Summary: Hierarchy effects in morpho-syntax

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1 Summary: Hierarchy effects in morpho-syntax Doreen Georgi EGG 2014, Debrecen August 8, 2014 Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

2 Hierarchy effects in argument encoding Hierarchy effects The occurrence of the exponent that encodes an argument A (case / agreement / direction marker) with the grammatical function X depends on the properties of A or A s co-argument (e.g. animacy, definiteness,...). functional explanation: HEs encode the proto-typicality of an argument as subject / object: overt marking of non-canonical associations (1) Canonical associations (Silverstein 1976; Dixon 1994): 1st/2nd pronoun 3rd pronoun animate (3rd) inanimate (3rd) more likely agents/subjects... more likely patients/objects more likely definite... more likely indefinite Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

3 Variation different scales, different cut-off points one- vs- multi-dimensional scales iconicity (DAM) vs. ungrammaticality (e.g. the PCC) zero / non-zero or non-zero/non-zero alternations local vs. global effects Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

4 Analyses of hierarchy effects Analyses first formal approach to DAM: Aissen (1999; 2003) markedness depends on GF: harmonic alignment of scales no explicit account of PCC-effects but of other cases of hierarchy-driven ineffability Keine and Müller (2010): Aissen s approach can be extended to non-zero / non-zero alternations problem: subject and object are primitives (wrong predictions e.g. for the encoding of the sole argument of an intrans. verb) other OT-approaches: Ellen Woolford s work on DAM Trommer (2006) on HEs in verbal agreement Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

5 Analyses of hierarchy effects Analyses: Minimalism predominant: syntactic analyses of the PCC earlier generative approaches to the PCC: morphological, simply state that certain combinations of morphemes are ungrammatical (Perlmutter 1971; Bonet 1991) first syntactic analysis: Anagnostopoulou (2003) introduction of the two arguments against one head -approach to HEs (TAAOH): two DPs compete for a single feature on the same head; Agree between the head and the closest DP can bleed subsequent Agree with the other DP 3rd person = absence of person on the DO representation of 3rd person not constant 3rd IO 3rd DO basic idea used in Béjar and Řezáč (2003); Adger and Harbour (2007); Ormazábal and Romero (2007); Richards (2008) Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

6 Analyses of hierarchy effects Analyses: Minimalism a different approach to the PCC: Nevins (2007) 3rd person cannot be the absence of person the invisibility of 3rd person arguments is not a consequence of their lack of person features; rather, it is the fault of the probe: it cannot see 3rd person arguments relativized probing also a TAAOH-approach problem: 3 3 combinations are predicted to be grammatical in all of the aforementioned approaches; however, in some languages this combination is also ungrammatical (only 1/2 3 tolerated, e.g. in Kambera, cf. Haspelmath 2004) Doliana (2013): OT-approach to the PCC based on scale-driven impoverishment (generated by harmonic alignment) à la Keine and Müller (2010) Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

7 Analyses of hierarchy effects Analyses: HEs in agreement Béjar and Řezáč (2009) use relativized probing to account for person hierarchy effects in agreement, where the GF does not play a role (but see Basque-type languages) see also Béjar 2003 on number hierarchy effects and Preminger (2011) on person hierarchy effects in agreement in Mayan languages decomposition of features, entailment relations approach can be extended to case splits and inverse marking (simple definition of inverse contexts possible: the probe only agrees with one of the two arguments of a transitive verb) another structural approach: Brown et al. (2004) on person HEs in Salish languages Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

8 Analyses of hierarchy effects State of the art TAAOH HEs are the result of competition between two arguments relativized probing decomposition of features HEs follow from the representation of features (natural classes, entailment relations) and the relativization of the probe hierarchies are not primitives of the grammar (but they are in Aissen s approach!) Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

9 Analyses of hierarchy effects What is missing in the non-ot-literature few explicit accounts of DAM (most explicit proposal among the Anagnostopoulou-like analyses: Richards (2008), but still some conceptual/technical problems) few accounts of global HEs (but see Béjar and Řezáč 2009) on global case splits: see De Hoop and Malchukov (2008); Keine (2010); Georgi (2012) multi-dimensional scales? Aissen s OT-approach is still the most comprehensive account of HEs Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

10 Open questions Technical issues: representation of features Are features primitives or decomposed? binary or privative features? entailment relations between features? specification of 3rd person? see e.g. Harley and Ritter (2002); Harbour (2003); Béjar (2003); Nevins (2007) for a general discussion of the representation of person, number and gender features Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

11 Open questions Empirical issues: DAM / iconicity Minimalist analyses of HEs mainly concerned with the PCC HEs that do not involve ungrammaticality but rather more morphological structure (iconicity) are neglected Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

