A regular treatment of some irregular constructions

Frank Van Eynde www.ccl.kuleuven.be/~frank A regular treatment of some irregular constructions

Regularity and irregularity Regular shapes Irregular shapes

Survey Irregular combinations in NPs Lexical type constraints Phrasal type constraints Another look at the irregular NPs Irregular combinations in VPs Conclusion

The German was für (ein) construction The Dutch van die/van dat construction Pseudo-partitives in English, French and Italian 1. Irregular combinations in NPs

The was für (ein) construction Was für einen Mann willst du eigentlich _? Wat voor een man wil je eigenlijk _? what for a man want you actually _? The preposition für requires an accusative complement - Das ist für dich/*dir/*du. - Das ist für einen/*einem/*ein Mann. Was für einem Mann hast du _ geholfen? Mit was für einem Mann hat sie _ gesprochen? Was für ein Mann ist er eigentlich _?

The was für (ein) construction The interrogative was is singular - Was hat/*haben dich so gestört? Was für ein Mann hat das gesagt? Was für Männer haben/*hat das gesagt? The was für (ein) N’ construction is not a PP, but an NP. The head is neither the preposition für nor the pronoun was.

The was für (ein) construction NP NP Det NOM Det NOM was für Unsinn Männer was für ein Mann

The was … für ein construction NP Det NOM für ein Mann Was ist das eigentlich _ für ein Mann? Wat is dat eigenlijk _ voor een man? what is that actually _ for a man? Was as a predeterminer All the boys will come. The boys will all come.

The was … für construction NP Det ? NOM für Unsinn Was ist das denn _ für Unsinn? Was habt ihr doch _ für eigenartige Allergien?

The van die/van dat construction Er staan van die dure glazen in de kast. there stand of those expensive glasses in the cupboard Er staat van dat vuile water in de sloot. there stands of that dirty water in the ditch Ze hebben [van die lange staarten]. they have of those long tails Een kat met [van die lange haren] a cat with of those long hairs

The van die/van dat construction Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen [in dat boek]. she has the whole day sit read in that book *Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen [Duitse griezelverhalen]. she has the whole day sit read German horrorstories *Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen [van die rare verhalen]. she has the whole day sit read of those weird stories

The van die/van dat construction Ze heeft [gitzwart haar en van die mooie blauwe ogen]. Ze heeft [van die mooie blauwe ogen en gitzwart haar]. *Ze heeft de hele dag [in die Duitse boeken en van die rare verhalen] zitten lezen. *Ze heeft de hele dag [van die rare verhalen en in die Duitse boeken] zitten lezen. Er staan/*staat van die dure glazen in de kast. Er staat/*staan van dat vuile water in de sloot. The van die/van dat N’ construction is an NP. Its head is not the preposition.

The van die/van dat construction NP Det NOM van die van dat dure glazen vuile water von dem → vom di la, di gli → della, degli de le, de les → du, des no arbitrary gaps no morpho-phonological changes

The van die/van dat construction NP NP DetP NOM P ? NP van Det NOM P ? Det dure glazen vuile water die dat dure glazen vuile water van die dat

Partitives NP NP PP none P NP of the mice A lot of the mice died. None of his mice died. All of those mice died. Some of my mice died. Few of the mice died. Five of Kim’s mice died. A lot have died of those cute little mice.

Pseudo-partitives NP Det NOM a lot of mice NP Det NOM some mice A lot of mice died. A number of mice died. A few mice died. No mice died. Some mice died. * A lot have died of cute little mice. A lot of mice were killed. A lot of water was wasted.

Pseudo-partitives NP Det NOM un po’ di un peu de macchine maisons Un po’ di macchine sono/*è già vendute/*o. Alcune macchine sono già vendute. Un peu de maisons seront/*sera détruites. Tant de maisons seront/*sera détruites. Quelques maisons seront détruites.

Pseudo-partitives NP DetP NOM NP Det ? mice tempo lait a whole lot un bel po’ un tout petit peu of di de A whole lot of mice An awful lot of trouble A fat lot of luck Lots of people A large number of people Un bel po’ di tempo Un petit peu de lait Un tout petit peu de lait Peu de gens

Pseudo-partitives NP N’’ NP NOM N’’’ of N’ a lot of NOM a lot N mice mice

Taking stock We have observed irregularities in the German was für (ein) N’ construction the Dutch van die/van dat N’ construction the pseudo-partitives in English, Italian and French In all 3 there is something unusual about the preposition.

