In this article, we explore whether hierarchy and linearity conspire to affect agreement. The data come from an experimental study of honorific agreement between verbal si and coordinate subjects in Korean. We focus on computing the mismatch driven by honorifically mixed conjuncts. Unlike South Slavic gender agreement, Korean has neither Resolved Agreement nor First Conjunct Agreement. Only Last Conjunct Agreement is attested in Korean honorification. We show that honorific agreement within coordinate subjects is triggered only when the honorific verbal si appears, which is substantially different from the case with the honorific nominal nim. We also show that acceptability significantly decreases when the last conjunct of coordinate subjects is incongruous with an honorific verb. We thus argue that verbal honorific agreement with Korean coordinate subjects is sensitive to linear order, mimicking South Slavic gender agreement.

This article explores the distribution of Arabic reflexive and reciprocal anaphors in various structures as well as the syntactic environments in which such anaphors are (in)admissible. In particular, it examines the binding domains for reflexives and reciprocals and focuses for the most part on the asymmetries between these two types of anaphors in possessive DPs and PPs. It will be shown that the binding facts are better captured by reducing binding domains to phases, that DPs and PPs constitute a phase only when containing a possessive phrase, and that a reflexive and a reciprocal behave differently in such possessive structures in that the latter, unlike the former, undergoes overt movement. Accordingly, it will be argued that reflexive possessives are ungrammatical because they are left unbound in their DP/PP phase, while reciprocal possessives are grammatical since multiple copies of the distributor are created during the derivation due to movement, allowing it to seek an antecedent in the higher vP, its phasal binding domain. For this to hold, Principle A should apply cyclically at the end of each phase; that is, before the complement of the phase head is spelled out.

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.

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.

Any theory of semantics must account for the role of inference in the interpretation of a sentence, however, it is not clear at which level of the grammar this inferencing capability must be represented. In Sperber and Wilson (1986) for example, inference plays an important role in the interpretation of an utterance in discourse, yet their theory does not integrate lexical representations with discourse and inferencing. Jackendoff (1987, 1990) on the other hand, while giving explicit representations for sentences and lexical items, does not address the question of discourse and inference. In this paper I will argue that it is essential to take account of discourse-level factors when analyzing sentence meaning, and indeed word meaning. In particular I will show that the meaning of the auxiliary verb fεla. in Bengali can be properly represented only if such discourse-level factors are included.

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.

John B. Smith (1987) recently drew attention to the occasional use of an adverb + infinitive construction in English dialects, and specifically to the non-finite phrase away to go. Joseph Wright included examples of the construction in the English Dialect Dictionary under both away and go, with away to go meaning basically ‘be off, go away, away he went’. Under away (A.5.Phr. away to go):

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.

Le moyen français (MF) est une langue à sujet nul qui permet les sujets postverbaux et dont le verbe occupe généralement la seconde position. N’importe quel constituant peut occuper la première position de la phrase, y compris le sujet. Le sujet nul et le sujet postverbal sont habituellement le fait des langues romanes. L’effet du verbe second, “l’effet V2”, est caractéristique des langues germaniques. Une question longuement débattue par la tradition philologique (Foulet 1928; Herman 1954; Hilty 1968; Kuen 1957) est celle de l’influence des langues germaniques sur l’évolution du francais. Fidèles en ce sens à cette tradition, mais dans le cadre de la grammaire générative, Benincà (1984) puis Adams (1987) et Vance (1987) ont appliqué l’analyse proposée par Thiersch (1978) pour l’allemand à l’ancien français (AF) en assumant deux règles de mouvement: antéposition du verbe tensé et topicalisation de n’importe quel adverbe ou NP en position initiale. Le caractère obligatoire de la règle de topicalisation V2 est mis en doute par l’existence de phrases déclaratives à verbe initial en ancien et en moyen français. En effet, on en trouve de la Chanson de Roland (XIIe siècle) jusqu’à Rabelais et Montaigne (XVIe siècle) tant en phrases matrices qu’en phrases subordonnées.

Dans les parlers franco-canadiens du nord de l’Ontario, comme en français populaire ou dans certains français régionaux, on trouve une forme verbale progressive périphrastique qui se construit à l’aide de la particule après [apre] + infinitif. Elle correspond au français commun en train de ou à la forme progressive anglaise. Ainsi pourrait-on traduire “il est après chanter” par he is singing et elle est après faire la vaisselle par she is doing the dishes.

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).

In this study, we target the speech act of direction-giving using variationist sociolinguistic methods within a corpus of vernacular speech from six Ontario communities. Not only do we find social and geographical correlates to linguistic choices in direction-giving, but we also establish the influence of the physical layout of the community/place in question. Direction-giving in the urban center of Toronto (Southern Ontario) contrasts with five Northern Ontario communities. Northerners use more relative directions, while Torontonians use more cardinal directions, landmarks, and proper street names – for example, Go east on Bloor to the Manulife Centre. We also find that specific lexical choices (e.g., Take a right vs. Make a right) distinguish direction-givers in Northern Ontario from those in Toronto. These differences identify direction-giving as an ideal site for sociolinguistic and dialectological investigation and corroborate previous findings documenting regional variation in Canadian English.