12 Open questions Empirical issues: differential subject marking (DSM) Differential object marking (DOM) seems to be much more frequent in the languages of the world. Malchukov (2008): DSM occurs primarily in ergative languages, whereas DOM occurs primarily in accusative languages. DOM often involves movement of the object out of the VP; does DSM also involve movement? Is DSM the same phenomenon as DOM? Is DSM always hierarchy-driven? see Aissen (1999); de Hoop and de Swart (2008); Woolford (2008) for OT-analyses of DSM Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

13 Open questions Open questions influence of factors such as linearization / movement of clitics on the PCC modeling of interpretative restrictions that go hand in hand with DAM... Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

14 Open questions Bibliography I Adger, David and Daniel Harbour (2007): Syntax and Syncretisms of the Person Case Constraint, Syntax 10(1), Aissen, Judith (1999): Markedness and Subject Choice in Optimality Theory, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 17, Aissen, Judith (2003): Differential Object Marking: Iconicity vs. Economy, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 21, Anagnostopoulou, Elena (2003): The Syntax of Ditransitives: Evidence from Clitics. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin. Béjar, Susana (2003): Phi-Syntax: A Theory of Agreement. PhD thesis, University of Toronto, Toronto. Béjar, Susana and Milan Řezáč (2003): Person licensing and the derivation of PCC effects. In: A.-T. Pérez-Leroux and Y. Roberge, eds, Romance linguistics: Theory and acquisition. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, p Béjar, Susana and Milan Řezáč (2009): Cyclic Agree, Linguistic Inquiry 40, Bonet, Eulália (1991): Morphology after Syntax. PhD thesis, MIT, Cambridge, Mass. Brown, Jason, Karsten Koch and Martina Wiltschko (2004): Primitive or Epiphenomenal? Evidence from Halkomelem Salish, Proceedings of NELS 34. Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

15 Open questions Bibliography II De Hoop, Helen and Andrej L. Malchukov (2008): Case-Marking Strategies, Linguistic Inquiry 39, de Hoop, Helen and Peter de Swart (2008): Differential Subject Marking. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Springer, Doredrecht. Dixon, R.M.W. (1994): Ergativity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Doliana, Aaron (2013): On the Person-Case Constraint: From the Giga to the Zero Version with Copy Impoverishment and Check. BA thesis, Universität Leipzig. Georgi, Doreen (2012): A Local Derivation of Global Case Splits. In: A. Alexiadou, T. Kiss and G. Müller, eds, Local Modelling of Nonlocal Dependencies in Syntax. de Gruyter, Berlin, pp Linguistische Arbeiten 547. Harbour, Daniel (2003): The Kiowa Case for Feature Insertion, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 21, Harley, Heidi and Elisabeth Ritter (2002): Person and Number in Pronouns: A Feature-Geometric Analysis, Language 78, Haspelmath, Martin (2004): Explaining the Ditransitive Person-Role Constraint: a usage-based account, Constructions 2. Keine, Stefan (2010): Case and agreement from Fringe to Core: a minimalist approach. Linguistische Arbeiten 536, de Gruyter, Berlin. Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

16 Open questions Bibliography III Keine, Stefan and Gereon Müller (2010): Non-Zero/Non-Zero Alternations in Differential Object Marking. In: P. Brandt and M. García García, eds, Transitivity. Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp Malchukov, Andrej L. (2008): Animacy and asymmetries in differential case marking, Lingua 113, Nevins, Andrew (2007): The representation of third person and its consequences for the person-case constraint, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 25, Ormazábal, Javier and Juan Romero (2007): The Object Agreement Constraint, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 25, Perlmutter, David (1971): Deep and surface structure constraints in syntax. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. Preminger, Omer (2011): Agreement as a Fallible Operation. PhD thesis, MIT, Cambridge, Mass. Richards, Marc D. (2008): Defective Agree, Case Alternations, and the Prominence of Person. In: M. Richards and A. Malchukov, eds, Scales. Vol. 86 of Linguistische Arbeitsberichte. Universität Leipzig, Institut f Linguistik, pp Silverstein, Michael (1976): Hierarchy of Features and Ergativity. In: R. Dixon, ed., Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

17 Open questions Bibliography IV Trommer, Jochen (2006): Hierarchy-based Competition and Emergence of Two-Argument Agreement in Dumi, Linguistics 44(5), Woolford, Ellen (2008): Differential Subject Marking at Argument Structure, Syntax, and PF. In: H. de Hoop and P. de Swart, eds, Differential Subject Marking. Springer, Dordrecht, pp Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA) Summary August 8, / 17

PCC I: Two aruments against one head -analysis

PCC I: Two aruments against one head -analysis Anagnostopoulou (2005); Adger and Harbour (2007); Richards (2008) Doreen Georgi EGG 2014, Debrecen July 31, 2014 Doreen Georgi (Leipzig University, IGRA)