Morphology and Syntax

Morphology and Syntax More on sentence structure

The head of sentences Two unresolved questions: • What is the head of a sentence? • What is the position of modals and auxiliary verbs in the sentence structure? Maybe these questions are related.

In English, modals and auxiliaries do not occupy the same position as main verbs. They are further to the left: Sara does not watch that program. *Sara watches not that program. Sara will not watch that program. *Sara not will watch that program.

Idea: the ‘auxiliary’ position is the head position of the sentence. general X-bar schema: XP specifier(s) X’ X complement(s) sentences: S (= AuxP) NP Aux’ Aux VP

Another special property of modal auxiliary verbs in English: they must be inflected for tense and agreement. *The carpenter hopes to can build the house. *She has could reading that book. So we relabel the ‘Aux’ position in the sentence as the ‘Infl’ position.

Full sentence structure CP C’ C S (= InflP) NP Infl’ Infl VP V’ V

What happens if there is no auxiliary to fill up the Infl position? In English: nothing, really. John will never read the paper in the afternoon. John never reads the paper in the afternoon.

What happens if there is no auxiliary to fill up the Infl position? In French: the main verb goes into the Infl position. Jean a souvent donné une pomme à Marie. John has often given an apple to Mary *Jean souvent donne une pomme à Marie. John often gives an apple to Mary Jean donne souvent une pomme à Marie. John gives often an apple to Mary

CP C’ C S (= InflP) NP Infl’ Infl VP souvent V’ V

Subject-verb inversion What has Geraldine read? *What Geraldine has read? Why would you do a thing like that? *Why you would do a thing a like that?

CP Wh-phrase C’ C S (= InflP) NP Infl’ Infl VP V’ V

No subject-verb inversion in embedded questions: I wonder [if Frederick has ever heard that song]. *I wonder [if has Frederick ever heard that song]. Fronted auxiliaries and complementizers are in complementary distribution, because they both occupy the C position.

Generalized verb movement to C In English, verb movement to the C position is limited to (i) Interrogative sentences and (ii) Auxiliary verbs *Which string quartet heard George yesterday? Which string quartet did George hear yesterday?

In some other languages, verb movement to C can also apply to main verbs... Hvad koster en billet? what costs a ticket ‘What does a ticket cost?’ *Hvad gør en billet koste? what does a ticket cost

... and verb movement to C also occurs in declarative sentences: Denne film har børnene set. this film have children seen ‘The children have seen this film (rather than another one)’. *Denne film børnene har set. this film children have seen *This film have the children seen. This film the children have seen.

CP NP C’ denne film C S (= InflP) har NP Infl’ børnene Infl VP e V’ V NP set e

German: OV or VO? Er glaubt [CP dass seine Vorfahren diese Philosophie begründeten]. he believes that his ancestors thisphilosophy established ‘He believes that his ancestors established this philosophy.’ *Er glaubt [CP dass seine Vorfahren begründeten diese Philosophie]. he believes that his ancestors established thisphilosophy Seine Vorfahren begründeten diese Philosophie. his ancestors established this philosophy ‘His ancestors established this philosophy.’ *Seine Vorfahren diese Philosophie begründeten. his ancestors this philosophy established

So is German OV in embedded clauses but VO in main clauses? Not really: Seine Vorfahren hatten diese Philosophie begründet. his ancestors had this philosophy established *Seine Vorfahren hatten begründet diese Philosophie. his ancestors had established this philosophy Seine Vorfahren würden diese Philosophie begründen. his ancestors would this philosophy establish *Seine Vorfahren würden begründen diese Philosophie. his ancestors would establish this philosophy

Conclusion: German is really OV. So how come the finite verb ends up in the second position of main clauses? Because of generalized verb movement to C!

CP C’ C S (= InflP) dass NP Infl’ seine Vorfahren Infl VP V’ NP V diese Philosophie begründeten

CP NP C’ seine Vorfahren C S (= InflP) begründeten NP Infl’ e Infl VP V’ NP V diese Philosophie e

Morphology and Syntax