Scientific publications and manuscripts related to the project

2009

Prepublication proofs of papers in the Tromsø University Working Papers in Language and Linguistics

Nordlyd 36.1

Special issue on Nanosyntax

Edited by Peter Svenonius, Gillian Ramchand, Michal Starke, and Knut Tarald Taraldsen

Nanosyntax: A short primer to a new approach to language

Michal Starke

pp. 1-6

Keywords: nanosyntax

Abstract:

Nanosyntax is a new approach to the architecture of language, designed to make (better) sense of the new empirical picture emerging from recent years of syntactic research. It is a large-scale project, addressing a wide array of issues, ranging from big issues such as the modularity of language, to fine details, such as the derivation of allomorphy in irregular patterns of given languages and its interaction with syntactic structures.

Directional expressions cross-linguistically: Nanosyntax and lexicalization

Marina Pantcheva

pp. 7-39

Keywords: path, goal, source, route, location, directed motion verb, local cases, lexicalization, syncretism, nanosyntax, superset, allative, ablative, perlative, prolative, locative

Abstract:

In this paper, I investigate the syntactic structure underlying expressions of the three main types of Paths: Goal Path, Source Path and Route Path. I suggest that they are structurally different and propose a fine-grained syntactic structure for each of them, which is able to account for their morphological make-up. I explore how this structure is spelled out in various languages and show that a nanosyntactic approach to lexicalization captures the facts in an elegant way. In discussing the spell-out of the structure by prepositions and case affixes, I reach the conclusion that sometimes the verb has to 'reach down' and lexicalize heads which belong to the spatial domain (cf. Svenonius and Son 2008). I provide evidence from languages where I argue that this is the case.

The nanosyntax of Hungarian postpositions

Éva Dékány

pp. 41-76

Keywords: Hungarian adpositions, dressed postposition, naked postposition, case, spanning

Abstract:

This article considers evidence for a Nanosyntactic approach to language from Hungarian PPs. Hungarian postpositions can be divided into classes: those which take a complement without morphologically visible case (dressed postpositions), and those which take an oblique complement (naked postpositions). This paper argues that in narrow syntax, both types of postpositions subcategorize for a KP complement. The difference between the two classes is captured in terms of the amount of structure they spell out. Dressed postpositions spell out both material in the P-domain and K, thus no Case is needed or possible on the complement, while naked postpositions spell out only material in the P-domain but not K, therefore their complement needs case. It is shown that from the proposed lexical representations an empirically motivated and insightful analysis of Hungarian postpositions ensues, which elegantly captures the different word-order possibilities of the two classes.

Classical Armenian declension

Pavel Caha

pp. 77-112

Keywords: case, case syncretism, Classical Armenian, Nanosyntax, phrasal spell out, synthetic vs. analytic morphology

Abstract:

This paper looks in detail at the Classical Armenian declension. I argue that the system provides insights into two central issues in this empirical domain: the morphosyntactic structure of the forms which make up a case paradigm, and the fine working of spell-out. On the empirical side, I highlight a connection between case syncretism and its synthetic vs. analytic expression. More specifically, case syncretism in the language is restricted by contiguity in a linear order of cases. In the same ordering, analytic expression of categories gradually replaces synthetic expression. The technology which is proposed to account for this is a core part of nanosyntax (Starke 2005, this volume): fine grained syntax, and phrasal spell-out. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction of the Superset Principle and the "Biggest wins" theorem, two core components of the nanosyntactic spell-out machinery.

Lexicalizing number and gender in Lunigiana

Knut Tarald Taraldsen

pp. 113-127

Keywords: lexicalization, the Superset Principle, nominal morphology, Italian dialects

Abstract:

In this article, I present an analysis of gender and number marking on nouns in a group of Italian dialects. These dialects share the property that the plural morpheme is -i- in both the feminine and the masculine gender in both declension classes. But there is an asymmetry: in contexts where plurality is marked on a determiner, the plural marking -i- does not appear on nouns or adjectives in the feminine gender, but does appear on masculine nouns and adjectives. I argue that this asymmetry can be understood once it is recognized that a vocabulary item can lexicalize more than a single terminal, and that lexicalization is governed by the Superset Principle, i.e. if the lexicon associates a vocabulary item with a feature set F, it can lexicalize any constituent with the feature set F' provided F is a superset of F'.

