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Agreement Nov 7, 2012 – Day 29

Agreement Nov 7, 2012 – Day 29. Introduction to Syntax ANTH 3590/7590 Harry Howard Tulane University. Course management. http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/ANTH3590/ We need to spend our $150 from the Provost ’ s Undergraduate Activities Fund. AGREEMENT, CASE & A-MVT. Radford §7.1-4.

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Agreement Nov 7, 2012 – Day 29

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  1. AgreementNov 7, 2012 – Day 29 Introduction to Syntax ANTH 3590/7590 Harry Howard Tulane University

  2. Course management • http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/ANTH3590/ • We need to spend our $150 from the Provost’s Undergraduate Activities Fund. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  3. AGREEMENT, CASE & A-MVT ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Radford §7.1-4

  4. AGREEMENT & VALUATION ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Radford §7.2-3

  5. Agreement • What is agreement in grammar? • Some data • I am happy. ~ We are happy. • You are happy. ~ Y’all are happy. • She/he/it is happy. ~ They are happy. • There is a fly in my soup. ~ They are several flies in my soup. • Call the features of person and number that are the basis of agreement phi/ɸ features. • A verb lacks values for phi features and must find them in order to be conjugated and so is called a probe; • a noun has values for phi features and so is called a goal (of the probe). • A probe must find its goal within its c-command domain. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  6. Agreement with passive be and there (2, 4), first draft CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. PRN there T’ T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane V awarded QP several prizes [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  7. Case • What is case in grammar? • Remember that case in English only shows up on pronouns • Nominative: I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they • Accusative: me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them • Genitive: my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their • Treat case as another feature, [u-Case], for agreement • Nominative comes from agreement with finite T, see next slide. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  8. Case with passive be (7, 9), first draft CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. T’ PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [Nom-Case] T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane V arrested PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [ -Case] ---- ----- ----------- ---------- ------------ 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Nom Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  9. UNINTERPRETABLE FEATURES ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane §7.4

  10. Recall the shape of the grammar Phonetic form/interpretation: syntactic structure is spelled out; unvalued features cause the derivation to crash. Syntax ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Semantic representation: syntactic structure is converted to a meaning; uninterpretable features cause the derivation to crash.

  11. Uninterpretable features Features are interpreted in the semantics, or not. (13) ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  12. How to get rid of uninterpretable features? • Feature deletion (14) • An uninterpretable feature is deleted immediately after any operation it is involved in applies and is thereafter invisible in the syntactic and semantic components (but visible in the PF component). • Simultaneity condition (18) • All syntactic operations involving a given probe apply simultaneously. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  13. Repeat example of passive be (16, 17) CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. T’ PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [Nom-Case] T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] [EPP] VP ----------------- ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane ------- -------- ------- V arrested PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [ -Case] ---- ----- ----------- ---------- ------------ 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Nom goal supplies phi features to probe. EPP: attracts the closest nominal to spec-T, so EPP looks like EF

  14. EXPLETIVE IT SUBJECTS ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane §7.5

  15. Introduction • Some data 19a) It is said that he has taken bribes. ~19b) It is difficult to cope with long-term illness. ~19c) It’s a pity that they can’t come. • The problem: what does be agree with? • that • that probably doesn’t have phi features • (19b) has no that • the subject of the embedded clause • the embedded clause in (19b) has no subject • the embedded clause in (19c) has a plural subject • impenetrability prevents it from entering into a relationship with a higher head • it • OK, so what are its features? • only [3-Per, Sg-Num] & these are uninterpretable; no gender or case ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  16. So how does be agree with it? • Sneaky assumption: only heads can be probes, not phrases. So it cannot be a probe; only a goal of agreement. • If it originates in Spec-T, it is not c-commanded by its probe. • The only solution is for it to originate in spec-V, just like any other subject, see next slide. • Evidence • They said that he has taken bribes. (25a) active said • I won’t have it said that he has taken bribes. (25b) passive said ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  17. Expletive it (26-27) CP TP C ø T’ PRN it [3-Pers] [Sg-Num] Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. ------------ ------------- T BE [Pres-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] [EPP] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane ------- -------- ------- PRN it [3-Pers] [Sg-Num] V' ------- ----- ----------- ---------- 3 Pl V said CP that he has taken bribes Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  18. NEXT TIME ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Continue §7

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