scholarly journals Copular sentences and Binding Theory : the case of French and Principle C1

Corela ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valérie Amary
Keyword(s):  
Binding Theory ◽  
Copular Sentences

Locality and Logophoricity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Charnavel
Keyword(s):  
Binding Theory ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Morphological Identity

Anaphors such as English herself, French elle-même, and Mandarin ziji are usually claimed to obey locality requirements stated by Condition A of Binding Theory. But we observe that in various languages, the same anaphors can be exempt from these locality requirements under certain conditions. The goal of this book is to describe and explain this widespread dual behavior of anaphors on the basis of French, English, Mandarin, Korean, and Icelandic. First, several strategies are proposed for distinguishing between the two possible behaviors of anaphors. Plain instances of anaphors require local and exhaustive binding, as well as sloppy readings in ellipsis. Exempt instances of anaphors, however, only require a logophorical interpretation, that is, to occur in phrases expressing the first-personal, mental perspective of their antecedent. Second, a new theory of exempt anaphora is proposed, which consists in deriving all properties distinguishing exempt from plain anaphors to one: the presence of a silent, syntactically represented logophoric operator introducing a local, perspectival binder for superficially exempt anaphors. This hypothesis parsimoniously reduces exempt to plain anaphors obeying Condition A, thus directly accounting for the cross-linguistically widespread morphological identity of plain and exempt anaphors. Under this proposal, the reason why exempt anaphors appear to escape locality requirements is that their binder is implicit, and their mandatory logophoric interpretation derives from the nature of this binder. Finally, several diagnostics are provided for testing the hypothesis that so-called long-distance anaphors can be analyzed just like exempt instances of anaphors.

Wh-in-Situ Does Not Correlate with Wh-Indefinites or Question Particles

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bruening
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Unselective Binding

Two theories, the Clausal Typing Hypothesis (Cheng 1991) and the unselective binding theory of wh-in-situ, have linked wh-in-situ to two other phenomena typologically: the use of a question particle, and the use of wh-words as indefinites. This article shows, through a typological survey and a detailed comparison of Passamaquoddy and Mandarin Chinese, that there is no connection between wh-in-situ and either property. Passamaquoddy uses wh-words as indefinites in all the contexts Chinese does, but it is a robust wh-movement language. Crosslinguistically, languages of all possible types are attested: most crucially, wh-in-situ languages without question particles exist, and wh-in-situ languages that do not use wh-words as indefinites also exist. In fact, most languages, regardless of whether they are wh-movement or wh-in-situ languages, have question particles, and most languages use wh-words as indefinites.

The acquisition of preposition stranding by second language learners and parametric variation

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul van Buren ◽  
Michael Sharwood Smith
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Target System ◽  
Binding Theory ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
Government Binding

This paper discusses the application of Government Binding Theory to second language acquisition in the context of a project which is looking into the acquisition of preposition stranding in English and Dutch. The bulk of the discussion focuses on the theoretical problems involved. Firstly, the potential value of Government Binding Theory in principle is considered both in terms of the formulation of linguistic questions per se and also in terms of more specifically acquisitional questions having to do with the speed and order of acquisition. Secondly, some results in the pilot studies conducted so far in Utrecht are examined with respect to the theoretical usefulness of the framework adopted. The potential of the framework to generate sophisticated linguistic research questions is found to be undeniable. The acquisitional aspects need to be elaborated and adapted to cope with the special features of second, as opposed to first, language acquisition. This involves an elaboration of scenarios to be investigated: one in which the learner's initial assumption is that the unmarked setting of a given parameter of Universal Grammar holds for the target system, one in which the settings of parameters shared by the target and native systems are assumed to be identical, the second being a 'cross linguistic' scenario. These possibilities are considered in the light of the nature of evidence derived from the input and in the light of a set of possible learning strategies derived from the scenarios. The scenarios, the types of evidence and the strategies are spelled out in terms of the specific problem of preposition stranding in Universal Grammar, in Dutch and in English.

scholarly journals Ad hoc properties and locations in Maltese

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 64-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gréte Dalmi
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
Alternative States ◽  
Verbal Predicate ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Copular Sentences ◽  
Event Variable ◽  
Temporal Variable ◽  
Account Variation

This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theory of non-verbal predication that builds on alternative states, without making any reference to the Davidsonian spatio-temporal event variable. The existing theories of non-verbal predicates put the burden of explaining the difference between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations either solely on the non-verbal predicate, by postulating an event variable in their lexical layer (see Kratzer 1995; Adger and Ramchand 2003; Magri 2009; Roy 2013), or solely on the copular or non-copular primary predicate, which contains an aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition, responsible for such interpretive differences (Schmitt 2005, Schmitt and Miller 2007, Gallego and Uriagereka 2009, 2011, Marín 2010, Camacho 2012). The present proposal combines Maienborn’s (2003, 2005a,b, 2011) discourse-semantic theory of copular sentences with Richardson’s (2001, 2007) analysis of non-verbal adjunct predicates in Russian, based on alternative states. Under this combined account, variation between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations of non-verbal predicates is derived from the presence or absence of a modal OPalt operator that can bind the temporal variable of non-verbal predicates in accessible worlds, in the sense of Kratzer (1991). In the absence of this operator, the temporal variable is bound by the T0 head in the standard way. The proposal extends to non-verbal predicates in copular sentences as well as to argument and adjunct non-verbal predicates in non-copular sentences.

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