Morpho-syntactic aspects of first conjunct agreement

In this paper we define and analyse morpho-syntactic properties of first conjunct agreement which arises when an adjective or verb agrees with the highest/first conjunct of a coordinate noun phrase. We derive this agreement pattern by means of the syntactic operation of Agree and a postsyntactic mechanism which acts as a filter on Vocabulary Insertion within the framework of Distributed Morphology. We call the filter Vocabulary Items Feature Harmony. It consists roughly in (phi-)feature identity between vocabulary items. Our bi-aspectual analysis, and especially the feature harmony, enables us to understand and account for gradable and variable acceptability of first conjunct agreement, as well as the distribution of this agreement pattern in relation to another agreement pattern, namely masculine plural agreement (with the coordinate phrase as a whole). The empirical domain of our investigation in this paper is confined to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian first conjunct agreement but could be extrapolated to similiar cases in other languages.

The objective of the study is to provide an answer to the following question: How can phi-features, definiteness, and Case in Standard Arabic adjectival agreement be accounted for in minimalist syntax? The study explores different morpho-syntactic models of adjectival agreement and feature valuation and points out their empirical predictions; more particularly, it examines Chomsky's the Agree model and the feature sharing approach of Frampton & Gutmann and Pesetsky & Torrego. Moreover, it shows that the Agree model of Chomsky could not offer a satisfactory account of phi-features, definiteness, and Case in Standard Arabic adjectival agreement while the feature sharing approach of agreement advocated in Frampton & Gutmann and Pesetsky & Torrego provides a unified treatment of the subject under investigation. It demonstrates that the feature sharing approach creates a permanent link between the two agreeing nodes in the syntactic analysis of phi-features, definiteness, and Case in Standard Arabic adjectival agreement; it is in this framework that the Agree operation is viewed as a feature sharing operation assumed to unify two feature occurrences into two instances of one shared formal object. It has been found in this study that the proposed formulation of Agree operation shows that Agree creates a permanent link between two agreeing nodes, thus resulting in forming a single formal object rather than two independent objects. Interestingly, it is shown that Standard Arabic postnominal adjectives agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, definiteness, and Case.

This paper offers a minimalist account of the distribution of the features of case, number and gender in Polish phrases with cardinal numerals and vague quantifiers (Q-NPs) in the presence and absence of genitive of quantification (GQ) based on the assumption that GQ-cardinal numerals and vague quantifiers are phrasal and are merged as adjuncts to the projection of a null functional head (F), a phase head that values its complement with GQ in contexts in which GQ is not overridden by inherent theta-related or lexical case. Whether the null head F inserted in the derivation has unvalued features of number and gender has consequences for the syntactic computation of agreement relations, in which features may be shared. Heterogeneous case distribution in Q-NPs in nominative-accusative case contexts provides evidence that F is a phase head and triggers transfer of its complement. Variable agreement patterns of both attributive adjectival modifiers and adjectival predicates in the presence of GQ are argued here to reflect attempted-but-failed syntactic agreement, which does not lead to ungrammaticality, as some features unvalued in narrow syntax can still be interpreted by morphological realization rules in PF. GQ is shown here to provide evidence that predicative adjectives cannot have their φ-features valued in situ and must be remerged in a position where their φ-probes can initiate Search for matching features. Agreement in the presence of GQ in Polish thus demonstrates that the need of features to be valued drives syntactic movement.

Nouns, verbs and phi-features, 2021

In this thesis, I propose that the distribution of nominal phrases is constrained by the relative positions of phi-features that nominal phrases contain. More specifically, I propose a condition according to which two syntactic nodes bearing visible phi-features cannot be directly merged. This constraint results in the well-described generalization according to which Agreement is severely limited in the Nominal Domain and complements to nominals may not bear direct case-marking, unlike the complements of verbs and prepositions. Next, I suggest that the propagation of phi-features can be blocked by a formal feature – epsilon – that is borne on such morphemes as prepositions and linkers, as well as oblique case markers. A nominal phrase merged with an epsilon may combine with another nominal phrase when a bare nominal phrase may not. Next, I argue that the syntactic identity of nouns can be fully reduced to phi-features. The proposed approach is shown to extend to adjectives – another category whose syntactic behavior is largely determined by the presence of phi-features. To that effect, I show that the ban on direct marking of the complements of both adjectives and nouns can be understood as a constraint on the merger of two phi-bearing structures. I show how the proposed theory can account for several well known syntactic phenomena, including the ban on double Absolutives in Ergative languages and the lack of Structural Dative marking in the Nominal Domain. The empirical data is mainly drawn from Slavic, Romance, Germanic and Iranian languages of the Indo-European family and from Nakh-Dagestanian languages.

2007

This papers explains the syntactic behaviour of the verbal sequences of two verbs (Vl+V2) -and specifically the sequences haver + participle, va + infinitive, and modal epistemic verbs + infinitive-in Catalan as the result of the syntactic and morphological characteristics of V 1. These characteristics are given by the following specifications of affixal features: [+ syntacticlmorphological]. With these we predict the behaviour attested if we follow Baker (1988)'s theory of incorporation with the modifications in Roberts (1991) and his excorporation proposal. The consequence of the given specifications for the features is that the two verbal elements in the sequences are always adjacent in Catalan as long as we assume that V1 selects V2 and that this selection implies morphological subcategorization. The result of this type of subcategorization is the creation of a slot in the structure which requires substitution in the course of the derivation. Three crucial predictions follow from considering V1 an affix: (a) that V2 cannot move once it has incorporated unless there is another fi which may replace it (another V); (b) that the selecting element cannot move either (by the Stray Affin Principle ), and (c) that incorporation is wmpulsory.