12h30
UPS Pouchet, salle à préciser
Doreen Georgi (Institut Jean-Nicod)
Person agreement in local scenarios (portmanteau agreement)
Martin Salzmann (Leipzig University, joint work with Doreen Georgi)
Complementarity of gaps/resumptives as the result of Case
attraction – local modeling under top-down derivation
Abstracts
Doreen Georgi
It has long been thought that the exponence of person in local scenarios is unsystematic and not amenable to formal analysis. In this paper I discuss three
empirical generalizations about local scenarios:
- (i) four different realization strategies found cross-linguistically,
- (ii) the asymmetry in the number of arguments encoded on the verb in languages with person hierarchy-effects in non-local scenarios and
- (iii) the fact that person portmanteaux are particularly prominent in local scenarios.
I claim that all three generalizations can be derived if Agree is relativized to target only positively valued person features on a goal. (ii) falls out directly from the Agree mechanism. (i) is a purely morphological phenomenon arising as a consequence of the specification of local person exponents under relativized Agree. Person portmanteaux are analyzedas inclusive markers in a derived inclusive context. Since such a context can only emerge in local scenarios, (iii) is derived as well. Local scenarios are thus far more systematic than has previously been thought.
Martin Salzmann
In this paper we analyze a hitherto unstudied matching effect in resumptive relatives. In some languages where gaps and resumptives are in complementary distribution, the choice between the two strategies depends on the Case of the head noun: dative resumptives are omitted if the head noun bears dative as well. This non-local dependency poses an interesting challenge to local derivational bottom-up theories of syntax. We argue that a local solution is possible if the distribution of resumption is reinterpreted in terms of Case attraction and the derivation unfolds top-down. Consequently, the relevant piece of information, the Case of the head noun, is available on the operator so that the choice between gaps and resumptives can be made without recourse to non-local devices. Gap relatives obtain in configurations where the Case attraction derivation converges while resumptives occur as a repair in derivations where Case attraction leaves a Case-probe unchecked. The matching effect falls out naturally as a subcase of Case attraction.
