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More Fun with LDP

More Fun with LDP. Laura Michaelis University of Colorado. Left-detached NPs are not arguments. Omitting them doesn’t affect comprehensibility of the following clause. They do not affect syntactic constraints (e.g., the Icelandic verb-second constraint).

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More Fun with LDP

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  1. More Fun with LDP Laura Michaelis University of Colorado

  2. Left-detached NPs are not arguments • Omitting them doesn’t affect comprehensibility of the following clause. • They do not affect syntactic constraints (e.g., the Icelandic verb-second constraint). • They can be freely ordered with respect to one another. • They may lack case-marking they would get as arguments. • They may lack any syntactic relationship to the following material.

  3. Omission: Jalkaltek • Jalkaltek (Mayan) is a good LDNP language because it’s VSO. • This means that any NP to the left of the verb will be a LDNP (or PrCS NP) rather than an argument. • Jalkaltek has person/number/gender classifiers that double as pronouns: Naj Pel, s-maq naj ix Malin. CLF Peter, ERG.3sg-hit he CLF Mary ‘Peter, he hit Mary.’ Naj Pel, ix Malin, s-maq naj ix. CLF Peter, CLF Mary, ERG.3sg-hit he her ‘Peter, Mary, he hit her.’ S- maq naj ix ERG.3sg-hit he her ‘He hit her.’ • We see here that the third sentence is semantically coherent, and that therefore neither of the two LDNPs naj Pel or ix Malin is required.

  4. Contrast with focus in Jalkaltek • A NP to the left of the verb may also be in the PrCs: ‘Peter, Mary, he hit her.’ Ha’ ix Malin s- maq naj It CLF Mary ERG.3sg-hit he ‘It was Mary that he hit.’ • In this example, we see that the portion following the PrCS NPix Malin is NOT a potentially complete sentence, since the direct object must be present: S- maq naj *(ix/ix Malin) ERG.3sg-hit he * ‘He hit.’ [the* outside the parentheses means that the sentence is bad in the absence of either ix or ix Malin.]

  5. Omission: Basque • In Basque, an SOV language, only intonation will distinguish a detached NP from a subject NP. • But again, we can say that the portion of the clause following the NP is always potentially complete on its own. Bat-ek, topau eban astronomo bat one-E encounter AUX astronomer one-A “One (brother), he met an astronomer.” Bigarren-ak, sastre bat topau eban. second-E tailor one-A encounter AUX “The second, he came across a tailor.” (Basque)

  6. Irrelevance for syntactic ordering constraints • A LD NP will not count as part of the clause for the purpose of determining ‘second position’: Der Joachim liebt seinen Porsche. Jetz liebt er seinen Porsche, der Joachim. Der Joachim, er liebt seinen Porsche. *Der Joachim, liebt er seinen Porsche. ‘(Now) Joachim loves his Porsche.’ (German)

  7. Free ordering • If there are two LD NPs, these can be freely ordered with respect to one another: Zure lagun-ek, seme-ari, oparia ekarri diote. your friends-E son-D gift-A bring AUX “Your friends and their son, they brought a gift to him.” Seme-ari, zure lagun-ek, oparia ekarri diote. son-D your friends-E gift-A bring AUX “The son and your friends, they brought a gift to him.” (Basque)

  8. Zero case • Sometimes a LD NP lacks the case appropriate to an argument: Antxon (-i), badakite nork lapurtu zion. Anthony, they.know who robbed AUX.3pl.3sg. “Anthony, they know who robbed him.” (Basque) (A) Los cérvidos se les cae (to) the deer REFL them-DAT falls todos los años el cuerno. all the years the horn “Deer, they drop their antlers every year.” (Lit. ‘Deer, to them the antlers fall off every year.” (Spanish)

  9. ‘Unlinked’ LD NPs • Some LD NPs do not co-refer with any pronominal argument in the clause: Dade county, you wouldn’t believe the rise in crime Colette: Est-ce qu’il te demande la permission, lui, quand il va au café avec ses copains? Raymonde: Non, bien sur, mais, enfin, un homme, c’est pas pareil. C: ‘Does he ask your permission when he goes out to the café with his friends? R: No, of course, but, you know, a man, it’s not the same thing.’ (French) Eta beste hizkuntzak, baduzu aditzak urtebete-an irakastea. and other languages-A, you.have verbs-A year-in learned “Other languages, you can learn the verbs in a year.” Euskal Erria, ez daukazu etxe-tik irtetzit guardozolik gabe Basque Country, NEG AUX house-ABL leave umbrella without “The Basque Country, you can never leave the house without an umbrella.”(Basque)

  10. LD NPs differ from NPs in the PCS • The two can co-occur: The new guy in charge, what do you think of him? Emakume-ek zer nahi dute? women-E what want AUX “Women, what do they want?”(Basque) • Slicing off a NP in the PCS can result in an incoherent sentence: Who wants GUM? *Wants GUM ? THAT I really don’t WANT. *I really don’t WANT. • A NP in the PCS will influence syntactic constraints: *I sumar hún hafthi unnith ath bruarsmithi. ‘In summer she has worked at bridge-building’.

  11. LD NPs differ from RD NPs • No unlinked RD NPs: Dade county, you wouldn’t believe the rise in crime. ??You wouldn’t believe the rise in crime, Dade County. • Funny constraints: Sont en plastique maintenant, les tables de bistro? *Les tables de bistro, sont en plastique maintenant? (French)

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