scholarly journals Elided Clausal Conjunction Is Not the Only Source of Closest‐Conjunct Agreement: A Picture‐Matching Study

Syntax ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-104
Author(s):  
Boban Arsenijević ◽  
Jana Willer‐Gold ◽  
Nadira Aljović ◽  
Nermina Čordalija ◽  
Marijana Kresić Vukosav ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Closest Conjunct Agreement

Closest conjunct agreement is an illusion

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1207-1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Murphy ◽  
Zorica Puškar
Keyword(s):  
Closest Conjunct Agreement

scholarly journals Gender agreement with exclusive disjunction in Slovenian

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franc Lanko Marušič ◽  
Zheng Shen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽  
Semantic Difference ◽  
Exclusive Disjunction

AbstractThis paper addresses two issues: 1. Empirically, we report novel experimental data on agreement with exclusively disjoined subjects in Slovenian; 2. Theoretically, we look into the nature of attested agreement strategies with coordinated NPs. In particular, we investigate how these strategies behave under coordinators with different semantics, i.e. exclusive disjunction and conjunction. Based on the elicitation results, we argue that closest conjunct agreement, resolved agreement, and highest conjunct agreement are all present under exclusive disjunction to different extents, which suggests a uniform set of agreement strategies under disjunction and conjunction despite the semantic difference. Further, we argue against the presence of default agreement under both disjunction and conjunction in Slovenian, and argue for a particular set of gender resolution rules.

scholarly journals Closest conjunct agreement in head final languages

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 67-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elabbas Benmamoun ◽  
Archna Bhatia ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement

We discuss the phenomenon of closest conjunct agreement with a special focus on head-final languages; we present data from two such languages, Hindi and Tsez, which allow agreement with the rightmost conjunct when the verb follows the conjoined phrase. This contrasts with head-initial languages, such as Arabic, where close conjunct agreement is with the leftmost conjunct in clauses with VS order. In addition, both languages exhibit certain flexibility of word order at root clause level; when the verb precedes the conjoined phrase, it can also agree with the leftmost conjunct. The empirical data from the two languages raise the following questions. First, is the typological difference between head-initial and head-final languages in the context of coordination due to a difference in the structure of coordination in these two groups? Second, to what extent is the syntactic configuration relevant to the computation of closest conjunct agreement? Third, what is the role of linear proximity in closest conjunct agreement? These questions have wider implications for the analysis of agreement and the relation between syntax and the morpho-phonological component.

scholarly journals Agreement and interpretation of binominals in French

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aixiu An ◽  
Anne Abeillé
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽  
Corpus Data

This paper investigates the structure and agreement of coordinated binominals in the form Det N1 et N2 in French. We provide corpus data and experimental data to show that different strategies exist, depending on their readings: singular Det for joint reading (mon collègue et ami, 'my.MSG colleague.MSG and friend.MSG'), plural Det agreement (mes frère et soeur 'my.PL brother.MSG and sister.FSG') or closest conjunct agreement (mon nom et prénom, 'my.MSG surname.MSG and first name.MSG') for split reading. These results challenge previous syntactic analyses of binominals (Le Bruyn and de Swart, 2014), stating that Det combines with N1, forming a DP and the later coordinates with N2. We then propose an HPSG analysis to account for French binominals.

scholarly journals Strategies of participle agreement with conjoined subjects in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian

Linguistica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
Nedžad Leko ◽  
Nermina Čordalija ◽  
Ivana Jovović ◽  
Nevenka Marijanović ◽  
Lidija Perković ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Initial Hypothesis ◽  
Maximal Projection ◽  
The Subject

