1Episode 6a. Head movement5.4-5.5CAS LX 522Syntax IRecap: features The lexicon contains bundles of features. Thesefeature bundles are assembled by a computationalprocess into syntactic structures for interpretation bythe conceptual-intensional an articulatory-perceptualsystems. Among these features, we have Interpretable features (such as the category feature thatdetermines the category of the lexical item) Uninterpretable features (such as the selectional feature [uN]on a transitive verb). Uninterpretable features are intolerableat the interfaces, and must be removed (by checking) or thederivation crashes.Recap: uninterpretable features Uninterpretable features vary along two dimensions.Privative vs. unvalued and strong vs. weak. Privative features (such as [uN]) which are checked bymatching features (such as [N] or [uN]). Unvalued features (such as [uInfl:]) which are checked byfeatures that can provide a value (such as [tense:past]). Strong uninterpretable features can only be checked if theyare local (sister) to the feature that checks them. Weak uninterpretable features can be “checked at adistance.” Strong features can force movement, but because thesystem is economical (lazy), no movement is allowedjust to check a weak feature.Recap: Matching and Checking Checking is relation between an uninterpretablefeature and a matching feature, allowing theuninterpretable feature to be ignored at the interface. For two features to match: One must c-command the other. There must not be a closer feature that could match. (p218) [uF] … [F] … [F] [F] … [F] … [uF] If the uninterpretable feature is strong, the matchingfeature must be local (e.g., a feature of the sister) inorder for the uninterpretable feature to be checked. For [uV*] on v, it matches the [V] feature of the verb belowit, then the verb must move up to v to check [uV*]. For [uInfl:*] on an auxiliary, the [tense:past] feature (aboveit) matches it and values it, then the auxiliary must moveup to T for the feature to be checked.Recap: Merge Merge: create a new syntactic object from two existingsyntactic objects, with the label (features) projectingfrom one. Merge happens for one of two reasons: To check an uninterpretable feature: the label of theone with the uninterpretable feature projects. Now that we have strong features, we will considerselectional features to be strong features, i.e. [uN*], checkedlocally under sisterhood created by Merge. To satisfy the Hierarchy of Projections: the label ofthe higher one in the hierarchy projects and nofeatures are checked. This only happens once all of the strong uninterpretablefeatures in the non-projecting object have been checked (andany adjunctions to be done have been done)Recap: Adjoin, Agree, HoP Adjoin is like Merge, but it does not result in thechecking of a feature. Merge always takes priority over Adjoin, so Adjoinonly happens once the (strong) uninterpretablefeatures of the object being adjoined to are checked. Adjoining YP to XP results in another XP (the maximalprojection is extended), so YP becomes in essence botha daughter and a sister to XP. Agree is the operation that checks (and valueswhere appropriate) features under c-command. Hierarchy of Projections:T > (Neg) > (Perf) > (Prog) > v > V2Move There are two basic kinds of movement. One is head-movement, where a head moves upto join with another head. Examples: V moves to v, Perf moves to T The other is XP-movement, where a maximalprojection moves up to a specifier of a higherphrase. Example: The subject moving to SpecTP. Both happen because a strong uninterpretablefeature needs to be checked.Pat ate lunch Yes, again with this sentence, but now withnearly all of our technology in place. Ourworkspace (numeration) starts out as shownhere. Eat has a Theme θ-role to assign. Eat has strong uninterpretable [uN*] feature. vagent has an Agent θ-role to assign. vagent has a strong uninterpretable [uN*] feature. V always moves to v. v always has a strong uninterpretable [uV*]feature. Verbs are inflected for tense. v always has an unvalued Infl feature [uInfl:]. The subject always moves (in English) toSpecTP. T has a strong unintepretable [uN*] feature.Pat [N]lunch [N]T[tense:past,T, uN*, …]eat[V, uN*]vagent[v, uN*,uInfl:, uV*]Pat ate lunch Step 1. Merge eat and lunch. HoP: T > (Neg) > (Perf) > (Prog) > v > V We have to take care of V first. The [uN*] feature is now c-commandedby the [N] feature of lunch. The [uN*] feature is strong, requiring thatit be local to the [N] feature in order to bechecked. Sisters are local, the checkingsucceeds. The features of eat project, since it had itsfeature checked. All strong features arechecked, so this is the maximal projectionof V (VP).Pat [N]NPlunch[N]T[tense:past,T, uN*, …]Veat[V, uN*]vagent[v, uN*,uInfl:, uV*]VPPat ate lunch Step 2. Merge vagent and VP. HoP: T > (Neg) > (Perf) > (Prog) > v > V V is finished, we have a v, so we need toMerge them next. No features are checked as a result ofthis step. The features of vagent project, sinceit is higher on the HoP. vagent still has unchecked strongfeatures, so this is an intermediateprojection of v (v′).Pat [N]NPlunch[N]T[tense:past,T, uN*, …]Veat[V, uN*]vagent[v, uN*,uInfl:, uV*]VPv′ [uN*, uInfl:, uV*]Pat ate lunch Step 3. Move V to v. There were two options for thisstep, either moving V to v (to checkthe [uV*] feature) or Merging Patand v′ (to check the [uN*] feature). We will suppose that head-movement happens first, as soon asthe head is integrated into thestructure. The [uV*] feature of v c-commandsthe [V] feature of eat. The [uV*]feature is strong, so it must be localto [V] in order to be checked. Head-movement yields a local relation,the checking succeeds. The features of v′ are just thefeatures of v, so v′ also no longerhas an unchecked [uV*] feature. Nothing new projects…Pat [N]NPlunch[N]T[tense:past,T, uN*, …]<V>vagent[v, uN*,uInfl:, uV*]VPv′ [uN*, uInfl:, uV*]+Veat[V]Interlude: What happens whenV moves to v? When V moves to v, they combine in away that we have been writing just asV+v. Let’s be more precise. In fact, we assume that V head-adjoins(adjoins, head-to-head) to v. This is thesame sort of structure that Adjoincreates between maximal projections. In the structure, the v head is replaced