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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (1): Imperatives

Behavioral Properties of Subjects (1): Imperatives. An imperative is a command. Close the door. Addressed to an agent who can carry out the command. It’s hard to make an imperative with non-agentive verbs: ? Be tall. ? Know the answer by the time I get back. Imperatives.

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (1): Imperatives

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  1. Behavioral Properties of Subjects (1): Imperatives • An imperative is a command. • Close the door. • Addressed to an agent who can carry out the command. • It’s hard to make an imperative with non-agentive verbs: • ? Be tall. • ? Know the answer by the time I get back.

  2. Imperatives • We know that the addressee of an imperative has to be an agent, but does it have to be a subject? • Sentences such as passives have agents that are not subjects. • English: • *The clothes be washed. • Not an imperative • Let the clothes be washed! • Addressee is the subject of let, not the agent of wash • The cost be damned! • A special exclamation. Not really an imperative. Addressee doesn’t do the damning.

  3. Imperatives • Malagasy (Madagascar): (Van Valin 2.39b) • Sasao ny lamba. wash.passive the clothes The clothes be washed! (imperative)

  4. Behavioral Properties of Subjects (2): Reflexives(and notation for pronoun reference) • Antecedent: What a pronoun refers to. • Who is John(i)? He(i) is my brother. • John(i) thought that he(i/j) would go. • John can be the antecedent of he in both examples. • Reflexive Pronoun: • I(i) saw myself(i/*j). • You saw yourself. • He saw himself. • Etc.

  5. Reflexive Pronouns in English • James(i) saw himself(i). • Antecedent is subject. • James(i) told Miriam(j) about himself(i). • Antecedent is subject. • James(i) told Miriam(j) about herself(j). • Antecedent is direct object. • Miriam(j) talked to/with Sam(i) about himself(i). • Antecedent is oblique (prepositional phrase).

  6. Reflexive Pronouns in Norwegian • Reflexive pronoun #1: • Jon(i) fortalte meg om seg selv(i). John told me about himself. (Antecedent is subject.) • *Vi fortalte Jon(i) om seg selv(i). We told John about himself. Antecedent must be the subject.

  7. Reflexive Pronouns in Norwegian • Reflexive pronoun #2: • *Jon(i) snakker om ham selv(i). John talks about himself. (Antecedent is subject.) • Vi fortalte Jon(i) om ham selv(i). We told John about himself. Antecedent cannot be the subject.

  8. Behavioral Properties of Subjects (3): Wh-extraction • Who ate my sandwich? • Who is the subject of eat. • Who did Pat see? • Who is the direct object of see. • Who did Leslie give the tickets to? • Who is the object of a preposition. • To whom did Leslie give the tickets. • To whom is a prepositional phrase. • Who is Chris taller than? • Who is the object of a comparative.

  9. Wh-extraction • Question words begin with wh in English. • The question word is extracted from the position that is normal for its grammatical relation (subject position, object position, etc.) and is placed at the beginning of the sentence. • Some languages use wh-in-situ (in place): • You saw what? • In English this is used only for expressing surprise or to indicate that you missed part of the previous sentence.

  10. Cleft Formation • It was Pat who ate my sandwich. • Pat is subject of eat. • It was Pat who Chris saw. • Pat is object of see. • It was Pat who Leslie gave the tickets to. • Pat is object of a preposition. • It was Pat who Chris was taller than. • Pat is object of comparison.

  11. Languages with restricted wh-extraction • It is not common for wh-extraction to be limited to certain grammatical relations. • When it is restricted, it is generally restricted to subjects. • Malagasy • Subject can be extracted. • Object cannot be extracted. • Recipient cannot be extracted. • Instrument and other prepositional phrases can be extracted. • Passive voice and other voices create subjects so that they can be extracted.

  12. NP N-bar S-bar S N-bar VP Det N NP V NP The person who bought the house Behavioral Properties of Subjects (4): Relative Clauses Relative Clause Head Relative Pronoun

  13. Components of Relative Clauses • Head noun: person • Sentence from which something is extracted. • Bought the house. • Relative pronoun or complementizer: • The person who bought the house. • The person that bought the house.

  14. Relative Clauses • The whole thing is an NP and can be in any NP position. • The person who bought the house is nice. • Subject • I met the person who bought the house. • Object • I talked to the person who bought the house. • Object of a preposition.

  15. Relative Clauses in English • The extracted (relativized) can have any grammatical relation in English. • I met the person who saw you. • Subject is relativized. • I met the person who you saw. • Direct object is relativized. • I met the person who you talked to. • Object of a preposition is relativized. • I met the person who you are taller than. • Object of comparison is relativized.

  16. Relative Clauses in English • If something other than the subject is relativized in English, the relative pronoun or complementizer can be omitted: • The person I met. • The person I talked to. • The person you are taller than. • *The person bought the house. • Not a relative clause.

