with more local evaluation. By treating the overt/covert distinction as an effect of which copy is pronounced, the copy theory allows satisfaction of the PF adjacency constraint for merger to be a PF matter. Moving to a model in which both LF and PF have the ability to privilege either the higher or lower position in a non-trivial chain predicts the existence of a range of phenomena in which the lower position is privileged by both LF and PF. It is argued that such phenomena are attested, and further implications of the copy theory are explored.
A recurring pattern of partial correlations between word order variation and scope possibilities (the 3/4 signature) supports a particular view of economy constraints in syntax, with these ...properties: (1) There are economy conditions (soft constraints) that value a particular type of correspondence between LF and PF representations. (2) These constraints are unidirectional: LF (broadly construed) is calculated first and determines PF (surface word order). (3) Scope rigidity is a property not of languages but of specific configurations, and the distribution of rigidity effects is (largely) predictable from independent variation in the syntactic resources of various languages. We focus here on the interaction of these three assumptions and on the role of (2) in predicting the 3/4 signature effect. We contrast our proposal with Reinhart's (2005) Interface Economy model, in which economy conditions regulate a mapping that takes overt structure as its input and yields permissible interpretations. Adapted from the source document
This article offers a case study of three absolute universals ranging over inventories of person marking in morphology. Certain logically possible distinctions are never drawn in morpheme inventories ...(either as pronouns or as agreement markers), though these distinctions may be expressed in other ways (and hence are not impossible a priori or for reasons of general cognition). After reviewing the literature, and dismissing apparent counter-examples, I submit that these universals bear on issues of formal versus functional explanation in linguistics, and suggest that the functionalist explanations of these facts currently on offer fall short of the mark. At least in this domain, it appears that there is a universal inventory of features which delimits the range of possible “persons” in language.
Case and number suppletion in pronouns Smith, Peter W.; Moskal, Beata; Xu, Ting ...
Natural language and linguistic theory,
08/2019, Letnik:
37, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Suppletion for case and number in pronominal paradigms shows robust patterns across a large, cross-linguistic survey. These patterns are largely, but not entirely, parallel to patterns described in ...Bobaljik (2012) for suppletion for adjectival degree. Like adjectival degree suppletion along the dimension positive < comparative < superlative, if some element undergoes suppletion for a category X, that element will also undergo suppletion for any category more marked than X on independently established markedness hierarchies for case and number. We argue that the structural account of adjectival suppletive patterns in Bobaljik (2012) extends to pronominal suppletion, on the assumption that case (Caha 2009) and number (Harbour 2011) hierarchies are structurally encoded. In the course of the investigation, we provide evidence against the common view that suppletion obeys a condition of structural (Bobaljik 2012) and/or linear (Embick 2010) adjacency (cf. Merchant 2015; Moskal and Smith 2016), and argue that the full range of facts requires instead a domain-based approach to locality (cf. Moskal 2015b). In the realm of number, suppletion of pronouns behaves as expected, but a handful of examples for suppletion in nouns show a pattern that is initially unexpected, but which is, however, consistent with the overall view if the Number head is also internally structurally complex. Moreover, variation in suppletive patterns for number converges with independent evidence for variation in the internal complexity and markedness of number across languages.
A recurring pattern of partial correlations between word order variation and scope possibilities (the ¾ signature) supports a particular view of economy constraints in syntax, with these properties: ...(1) There are economy conditions (soft constraints) that value a particular type of correspondence between LF and PF representations. (2) These constraints are unidirectional: LF (broadly construed) is calculated first and determines PF (surface word order). (3) Scope rigidity is a property not of languages but of specific configurations, and the distribution of rigidity effects is (largely) predictable from independent variation in the syntactic resources of various languages. We focus here on the interaction of these three assumptions and on the role of (2) in predicting the ¾ signature effect. We contrast our proposal with Reinhart's (2005) Interface Economy model, in which economy conditions regulate a mapping that takes overt structure as its input and yields permissible interpretations.
Suppletion (wholly unpredictable alternations such as
good
∼
better
or
go
∼
went
) stands as the epitome of morphological irregularity. In the formal theoretical tradition, with a few exceptions, ...suppletion has long languished in obscurity, widely considered unlikely to be informative of deeper properties of grammar. This article reviews recent studies that find, as it were, order in chaos—robust patterns of regularity that emerge as significant, arguably universal generalizations in large, cross-linguistic samples. These patterns are indicative of the nature of abstract grammatical representation and, in particular, of constraints that regulate the interaction among the atomic elements that build these representations. Far from sitting in an obscure corner of the grammar and representing nothing more than the detritus of history, suppletive alternations may yet shed light on the nature of the mental representations that constitute grammars, thus providing indirect evidence for aspects of Universal Grammar in the broad sense.
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