A lexical type hierarchy Type constraints Multiple inheritance 2. Lexical type constraints

lexeme PART-OF-SPEECH ARGUMENT- SELECTION v-lx … p-lx noarg-lx argsel-lx intr-lx trans-lx A lexical type hierarchy - 1

Multiple inheritance - 1 noarg-lx → [ARG-ST < >] argsel-lx → [ARGST nelist ] n-lx & noarg-lx: proper nouns, pronouns det-lx & noarg-lx: every, which adv-lx & noarg-lx: yes, no adj-lx & noarg-lx: wooden, former p-lx & noarg-lx: particles Ze stellen de vergadering uit. they put the meeting out Er ruft sie jeden Tag an. he calls her every day on

lexeme PART-OF-SPEECH HEAD-SELECTION v-lx … p-lx hdsel-lx nonhdsel-lx A lexical type hierarchy - 2

Multiple inheritance - 2 hdsel-lx → [SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD | SELECT synsem] adj-lx & hdsel-lx: black horses, very long journeys, the person responsible for this mess v-lx & hdsel-lx: people speaking five languages, people who speak five languages adv-lx & hdsel-lx: never say anything, hardly ever speak, speak (very) quickly p-lx & hdsel-lx: the horses in the stable, speak with difficulty, arrive after midnight det-lx & hdsel-lx: every black horse, almost every horse

Multiple inheritance - 2 nonhdsel-lx → [SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD | SELECT none] adj-lx & nonhdsel-lx: that horse is black, the journey is very long, who is responsible for this mess v-lx & nonhdsel-lx: he was cleaning the stable, they say (that) they speak five languages p-lx & nonhdsel-lx: put the horses in the stable, believe in miracles, look after the children, ruft sie an,stellen de vergadering uit

lexeme PART-OF-SPEECH ARG-SELECTION HEAD-SELECTION … p-lx noarg-lx argsel-lx hdsel-lx nonhdsel-lx A lexical type hierarchy - 3

Multiple inheritance - 3 SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD | SELECT synsem ARG-ST < > adj-lx & noarg-lx & hdsel-lx: former governor, wooden tables det-lx & noarg-lx & hdsel-lx: which horse, every door adv-lx & noarg-lx & hdsel-lx: not knowing the answer, he decided to keep silent p-lx & noarg-lx & hdsel-lx: ??

A phrasal type hierarchy The head-functor phrase type 3. Phrasal type constraints

phrase CLAUSALITY HEADEDNESS clause non-clause hd-ph non-hd-ph hd-fun-ph hd-arg-ph hd-comp-ph hd-subj-ph A phrasal type hierarchy

Head-functor phrases phrase: SS | LOC | CAT | COMPS < > hd-ph: SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD [1] part-of-speech HD-DTR | SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD [1] hd-subj-ph: SS | LOC | CAT | SUBJ < > SUBJ-DTR | SS [1] synsem HD-DTR | SS | LOC | CAT | SUBJ <[1]> hd-fun-ph: FUN-DTR | SS | LOC | CAT | HEAD | SELECT [1] HD-DTR | SS [1] synsem

Head-functor phrases NOM AdjP [SEL [1]] [1] NOM ADV ADJ [SEL [1]] horses very tall

Head-functor phrases NOM [MARKING [2]] Det [SELECT [1], MARKING [2] marked] [1] NOM [unmarked] each student hd-fun-ph: SS | LOC | CAT | MARKING [2] marking FUN-DTR | SS | LOC | CAT | MARKING [2] hd-arg-ph: SS | LOC | CAT | MARKING [2] marking HD-DTR | SS | LOC | CAT | MARKING [2] Partition of marking: marked, unmarked (bare, incomplete).

