Various proposals have been made in the literature, arguing that bound pronouns are, in some sense, deficient. This article tests this hypothesis with Malagasy pronouns, specifically in the context of Zribi-Hertz and Mbolatianavalona's (1999) claim that Malagasy pronouns may be bound only when they are missing the NumP layer of DP. Zribi-Hertz and Mbolatianavalona show further that other syntactic properties are also attached to the lack of NumP. The variety of Malagasy investigated here (Malagasy2), behaves differently from the one described by Zribi-Hertz and Mbolatianavalona (Malagasy1), and these differences lead to two conclusions. First, there are no syntactically deficient pronouns in Malagasy2, yet these syntactically complete pronouns may, in fact, be bound. Second, Zribi-Hertz and Mbolatianavalona are nevertheless correct that the lack of NumP accounts for a cluster of properties, since none of these distinctions between pronouns that they describe are found in Malagasy2. More broadly, we conclude that pronominal binding does not require syntactic deficiency.

This article provides a description of complex patterns in which a verb combines with a morphologically invariable particle to form a single grammatical and phonological unit in Vincentian creole (VinC). English is replete with what grammars refer to as phrasal and prepositional verbs. Speakers of VinC also resort to these patterns which appear to have retained meanings from English. The combinations investigated testify to some measure of morphological change. Additionally, their semantic outcomes are treated as innovations to the extent that they have either not been attested in English or have degrees of compositionality that differ from those of English items. Arguably, such phrasal combinations are not typically considered relevant to word formation, given that they do not form a unitary element from a grammatical perspective. Evidence is provided to show that combinations of verbs and particles in [V+P]v can be analyzed as a product of compounding.

Les études plus ou moins récentes consacrées expressément ou en partie au système des pronoms déterminatifs en français parlé européen ou canadien ont mis à jour l’étonnante diversité des formes qui peuvent coexister au sein de ce système. Si ces travaux contiennent parfois en plus d’un simple inventaire des formes relevées, des explications sur les origines possibles de ces formes, ils laissent cependant de côté plusieurs questions qui intéressent de près la sociolinguistique contemporaine. C’est ainsi par exemple que très peu de renseignements sont fournis relativement à l’effet des caractéristiques sociales des locuteurs (âge, sexe, appartenance socio-professionnelle, etc.) sur leur fréquence d’emploi des différentes formes determinatives. Or de tels renseignements pourraient permettre de dégager les tendances évolutives du système pronominal déterminatif dans les différents dialectes du français. Par le biais de cette étude nous voudrions combler en partie cette lacune en examinant non seulement la morphologie mais aussi l’évolution des pronoms déterminatifs dans le français parlé de Welland (Ontario). Le français parlé à Welland se prête à une telle étude dans la mesure où il possède lui aussi un système pronominal déterminatif dans lequel les formes standard côtoient de nombreuses formes non standard.

Ces lignes de Louis Havet, qui datent de 1919, posent, on ne peut plus clairement, le problème dont nous nous proposons de traiter. Quoique G. Guillaume se soit beaucoup intéressé, surtout dans ses Leçons de linguistique des années 1938–39 et 1949–50B à la question du genre en français, il n’a jamais abordé directement le sujet particulier auquel l’invitait Louis Havet. Il nous semble malgré tout, ce que nous espérons montrer, que ce problème peut se traiter à partir des oppositions fondamentales posées par G. Guillaume entre, d’une part, langue et discours, et, d’autre part, psychisme et sémiologie.

Head-final relatives in Nɬe?kepmcxín (Thompson River Salish) have previously been described as rare. This article presents new data illustrating a range of possible head-final relatives and the discourse context in which they occur. The difference between head-initial and head-final relative structures is accounted for by information structure, namely the position of focus. When focus falls on the entire NP containing the relative clause, a head-initial relative is generated. However, when focus falls on the relative clause itself, excluding the head noun, a head-final relative is used. The effect inside complex nominals is to linearize focus before background, matching the FOCUS ≫ BACKGROUND generalization observed in matrix clause focus marking. The study is the first examination of focus marking inside the Salishan nominal domain.

The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction established for German and Spanish by Maienborn is of wider crosslinguistic relevance. Stage-level and individual-level secondary predicates are both viewed here as K-states as they contain only a Kimian temporal variable but no Davidsonian event variable. Secondary predicates expressing a K-state may acquire the temporary/actual property interpretation when an alternative state entailment is added to them. In such cases the functional layer of the BE-predicate contains a syntactic operator (OPalt) that can bind the Kimian temporal variable in accessible worlds. If no such entailment is added, the same temporal variable is bound by the T0 functional head of the BE-predicate in the actual world. The auxiliary tá/bhí ‘be’ in Irish imposes the semantic restriction that its secondary predicate must contain the alternative state entailment. The copula is/ba ‘be’, on the other hand, is used in the absence of such an entailment. Case obviation on the secondary predicate head in Russian copular sentences signals alternative state entailment, while case agreement on the secondary predicate appears in the absence of this entailment.

The following presentation shows the structural analysis of a Cree text in terms of tagmemic formula. The procedure, developed by K. L. Pike, and described in his Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior, is based on the hypothesis that linguistic patterning is related to the patterning of all purposeful behavior. Crucial to the theory is the structural concept of slot-plus-class (of filler), which together comprise the tagmeme, i.e., the structurally relevant unit of grammatical arrangement.

James O. St. Clair-Sobell has touched on many interesting points in his “Notes on Spelling Pronunciation with Special Reference to Modern Standard Russian”, Canadian Slavonic Papers I (1956) : 66-75. The purpose of the present brief note is simply to rectify, as I think, what must be an analytical oversight in his discussion (70-71) of intervocalic / j /.

