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BU LX 522 - Syntax I
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CAS LX 522Syntax IWeek 6a.Recap, do-support, variation, and history(5.4-5.5)Recap:features•The lexicon contains bundles of features. These feature bundles are assembled by a computational process into syntactic structures for interpretation by the conceptual-intensional an articulatory-perceptual systems.•Among these features, we have:•Interpretable features (such as the category feature that determines the category of the lexical item)•Uninterpretable features (such as the selectional feature [uN*] on a transitive verb). Uninterpretable features are intolerable at the interfaces, and must be removed (by checking the derivation crashes.Uninterpretable features•Uninterpretable features vary along two dimensions: Privative/unvalued; strong/weak.•Privative (uninterpretable) features (such as [uN*]) which are checked by matching features (such as [N] or [uN*]).•Unvalued (uninterpretable) features (such as [uInfl:]) which are checked by features that can provide a value (such as [tense:past]).•Strong (uninterpretable) features can only be checked if they are local (sister) to the feature that checks them.•Weak (uninterpretable) features can be “checked at a distance.”•Strong features can force movement, but because the system is economical (lazy), no movement is allowed just to check a weak feature.Matching and Checking•Checking relates an uninterpretable feature and a matching feature, allowing the uninterpretable feature to be ignored at the interface.•If the uninterpretable feature is strong, the matching feature must be local (e.g., a feature of the sister) in order for the uninterpretable feature to be checked.•For [uV*] on v, it matches the [V] feature of the verb below it, then the verb must move up to v to check [uV*].•For [uInfl:] on an auxiliary, the [tense:past] feature (above it) matches it and values it as strong (in English), then the auxiliary must move up to T for the feature to be checked.Agree•If:•X has feature [F1], Y has feature [F2]•X c-commands Y or Y c-commands X•[F1] and/or [F2] are/is uninterpretable.•[F1] matches [F2]•X and Y are close enough, meaning:•There is no closer matching feature between X and Y.•If [F1] or [F2] is strong, X and Y share the same mother node•Then:•Any unvalued feature ([F1] or [F2]) is valued.•The uninterpretable feature(s) is/are checked.Merge•Merge: create a new syntactic object from two existing syntactic objects, with the label (features) projecting from one. Merge happens for one of the following two reasons:•To check an uninterpretable feature: the label of the one with the uninterpretable feature projects.•Example: c-selection features, such as the [uN*] feature of P.•To satisfy the Hierarchy of Projections: the label of the higher one in the hierarchy projects and no features are checked.•This only happens once all of the strong uninterpretable features in the non-projecting object have been checked (and any adjunctions to be done have been done)Adjoin, Agree, HoP•Adjoin (of an XP) is like Merge, but it does not result in the checking of a feature.•Merge always takes priority over Adjoin, so Adjoin only happens once the (strong) uninterpretable features of the object being adjoined to are checked.•Adjoining YP to XP results in another XP (the maximal projection is extended), so YP becomes in essence both a daughter and a sister to XP.•Agree is the operation that checks (and values where appropriate) features under c-command.•Hierarchy of Projections:T > (Neg) > (M) > (Perf) > (Prog) > v > VMove•There are two basic kinds of movement.•One is head-movement, where a head moves up to join with another head.•Examples: V moves to v, Perf moves to T•The other is XP-movement, where a maximal projection moves up to a specifier of a higher phrase.•Example: The subject moving to SpecTP.•Both happen because a strong uninterpretable feature needs to be checked.UTAH•The Uniformity of Theta-assignment Hypothesis determines the !-role of an argument based on its position in the structure.•NP daughter of vP:!! Agent (vAgent)•NP daughter of vP:!! Experiencer (vExperiencer)•NP daughter of VP: ! Theme•PP daughter of V":!! Goal•NP daughter of V":!! Possessee (possessum)•TP sister of V:! ! ! PropositionWhat has [uInfl:], what can value [uInfl:]•Things of these categories have [uInfl: ] features:•v, M, Perf, Prog•[uInfl: ] features can be valued (via Agree) by:•Tense features (past, present) of T. -s or -ed.•Perf feature of Perf. -en.•Prog feature of Prog. -ing.•M feature of M. -Ø (silent)1) Pat [past] ha-d be-en eat-ing lunch.A completed tree.TPNPPatT!T+MmightMP< might > PerfPPerfhaveProgPProgbevP< Pat > v!v+VeatVP< eat > NPlunchPat might have been eating lunchV+v=?•When V moves to v, they combine in a way that we have been writing just as V+v. Let’s be more precise.•In fact, we assume that V head-adjoins (adjoins, head-to-head) to v. This is the same sort of structure that Adjoin creates between maximal projections.•The v head is replaced by the v head with V adjoined.•Adjunction does not change projection levels—v is still a minimal projection, still the head of vP. But it is a complex head (it’s a v with a V adjoined to it).v!v VP< V > NPVeatv[uV*, . . . ]•What happens to the VP from which the V moved?•It is still a VP, it must still have a head. The features of the VP are the features of the head (recall for example, that checking the uninterpretable feature on the head is the same as checking the uninterpretable feature on the projection of the head). The VP is still a VP, its head is still a verb (with category feature [V]), and presumably all the rest of the features as well.•We notate the original location of the V by writing <V> (standing for the “trace” left behind by the original V). But since <V> must still be a bundle of features, the same one that was there before movement, <V> is really just another copy (or, well, the original) of the verb.V+v=?v!v VP< V > NPVeatv[uV*, . . . ]•Moral: “Head-movement” can be viewed as Copy+Adjoin.•Make a copy of V. Replace the original v is replaced by the syntactic object formed by Adjoining the copy of V to v.•If v has a [uV*] feature, this puts V close enough to v to check that feature. This is why we move V.•Note: This appears to make a change inside the object. Merge always happens at the root. However: Think about the root. It has the features of


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