Prenominal functors NOM [2] Det [2] marked NOM [1] the Adj [1] NOM [1] unmarked dirty tables water HEAD noun MARKING unmarked HEAD | SEL | … | HEAD noun | MARKING [1] MARKING [1] unmarked HEAD | SEL | … | HEAD noun | MARK unmarked MARKING marked marking: [FORM form] Partition of form: determinate, indefinite, …

Partitives NP [2] Pronoun [2] marked PP COMPS < > none P COMPS <[1]> [1] NP determinate of his friends HEAD noun MARKING marked HEAD prep COMPS < NP[determinate] > MARKING unmarked HEAD | SEL | … | HEAD noun | MARK unmarked MARKING | FORM determinate Partition of form: determinate (demonstrative, possessive, relative, interrogative, …), indefinite, …

The Dutch van die/van dat construction The German was für (ein) construction Pseudo-partitives in English, French and Italian 4. Another look at the irregular NPs

The was für (ein) construction NOM [2] Pro [2] marked interrogative NOM [1] was P [1] incomplete für NOM unmarked indefinite für Unsinn HD | SEL |…| HD noun | MARK | FORM für MARK marked [FORM interrog] The result is an interrogative NP which is headed by a common noun. Its case is independent of the requirements of für and its number is supplied by the common noun, not by the pronoun.

Pseudo-partitives NOM [3] Det [3] marked possessive NOM [2] his NOM SEL [1] [2] unmarked [1] NOM [of] incomplete large number of questions HD | SEL | … | HEAD noun | MARK unmarked MARK marked [FORM poss ]

Summing up Making use of a lexical type which inherits from the independently needed p-lx, noarg-lx and headsel-lx, and of a phrasal type which subsumes the phrases of type head-adjunct, head-specifier and head-marker, we can account for the irregular NPs without any further stipulations.

The English infinitival to The English for-to clauses 5. Irregular combinations in VPs

The English infinitival to PP[to] COMPS < > P[to] COMPS <[1]> [1] VP[base] to go to Varna Why not P? Pullum 1982 [2] One can relate it to his lack of vision. *One can relate it to see better. [4] He went right to the captain I wish (*right) to see the captain [7] To the transporter room with him! *To get out of my sight with him! [10] Mudd, who did you give it TO? *Proceed I intend TO, Mr. Sulu.

The English infinitival to [3] I want to go home *I want to my home planet [5] I agree to boldly go where no man has gone before. *I agree to boldly transportation to strange new worlds. [6] To survive an ion storm will be tough even for the Enterprise. *To within a thousand miles of a black hole will be tough. [9] I’m gonna explore strange new worlds. *I’m gonna Epsilon Delta IV. [1] No other prepositions take uninflected VP complements. [8] Problem with for-to clauses: S → NP PP or S → PP PP

The English infinitival to [1] COMPS < > [1] V[inf, + AUX] COMPS <[2]> [2] VP[base] to go to Varna I can’t come, but he can _. He didn’t come, but she did _. *I can’t come but I’d like _. *I couldn’t come, but I wanted _. I can’t come but I would like to _. Why infinitival? *toes, *toing, *toed, *to to

The English infinitival to No verbal morphology: *toes, *tid, *ton’t, *toesn’t, *tidn’t, *tone, *toing, *to to Special VFORM value which only applies to to. In this way every morphologically invariant word can be argued to be a verb (with a defective paradigm). No conjunction with other (subject raising) verbs: She [is and remains] our best goalkeeper. We will [invade and conquer] the valley. They were all [eating and drinking]. *It may [seem and to] to amuse her.

The English infinitival to 'Only auxiliaries and to license VP ellipsis' BUT not all of them *He shouldn’t be punished for a trifle like that, but he is being _. ? They haven’t (got) to leave, but I’ve had _. AND they are not the only ones John is more reliable than Kim _. Pete has more sheep than all of us together _. Nobody is as fast as my friend from Illinois _.

[1] VP[inf] [2] marked [to] [1] VP[inf] unmarked P, SELECT [1] [2] marked [to] to go to Varna The English infinitival to p-lx & noarg-lx & hdsel-lx: to HD|SEL|…|HEAD verb [VF inf] |SUBJ <NP> |COMPS < > |MARKING unmarked MARKING marked [FORM to] Why Pullum’s arguments against P status do not apply.

A regular treatment of some irregular constructions