In this paper, we demonstrate that Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), like Slovenian, has three distinct strategies of subject-predicate agreement when the subject consists of conjoined noun phrases: 1. agreement with the maximal projection – a Boolean Phrase (&P), 2. agreement with the conjunct which is closest to the participle, and 3. agreement with the conjunct which is hierarchically the highest. In order to test the initial hypothesis that there are three agreement strategies, we conducted a controlled experimental study of the morphosyntax of agreement between conjoined subjects and participles in BCS, which consisted of an oral production experiment and a written production experiment. These experiments revealed a high presence of default agreement and closest  conjunct agreement in the language. 50% of preverbal conjoined phrases elicited the default masculine agreement and 95% of postverbal conjoined noun phrases elicited the closest conjunct agreement. However, the bulk of the analysis focused on the possibility of treating the highest conjunct agreement (HCA) as a legitimate agreement strategy. 7% of all of the agreement forms in the subject preverbal (SV) examples demonstrated HCA. These figures increased to 13% if individual conditions were considered. Last conjunct agreement (LCA) for subject postverbal (VS) examples, on the other hand, was only present in 1% of the examples. For this reason, we classified them as performance errors and refuted LCA as an agreement strategy. These results are contrary to Bošković’s findings (2009), in which he does not acknowledge HCA as a legitimate strategy, however, our results do confirm the findings of Marušič et al. (2015).

Word order and closest-conjunct agreement in the Greek Septuagint: On the position of a biblical translation in the diachrony of a syntactic correlation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-90
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Lavidas
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Neutral Word ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽  
T Domain ◽  
Biblical Translation ◽  
Koine Greek

Abstract Clauses can show closest-conjunct agreement, where the verb agrees only with one conjunct of a conjoined subject, and not with the full conjoined subject. The aim of this study is to examine the properties of word order and closest-conjunct agreement in the Greek Septuagint to distinguish which of them are due to the native syntax of Koiné Greek, possibly influenced by contact with Hebrew, and which of them are the result of a biblical translation effect. Both VSO and closest-conjunct agreement in the case of postverbal subjects have been considered characteristics of Biblical Hebrew. VSO becomes a neutral word order for Koiné Greek, and Koiné Greek exhibits examples of closest-conjunct agreement as well. The present study shows that VSO is the neutral word order for various types of texts of Koiné Greek (biblical and non-biblical, translations and non-translations) and that closest-conjunct agreement is also present with similar characteristics in pre-Koiné Greek. All relevant characteristics reflect a type of a syntactic change in Greek related to the properties of the T domain, and evidenced not only in translations or Biblical Greek. However, the frequencies of word orders are indeed affected by the source language, and indirect translation effects are evident in the Greek Septuagint.

scholarly journals Closest Conjunct Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Nevins ◽  
Philipp Weisser
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Interest ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement

Closest conjunct agreement is of great theoretical interest in terms of what it reveals about the structure of coordination; the locality of agreement relations; and the interaction between syntax, semantics, and morphology in the expression of agreement. We highlight recent approaches to the phenomenon, including typologically diverse case studies and experimentally elicited results, and point out crystallized generalizations as well as directions for future research, including the absence of last conjunct agreement, the absence of closest conjunct case, differences between conjunction and disjunction, and the role of linear adjacency in morphological realization.

Closest conjunct agreement in Spanish DPs: Syntax and beyond

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta Demonte ◽  
Isabel Pérez-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Closest Conjunct Agreement

scholarly journals Closest conjunct agreement in replacives: Experimental evidence from Estonian

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 643
Author(s):  
Marju Kaps
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Closest Conjunct Agreement ◽  
Verb Forms

The phenomenon of closest conjunct agreement (CCA) has been documented cross-linguistically in conjunctions (“X and Y”) and disjunctions (“(either) X or Y”), and agreement patterns with feature-mismatching coordination have been shown to be variable, both across constructions and speakers. The present work addresses agreement patterns with replacives subjects (“not X but Y”) in Estonian, where subjects can occur pre- or postverbally. Replacives differ from other forms of coordination by having a single asserted subject. A series of two speeded acceptability experiments with postverbal subject replacives, and a relative naturalness rating experiment comparing replacives to disjunctions showed that both CCA and a bias towards agreeing with the asserted subject (ASA) play a role in determiningverbal agreement with replacive subjects. Additionally, there is evidence for less featurally marked 3rd person verb forms being preferred, particularly when there are conflicting pressures on agreement from CCA and ASA, and for person mismatches being fully repaired by morphological syncretism.

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