An argument for phrasal spell-out: Indefinites and interrogatives in Spanish

Antonio Fábregas

pp. 129-168

Keywords: spell out, indefinites, interrogatives, number, Spanish

Abstract:

In this article we will provide evidence in favour of Phrasal Spell Out (PSO), a procedure of lexical insertion where non-terminal nodes in a tree configuration can be targeted by spell-out. We will propose that the formal differences between two Spanish indefinite pronouns, alguien and alguno, can be captured if the morpheme -ien is analyzed as a lexical item which corresponds to a syntactic phrase; this phrase, crucially, is broken in the presence of a plural number projection. Independent properties of the internal syntactic structure of the interrogative make the lexical item -ien compatible with plural in that configuration.

Noun-verb conversion without a generative lexicon

Björn Lundquist

pp. 169-190

Keywords: lexical categories, zero-derived nominals, nominalizations, underassociation, syntax-lexicon interface, morphology

Abstract:

This paper discusses different types of zero-derived de-verbal nominals with a focus on result nominals, simple event nominals and complex event nominals. I argue that zero-derived nominals should be treated on a par with overtly derived nominals. I claim that verbs that have related zero-derived nominals have nominal gender features in their lexical entries in addition to verbal features, like Proc and Res, and that merging a gender feature on top of an event-structure representation results in a nominal. To capture the fact that verbal entries can be inserted in both nominal and verbal contexts, I apply the principle of underattachment, or underassociation, that allows lexical entries to be inserted in the syntax even when not all of the features in the lexical entry are present in the syntax (see e.g. Ramchand 2008 and Caha 2009). In verbal contexts, no gender feature is inserted, and in some of the nominal contexts, only a subset of the verb's event features are present. I further argue that the only function of overt nominalizing suffixes is to lexicalize a gender feature. If the lexical entry of a verb already contains a gender feature, no overt nominalizing suffix needs to be inserted.

The union spell-out mechanism

Peter Kinyua Muriungi

pp. 191-205

Abstract:

This paper argues that grammar has a union spell-out principle that dictates that contiguous heads be spelled out by a single morpheme or phrase if there exists a morpheme or phrase in the lexicon with a collection of the features of the contiguous heads.

Other project-related papers in 2009

Adger, David and Peter Svenonius. to appear. Features in minimalist syntax. In The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Minimalism, edited by Cedric Boeckx. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Son, Minjeong. to appear a. Linguistic variation and lexical parameter: The case of directed motion. In Penn Working Papers vol. 15. UPenn, Philadelphia.

Son, Minjeong. to appear b. Revisiting resultatives in Korean. In Proceedings of the 18th Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference. CSLI, Stanford, Ca.

Svenonius, Peter. To appear. Spatial P in English. In Mapping Spatial PPs (Cartography of Syntactic Structures Series), edited by Luigi Rizzi and Guglielmo Cinque. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Svenonius, Peter. to appear. An Övdalian case system. In Studies in Oevdalian Syntax, edited by Kristine Bentzen and Henrik Rosenkvist. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Roy, Isabelle and Peter Svenonius. 2009. Complex prepositions. In Autour de la préposition. Actes du Colloque International de Caen (20-22 septembre 2007), edited by Jacques François, Eric Gilbert, Claude Guimier, and Maxi Krause, pp. 105-116. Presses Universitaires de Caen, Caen.

2008

Dékány, Éva. 2008. El + verb complex predicates in Hungarian. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 1-17. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Hróarsdóttir, Thorbjörg. 2008. Verb particles in Older Icelandic. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 213-243. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Pantcheva, Marina. 2008a. First phase syntax of Persian complex predicates: Argument structure and telicity. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 143-161. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Pantcheva, Marina. 2008b. Noun preverbs in complex predicates. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 19-45. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Pantcheva, Marina. 2008c. The place of PLACE in Persian. In Syntax and Semantics of Spatial P, edited by Anna Asbury, Jakub Dotlačil, Berit Gehrke, and Rick Nouwen, pp. 305-330. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Pantcheva, Marina. 2008d. The Syntactic structure of locations, goals, and sources. Ms. CASTL, University of Tromsø.

