CAS LX 522 Syntax I

1. CAS LX 522Syntax I Installment 11b. Still more loose ends about A-movement (Chapter 8, more or less)

2. Recap: V2 languages • There are a number of languages that are classified as “verb second” or “V2” languages. They are so called because in general the (tensed) verb must be second, after the first major constituent in the sentence. • De man heeft een boek gezien gisteren. (Dutch)the man has a book seen yesterday‘the man has seen a book yesterday.’ • een boek heeft de man gezien gisteren. • gisteren heeft de man een boek gezien. • Die Kinder haben diesen Film gesehen.(German)the children have this film seen‘The children have seen this film.’ • Diesen Film haben die Kinder gesehen.

3. Recap: V2 languages • The basic idea we’ll pursue with respect to V2 languages is this: • To get the tensed verb higher than the subject (which is sometimes is), we move the verb to T, and then T (with the verb) to C. • To put C into “second position”, we move some phrase into SpecCP. • The “first phrase” in V2 languagesis generally interpreted as the topicof the sentences. So, we say that thetopic (whatever it is going to be) hasa feature that marks it as such:An interpretable [top] feature. CP C DPdiesen Roman [top] TP C+T+V+v

4. Recap: V2 languages • The way our system works (movement happens in order to check strong uninterpretable features), we implement this as follows: • Because the verb moves to T, we need there to be a strong feature checked between T and v. • This is common cross-linguistically. Recall French,where the highest verbal head (the v, or an auxiliary) moves to T. • This explained why verbs always precedeadverbs and negation in French. • Since the [tense] feature of Tvalues the [uInfl:] feature ofthe highest verbal head, wesay that in French, when [tense]values [uInfl:], the feature isstrong. T vP T [past] VP v V v[uInfl:past*]

5. Recap: V2 languages • So, v starts out with a [uInfl:] feature. • valways starts out with a [uInfl:] feature. • We Merge T, and the [tense] feature (e.g., [past] = [tense:past]) matches and values the [uInfl:] feature. • What differentiates French and English is that when [tense] values [uInfl:], the valued [uInfl:] feature is strong. • In English, it is not strongexcept in one case: if the[uInfl:] feature is one anauxiliary (Perf, Prog, Pass),then a [uInfl:] feature valued by [tense] is strong. • Auxiliaries precedenegation and adverbs,main verbs do not. T vP T v T[past] VP <v> v[uInfl:past*] V

6. Reminder: Strong features • Strong features are uninterpretable features that can only be checked when they are local to(a sister of) the feature that checks them. • Strong features very often = something must move. • A feature gets to be strong in one of two ways: • An inherently strong feature of the lexical item. • v has a strong [uV*] feature. • T has a strong [uD*] feature. • eat (V) has a strong [uD*] feature (associated with the Theme q-role). • A feature that becomes strong when valued. • Prog has a weak [uInfl:] feature. When valued by [tense], it becomes strong. (In English, Aux moves to T: I am not eating green eggs & ham) • T has a weak [uclause-type:] feature. When valued by [clause-type:Q], it becomes strong. (In English, T moves to C in questions: Would you eat them on a train?)

7. Recap: V2 languages • To account for the fact that v moves to T and then T moves to C in German: a feature that C values on T is valued as strong. • [uclause-type:] is a perfect candidate. • So, when [uclause-type:] is valued by C in German, it is valued as strong, and so T moves to C. C TP C[decl] T Subject vP T v T[past,uclause-type:decl*] VP <v> V v[uInfl:past*]

8. Recap: V2 languages • To account for the fact that v moves to T and then T moves to C in German: a feature that C values on T is valued as strong. • [uclause-type:] is a perfect candidate. • So, when [uclause-type:] is valued by C in German, it is valued as strong, and so T moves to C. C TP C T C[decl] T Subject v T[past,uclause-type:decl*] vP <T> V v[uInfl:past*] VP <v>

9. Recap: V2 languages • To account for the fact that the topic moves into SpecCP, we say that C has a [utop*] feature. Whatever is the topic in the sentence will have a feature designating that, [top]. • Just like the EPP feature ([uD*]) of T forces the subject into SpecTP, the [utop*] feature of C will force movement of the topic into SpecCP. C TP C T C[decl,utop*] T Subject[top] v T vP <T> V v VP <v>

