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BU LX 522 - Week 3b. Merge, feature checking
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CAS LX 522Syntax IWeek 3b.Merge, feature checking(3.6-4.2)Recap: Feature checking•Full Interpretation: The structure to which the semantic interface rules apply contains no uninterpretable features.•Checking Requirement: Uninterpretable features must be checked (and once checked, they are deleted)•Checking (under sisterhood): An uninterpretable feature F on a syntactic object Y is checked when Y is sister to another syntactic object Z which bears a matching feature F.kick[uN, V]me[N, acc, 1, sg]kick is a verb (has an interpretable V feature) and c-selects a noun (has an uninterpretable N feature).me is a noun (a pronoun in fact, has an interpretable N feature, and others like accusative case, first person, singular)Recap: Feature checking•Merging them will check the uninterpretable feature, and the structure can be interpreted.•The head is the “needy” one. The one that had the uninterpretable feature that was checked by Merge.•The combination has the features of the verb kick and so its distribution will be like a verb’s distribution would be.Vkick[uN, V]me[N, acc, 1, sg]The idea•Sentences are generated derivationally, by means of a series of syntactic operations.•A sentence that can be generated by such a procedure is grammatical. One that cannot is not grammatical.•Syntactic operations operate on syntactic objects.•Lexical items are syntactic objects.•A derivation starts off by selecting a number of syntactic objects from the lexicon, and proceeds by performing syntactic operations on them.Syntactic operations•Merge is a syntactic operation. It takes two syntactic objects and creates a new one out of them.•The new syntactic object created by Merge inherits the features of one of the components (the head projects its features).•Merge cannot “look inside” a syntactic object. Syntactic objects are only combined at the root.•The Extension Condition: A syntactic derivation can only be continued by applying operations to the root projection of a tree.Feature checking•Syntactic objects have features.•Lexical items (syntactic objects) are bundles of features.•Some features are interpretable, others are uninterpretable.•By the time the derivation is finished, there must be no uninterpretable features left (Full Interpretation).•Uninterpretable features are eliminated by checking them against matching features. This happens as a result of Merge: Features of sisters can check against one another.•Merge doesn’t just happen. It has to happen.Heads and complements•When Merge combines two syntactic objects, one projects its features, one does not.•When a lexical item projects its features to the combined syntactic object, it is generally called the head, and the thing it combined with is generally called the complement.•A syntactic object that projects no further is called a maximal projection.•Where X is the category, this is alternatively called Xmax or XP.•The complement is necessarily a maximal projection.VPkick[uN, V]me[N, acc, 1, sg]maximal projectionmaximal projectionheadcomplementHeads and complements•A syntactic object that has not projected at all (that is, a lexical item) is sometimes called a minimal projection.•Where X is the category, this is alternatively called Xmin or X.•The head is a minimal projection.•In traditional terminology, the complement of a verb is generally called the object (or “direct object”).•So, often, is the complement of a preposition (“object of the preposition”).VPkick[uN, V]me[N, acc, 1, sg]headcomplementminimal projectionminimal projectionLinear order•Merge takes two syntactic objects and combines them into a new syntactic object.•Merge does not specify linear order (which of the two combined objects comes first in pronunciation).•In the English VP, heads always precede complements. But languages differ on this.The head parameter•Languages generally have something like a basic word order, an order in which words come in in “neutral” sentences.•English: SVO•Akira ate an apple.•Japanese: SOV•John wa ringo o tabeta.John top apple acc ate‘John ate an apple.’•In our terms, this amounts to a (generally language-wide choice) as to whether heads are pronounced before complements or vice-versa.•English: head-initial!! Japanese: head-finalSecond Merge•Merge occurs when there is a selectional feature that needs to be satisfied.•If there is more than one such feature, Merge must happen more than once.•As always, the node that projects is the one whose selectional feature was satisfied by the Merge.•The sister of the head (that projects) after the first Merge involving that head is called the complement (as above).•The nonprojecting sister of a syntactic object that has already projected once from a head is called the specifier.Heads and complements•A transitive verb like called needs two arguments (the caller and the callee).•We encode this knowledge by hypothesizing two selectional features for N.•The first selectional feature will be checked by the callee.•The second selectional feature will be checked by the caller.•So, called is Merged with me.called[uN, uN, V]me[N, acc,1, sg]they[N, nom,3, pl]Heads and complements•So, called is Merged with me.•One of the selectional features is checked off, the remaining features project to the new object.•A selectional feature still remains.•Merge applies again, Merging the new object with they.VP [uN, V]called[uN, uN, V]me[N, acc,1, sg]they[N, nom,3, pl]headcomplementuN, VSpecifiers, XP, X-bar•The second selectional feature has been eliminated.•The sister to this second Merge is the specifier.•A node that does not project further is a maximal projection.•A node that has been projected and projects further is neither maximal nor minimal and is usually called an intermediate projection.V! [uN]called[uN, uN, V]me[N, acc,1, sg]they[N, nom,3, pl]VPheadcomplementspecifiermaximal projectionintermediate projectionSpecifiers, etc.•In English, specifiers are on the left of the head, unlike complements.•As with the head-complement order, languages (arguably) also differ in the linear order of their specifiers.•However, Spec-initial order is overwhelmingly more common…•VOS order (Malagasy)Nahita ny mpianatra ny vehivavay.saw the student the woman‘The woman saw the student.’ V! [uN]called[uN, uN, V]me[N, acc,1, sg]they[N, nom,3, pl]VPspecifiermaximal


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