Ramchand, Gillian. 2008. Lexical items in complex predications: Selection as underassociation. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 115-141. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Son, Minjeong. 2008. Korean resultatives revisited: Complementation versus adjunction. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 89-113. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Son, Minjeong and Peter Cole. 2008. An event-based account of -kan constructions in Standard Indonesian. Language 84 1: 120-160.

Son, Minjeong and Peter Svenonius. 2008. Microparameters of cross-linguistic variation: Directed motion and resultatives. In Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, edited by Natasha Abner and Jason Bishop, pp. 388-396. Cascadilla, Somerville, Ma.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008a. Complex predicates and the functional sequence. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 47-88. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008b. Paradigm generation and Northern Sámi stems. In Inflectional Identity, edited by Asaf Bachrach and Andrew Nevins, pp. 73-100. Oxford, New York.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008c. The position of adjectives and other phrasal modifiers in the decomposition of DP. In Adjectives and Adverbs: Syntax, Semantics, and Discourse, edited by Louise McNally and Chris Kennedy, pp. 16-42. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008d. Projections of P. In Syntax and Semantics of Spatial P, edited by Anna Asbury, Jakub Dotlačil, Berit Gehrke, and Rick Nouwen, pp. 63-84. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008e. Review of Non-projecting Words by Ida Toivonen Language 84 3: 666-670.

Svenonius, Peter. 2008f. Russian prefixes are phrasal. In Formal Description of Slavic Languages: The Fifth Conference, Leipzig 2003, edited by Gerhild Zybatow, Luka Szucsich, Uwe Junghanns, and Roland Meyer, pp. 526-537. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main.

Tungseth, Mai Ellin. 2008. Verbal Prepositions and Argument Structure: Path, Place, and Possession in Norwegian. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

van de Vate, Marleen. 2008. I músu fu woóko taánga: Restructuring in Saámaka. In Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35, Special issue on Complex Predicates, edited by Peter Svenonius and Inna Tolskaya, pp. 189-212. University of Tromsø, Tromsø. Available at http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/nordlyd/.

2007 Working Papers

The following papers were published as the Tromsø Working Papers in Language and Linguistics (Nordlyd) volume 34.2, special issue on Space, Motion, and Result (the versions linked here are proofs):

Antonio Fábregas: '(Axial) Parts and Wholes'

Johan Rooryck and Guido Vanden Wyngaerd: 'The Syntax of Spatial Anaphora'

R. Amritavalli: 'Parts, Axial Parts, and Next Parts in Kannada'

Kaori Takamine: 'Resultative Predicates in Japanese'

Minjeong Son: 'Directionality and Resultativity: The Cross-linguistic Correlation Revisited'

Antonio Fábregas: 'The Exhaustive Lexicalisation Principle'

Tarald Taraldsen and Lucie Medová: 'The Czech Locative Chameleon'

Pavel Caha: 'Case Movement in PPs'

Monika Bašić: 'Serbian Ps with and without iz and the Superset Principle'

Marina Pantcheva: 'Bulgarian Spatial Prefixes and Event Structure'

Inna Tolskaya: 'Unifying Prepositions and Prefixes in Russian: Conceptual Structure versus Syntax'

2006 Working Papers

The Moving Right Along Project produced the following papers in 2006, the first eleven of which have been published in the Tromsø University Working Papers in Language and Linguistics (Nordlyd), in two special issues dedicated to Adpositions (33.1 and 33.2), edited by Peter Svenonius and Marina Pantcheva.

The links below are to abstracts with further links to the definitive Working Papers versions as well as proofs.

Persian Preposition Classes
Marina Pantcheva

Categorizing Adpositions in Kîîtharaka
Peter Muriungi

The Emergence of Axial Parts
Peter Svenonius

The Axial Part Phrase in Japanese
Kaori Takamine

Body Part Nouns in Expressions of Location in French
Isabelle Roy

Towards a Typology of Morphological Case
Anna Asbury

Aspect and Verbal Prepositions
Gillian Ramchand and Mai Tungseth

Directed Motion and Non-Predicative PathP in Korean
Minjeong Son

Goal-Source Asymmetry and Russian Spatial Prefixes
Evguenia Markovskaya

Hungarian Spatial PPs
Veronika Hegedüs

Prepositions in Krio
Marleen van de Vate