10. Recap: V2 languages • To account for the fact that the topic moves into SpecCP, we say that C has a [utop*] feature. Whatever is the topic in the sentence will have a feature designating that, [top]. • Just like the EPP feature ([uD*]) of T forces the subject into SpecTP, the [utop*] feature of C will force movement of the topic into SpecCP. CP C Subject[top] TP C T C[decl,utop*] T <Subject> v T vP <T> V v VP <v>

11. Embedded clauses • Will John arrive late? • T moves to C in English questions. • [uclause-type:] on T is strong when valued by [Q] on C. • I wonder [CP if John will arrive late ]. • T does not move to C in embedded questions. • Perhaps because C is “filled” already (by if). • Intuition: We need to be able to tell when C is [Q]— if nothing is pronounced there, we move T there to signal that C is [Q]. • Er sagte [CPdass ich schon letztes Jahr diesen Roman las ]he said that I already last year this book read‘He said that I read this book already last year.’ • If C is filled in German (dass), T does not move to C. • Also notice that when T does not move to C, the verb is at the end. • German appears to be a head-final language.

12. Interlude: what we’re doing • Remember, what we’re doing is trying to describe our knowledge of language. • We believe that the intricacies of human language are actually too complicated to learn, that we’re in fact describing a kind of system that is genetically “built-in”, sort of like our vision system. • If that’s the case, the same system must underlie all human languages, and the differences must be relatively minor. • We’re identifying a few “parameters of variation”— ways in which human languages can differ.

13. Interlude: what we’re doing • What we’re saying here is that languages can differ in a few small respects, and we can account for that: • Headedness: heads come before complements in some languages (English), and after complements in others (Japanese, German). • Verb-raising: some languages move v to T (French), others don’t. (Under what conditions does T value [uInfl:] as strong?) • V2: some languages move v all the way to C (through T), and topicalize something, yielding the V2 pattern. (Under what conditions does C have a [utop*] feature and value [uclause-type:] as strong?) • EPP: VSO languages seem to move v up to T, but don’t move the subject to SpecTP, yielding VSO. (Does T have a [uD*] feature?)

14. V2…step 1 C TP C • V moves to v. • Perf moves to T. • T moves to C. Perf+Thabe[Decl*] CØ [Decl] T DPich PerfP <Perf+T> <Perf> vP <DP> v VP v Vgelesen v DPdiesen Roman <V>

15. V2…step 2a C TP C • The object is marked as topic. • C has a [utop*] feature. Perf+Thabe[Decl*] CØ [Decl,utop*] T DPich PerfP <Perf+T> <Perf> vP <DP> v VP v Vgelesen v DPdiesen Roman [top] <V>

16. CP V2…step 2b C DPdiesen Roman [top] TP C • The object moves up to SpecTP. • The tensed verb is now in second position. Perf+Thabe[Decl*] CØ [Decl,utop*] T DPich PerfP <Perf+T> <Perf> vP <DP> v VP v Vgelesen v <V> <DP>

17. I saw Jack open the fridge • Given what we have so far, what can we make of I saw Jack open the fridge? • This is a little bit like I want Jack to open the fridge, so let’s start there. • What kind of verb is want? • What is the case of Jack, and how is it checked? • What kind of embedded clause is this (CP or TP)?

18. I want Jack to open the fridge • We build the vP as usual. • Merge open with the fridge (forming VP). • Merge v with VP (HoP). • Move V to v • Merge Jack with v. vP DPJack v v VP Vopen v <V> DPthefridge

19. I want Jack to open the fridge • Merge vP and the nonfinite T to. • Move Jack up to SpecTP (EPP). vP <DP> v v VP Vopen v <V> DPthefridge TP T DPJack Tto vP

20. I want Jack to open the fridge CP • And then we add the main clause (want, v, T, I, C) TP CØ vP T DPI <DP> v T[pres] vP v VP v Vopen v VP <V> DPthefridge Vwant v TP <V> T DPJack Tto vP

21. I saw Jack open the fridge CP • What now of I saw Jack open the fridge? • Presumably the lower vP is the same. • We have the same verbs, same arguments. • Jack is the Agent of open • The fridge is the Theme. • But there’s no to. So what if there’s just no T? • And then we add the main clause (want, v, T, I, C) TP CØ vP T DPI <DP> v T[pres] vP v VP v Vopen v VP <V> DPthefridge Vwant v TP <V> T DPJack Tto vP