St. Clair-Sobell cites the statements of Isačenko and Shaxmatov to the effect that intervocalic / j / ‘lapses’ in certain environments. He continues : ‘But the “presence” of the intervocalic j is indicated by the quality of the preceding vowel and also by the quality of the following unstressed vowel.’ He then goes on to say (71) that many phoneticians and orthoëpists seem to have missed this dropping of the / j / , and that ‘in affected, that is, in spelling pronunciation the j is heard or it is imagined that the j is heard.’

Historically, languages seem to have two kinds of affixes: those that stay put as unproductive (English -ity, Hindi -at, and German -sal) and those that go on to increase their lexical domain (English -hood and non-, Hindi be-, German -ung). When a native affix attaches to non-native lexical items it could not previously attach to, we say that the lexical items in question have moved into the native classification (cf. Allen 1978; Aronoff 1976). English -hood, originally restricted to native bases, now attaches to latinate bases such as priest and state, implying that state and priest have been totally nativized. When a non-native affix increases its lexical domain, we say that the original restriction on it has been removed. Hindi be, originally restricted to [+Persian] words can now attach to almost any adjective (cf. Singh, forthcoming). Non-native affixes either stay put as unproductive (cf. English -ity) or may generalize to cover the entire lexicon (cf. English non- and Hindi be-). When they do generalize so pervasively, they can be attached productively to newly borrowed words. Attachment to newly borrowed words, however, generally implies free attachability with native bases (cf. the Russian nominal suffix -izm discussed in Shanskii, 1968, particularly pp. 100 ff).

The Salishan language Lushootseed shows an unusual pattern in its verbal morphology wherein its verbs are formed from intransitive, adjective-like roots via a highly productive set of suffixes, the bulk of which serve to increase the valency of their stem. These include the middle-marker, which forms intransitives, and several transitivizing affixes, which are shown here to be types of causative, their transitivizing effect being an expression of the causality inherent in the prototypical transitive event. In addition, the syntactic properties of the Lushootseed passive — formed by combining a transitivizing suffix with the middle-marker — can be analyzed as straightforward consequences of the meanings of the affixes that compose it. Treating Lushootseed causatives as subtypes of the transitive event model suggests that cross-linguistically transitive-causatives — as well as instrumentals and applicatives — may be subschematic extensions of the simple transitive clause, rather than derivations from more complex, biclausal structures.

This paper presents a new approach to Across-the-Board (ATB) constructions without resorting to ATB movement. I first examine the syntactic properties of same constructions such as The same man Mary helped and John ruined, and propose a derivation for the constructions. I claim that the relational nominal that contains the adjective same is base-generated in the first conjunct, and moves out of the co-ordinate complex. The raised relational nominal binds a silent form in the second conjunct. This analysis of same constructions is then extended to ATB constructions. The two types of constructions share syntactic and semantic properties. I argue that the overt extracted element of ATB constructions has a movement chain relation with the gap in the first conjunct alone. The silent argument in the second conjunct never moves out of the conjunct. Various types of non-identity readings of ATB constructions are also explained. This research shows that coordinate constructions do not introduce any special type of movement to the computation system.

Recent changes in Hare, an Athapaskan language of the lower Mackenzie River Valley, require that a rule of epenthesis be ordered in two places in the grammar. The original rule is ordered before a rule of vowel raising. In the innovative dialect of Hare, part of the environment for this epenthesis rule is revised and it must be ordered after the raising rule.

This article addresses inversion in an inverse (VSO) language, Niuean, focusing on two issues. First, it has been proposed that in certain types of copular sentences, such as pseudo-cleft constructions (PCCs), the predicate rather than the subject may move into the specifier position of TP. This raises the question of PCCs in a language in which the predicate normally moves there. Such sentences might exhibit their normal inverse order or the inverse of this. The second issue is what constitutes the predicate in a PCC. The headless relative (and not the DP) is usually analyzed as the predicate because, in standard theories of predication, a referential nominal cannot be a predicate. However, in Niuean PCCs, the DP is usually analyzed as the predicate. I propose that it is in fact a reduced headless relative with a null predicate. It becomes clear that there is no special copular inversion: the inversion requirement is taken care of by the general predicate-fronting process. The analysis thus sheds new light on the general nature of copular inversion and allows Niuean PCCs to fall into the standard view of predication theory.

On serait tenté de croire que la question de l’acquisition des mots composés dans les langues romanes et en français plus particulièrement ne semble pas se poser d’abord en termes de processus de maturation ni en termes de dispositif d’apprenance (“learnability”) du langage (DAP). Après tout, un enfant en bas âge n’articule pas des mots composés dès lors qu’il commence à balbutier. On a même l’impression que l’enfant n’a pas besoin d’être confronté à des données très particulières pour acquérir la capacité de comprendre et de réutiliser les mots composés de sa langue. On peut même entretenir l’illusion que les mots composés n’appartiennent ni à son voculaire fondamental ni même à son répertoire lexical de jeune locuteur. Quelques exceptions mises à part, comme loup-garou ou “jouer à cache-cache, à colin-maillard, à chat-perché, à pigeon vole, à saute-mouton, etc.”, un enfant n’a que rarement l’occasion, nous semble-t-il, d’entendre les mots composés de sa langue et surtout de les enregistrer dans son vocabulaire actif. En tout état de cause, les mots composés ne poseraient aucun vrai problème d’acquisition ni seraient d’une grande pertinence en regard du DAP.