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Condition C Effects in Nuu-chah-nulth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Henry Davis ,
Ryan Waldie  and
Rachel Wojdak
Henry Davis
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Ryan Waldie
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Rachel Wojdak
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia/University of Ottawa
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Abstract

Nuu-chah-nulth presents a set of exceptions to Condition C of the Binding Theory that involves co-construal between certain R-expressions and a c-commanding pronoun. These exceptions to Condition C are not reducible to structural properties of the language, and are not confined to coreference anaphora, as they extend to bound variables without quantificational antecedents. Nuu-chah-nulth also shows strong crossover effects, and more generally obeys a strict c-command condition on variables bound by quantifiers. We account for these facts by distinguishing quantifier binding from other types of dependent reference, and parameterize the latter based on reverse dependency, where a pronoun may precede and/or c-command its antecedent. Reverse dependency reflects the non-presuppositional nature of Nuu-chah-nulth pronouns, which allows them to be introduced ahead of their descriptive content.

Résumé

Résumé

Le nuu-chah-nulth présente une série d’exceptions à la condition C de la théorie du liage qui implique une dépendance entre certaines expressions-R et le pronom qui les c-commande. Ces exceptions à la condition C ne sont pas réductibles aux propriétés structurales de la langue et ne sont pas restreintes à des contextes de coréférence anaphorique, puisqu’elles sont attestées avec des variables liées sans antécédents quantificationnels. Le nuu-chah-nulth présente aussi des effets de strong crossover et plus généralement il obéit à une condition stricte de c-commande sur les variables liées par quantifieur. Nous rendons compte de ces faits en distinguant le liage quantificationnel des autres types de référence dépendante et nous paramétrons cette dernière en termes de dépendance inverse, par laquelle un pronom peut précéder et/ou c-commander son antécédent. La dépendance inverse découle de la nature non-présuppositionnelle des pronoms en nuu-chah-nulth, ce qui leur permet d’être introduits avant leur contenu descriptif.

Type
Part III: Morpho-Syntactic and Syntactic Properties
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 52 , Issue 1-2: Southern Wakashan Languages , July 2007 , pp. 185 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2007

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