22. CP I saw Jack open the fridge TP CØ T DPI • Does everything work? • Does Jack get its case checked? • From where? • Any other unchecked features? • It appears that see can take something as small as a vP as its complement. A small clause. T[past] vP v VP Vsee v vP <V> v DPJack v VP Vopen v <V> DPthe fridge

23. Small clauses • There are actually several different kinds of small clauses. A small clause generally consists of a predicate and just enough structure to contain all of its arguments. • Predicates can be found with several different categories. A predicate is something like a property (or a relation) that can be attributed to something (or some things). • I saw Bill open the fridge. • I consider Bill incompetent. • I saw Bill in the garden. • I consider Bill a friend.

24. I saw Bill in the garden • In can be considered a predicate, relating two arguments. • (true when the first is “contained” in the second) • Of course, this can also mean that I did some seeing in the garden, and that seeing was a seeing of Bill—but that’s not the meaning we’re after. The meaning we’re after here is the one that can be paraphrased as: I saw that Bill was in the garden. PP P DPBill Pin DPthe garden

25. I saw Bill in the garden CP • As with I saw Bill open the fridge, see seems to be able to take a small clause as it complement. TP CØ T DPI T[past] vP v VP Vsee v PP <V> P DPBill Pin DPthe garden

26. I consider Bill incompetent • We’ve seen small clauses with verbs… • I heard [vP Bill drive away ]. • …and with prepositions… • I heard [PP Bill in the kitchen ]. • …but things get a little bit funny when we consider small clauses with nominal predicates and adjectives… • I consider [ Bill a friend ]. • I consider [ Bill incompetent ]. • …and even with unaccusative verbs… • I saw [vP the ice melt ]

27. I saw the ice melt • With an unaccusative verb like melt, we would start off with this vP. • See the problem? vP v VP Vmelt v <V> DPtheice

28. *I saw melt the ice CP TP CØ • Something isn’t quite right here. • In order not to complicate things too much, we will not pursue the solution very far, but just as an exercise, let’s think about what we would need to say. T DPI T[past] vP v VP Vsee v vP <V> v VP Vmelt v <V> DPtheice

29. *I saw melt the ice CP TP CØ • Somehow the ice needs to move over melt. But to where? • We could say SpecvP, but why would the ice move there just when we have a small clause unaccusative? • *I the ice melted. • Also, this won’t help us with a similar problem we’d have withI consider Bill my friend. T DPI T[past] vP v VP Vsee v vP <V> v VP Vmelt v <V> DPtheice

30. *I saw melt the ice CP TP CØ • A suggestion that has been made in the literature is that small clauses, while they may lack a T, are still a category of their own: a PredP (predication phrase). • If we suppose that we have a PredP above vP, one that acts like T insofar as it has a [uD*] feature, our problem will be solved. • Note: You will not be asked to draw PredP. T DPI T[past] vP v VP Vsee v vP <V> v VP Vmelt v <V> DPtheice

31. CP I saw the ice melt TP CØ T DPI T[past] vP v VP Vsee v PredP <V> DPthe ice Pred vP Pred[uD*] v VP Vmelt v <V> <DP>

32. Etc. • From here, I’ll just leave this as a topic for further exploration, e.g., in Syntax II. • Things get pretty complicated pretty quickly when trying to deal with all of the properties of small clauses. (Try thinking about I consider Bill my friend.) • You’ve been exposed to the concept. • If you see small clauses again in this course, it will only be of the PP type: • I saw Bill in the garden. • I want Bill off this ship. • To repeat: You do not need to incorporate PredP into the system for the purposes of LX522.

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34. I consider Bill my friend • Small clauses need not have verbs. I saw Bill in the garden, for example. Here, the main predicate is in. • We’ve seen nouns assign q-roles before, for example in Bill’s destruction of the vase. • Here, it seems like Bill is getting a role from friend. The property friend is being attributed to Bill. • I possess this friend, so we’ll want a PossP as well.

35. PredP I consider Bill my friend Pred • This is almost right, but… • When do nouns assign q-roles? • How does everything get case? • How is Bill selected as the DP to raise to SpecPredP? (What feature is matched?) DP Pred D DPmy PossP D <DP> Poss Poss nP n NP Nfriend n <N> DPBill