  17. Participial clauses in English • These are not relative clauses: • [NP The person buying the house] is rich. • [NP The person tormented by nightmares] couldn’t sleep. • Can’t have relative pronouns or complementizers (although that is not a criterion for being a relative clause in other languages): • *the person who/that buying the house is rich • *the person who/that tormented by nightmares is rich

  18. Relative Clauses in English • These are relative clauses: • The person who is buying the house • The person who is tormented by nightmares

  19. Relative clauses in your language • Your language here.

  20. Relative clauses in Malagasy • Subject can be relativized. • Direct object cannot be relativized. • Instrument cannot be relativized. • Passive and other voices create new subjects so that they can be relativized. • Compare to participial clauses in English. • [NP The person [s washing the clothes]] • * [NP The clothes [s the person washing]] • Intendent to mean the clothes that the person is washing. • [NP The clothes [s being washed by the person]]

  21. S NP VP VS-bar S COMPNPVP It seemsthat they have left. Behavioral Properties of Subjects: matrix coding as subject Matrix Clause Embedded Clause

  22. S S NP VP NP VP VS-bar VVP-bar S VP COMPNPVP COMP It seemsthat they have left. They seemto have left. Behavioral Properties of Subjects: matrix coding as subject

  23. Behavioral Properties of Subject: Matrix Coding as Subject • Seem takes one semantic argument. • Two syntactic subcategorization frames • Dummy subject and tensed clause • Subject and infinitive clause missing a subject • Subject of embedded clause is coded as subject of matrix clause • Occurs before the matrix verb in English • Matrix verb agrees with it

  24. Behavioral Properties of Subject: Matrix Coding as Subject • What does this have to do with subjects? • Only the subject of the embedded clause can be removed from the lower clause and coded as the matrix clause subject. • * They seem I to have seen ____. • * The knife seems I to have cut the bread with.

  25. What is the subject of these sentences? • There is a problem. • There are problems. • In this village lives a wise man. • In this village live many people.

  26. S NP VP VS-bar S COMPNPVP It seemsthat they have left. Matrix coding as subject: more commonly known as Raising-to-Subject Lower clause subject is raised to be the subject of the matrix clause. S NP VP VVP-bar VP COMP They seemto have left.

  27. Behavioral Properties of Subjects: Matrix Coding as Object: a.k.a. Raising-to-Object or Exceptional Case Marking • Believe takes to semantic arguments. • Two syntactic subcategorization frames: • Subject and tensed embedded clause. • Subject, object, and infinitive VP • I believe that they have left. • I believe them to have left.

  28. S NP VP V NPVP-bar COMP VP I believethem to have left S Matrix Clause NP VP V S-bar COMP S Embedded Clause NP VP I believethat they have left

  29. S NP VP V NPVP-bar COMP VP I believethem to have left Raising-to-Object: We will use this one in this class. S NP VP Exceptional Case Marking: we will not use this one. S V NP VP-bar COMP VP I believe them to have left

  30. Evidence that them is direct object of the matrix clause • It is in the accusative case. • It can be the subject of the passive of the matrix verb. • They are believed to have left. • Tests for constituency: • Class participation • Coordination • Movement • Pronoun substitution

  31. Behavioral property of subjects only • Only the subject of the lower (embedded) clause can be raised up to be the object of the matrix clause. • Leslie believes that the police have arrested Chris. • Leslie believes the police to have arrested Chris. • *Leslie believes Chris the police to have arrested.

  32. Test with raising to object • There are some problems. • In the village live many people.

  33. Using passive to make patients raisable • It seems that Chris ate a sandwich. • It seems that a sandwich was eaten by Chris. • A sandwich seems to have been eaten by Chris. • I believe that Chris ate a sandwich. • I believe that a sandwich was eaten by Chris. • I believe a sandwich to have been eaten by Chris.

  34. Raising in Malagasy • See handout

  35. S NP VP VVP-bar VP COMP Pat tried to open the window Behavioral Properties of Subjects: Control by Matrix Subject • Pat is the agent of try and the agent of open. • Pat is also the subject of both verbs.

  36. Control by matrix subject: a.k.a. Equi NP Deletion • Pat tried Pat to open the window. • Pat tried __ to open the window.

  37. Control as a properties of subjects. • Pat tried ___ to open the window. controllee controller Only the subject of the lower (embedded) clause can be the controllee: * Pat tried Kim to see ___

  38. The cat seems to be out of the bag. There seems to be a problem. That seems to be my husband. The doctor seemed to examine Sam. Sam seemed to be examined by the doctor. The cat tried to be out of the bag. *There tried to be a problem. That tried to be my husband. The doctor tried to examine Sam. Sam tried to be examined by the doctor. Seem and Try(more about this later in the semester)

  39. S NP VP V NPVP-bar COMP VP I persuadedPat to leave Control by Matrix Object

  40. Control by Matrix Object • Pat is the direct object of persuade and the subject of leave. • The matrix object (controller) and embedded subject (controllee) are the same. • Only the embedded subject can be the controllee. • *Pat persuaded Sam the doctor to examine.

  41. I believe the cat to be out of the bag. I believe there to be a problem. I believe that to be my husband. I believe Pat to have opened the window. I believe the window to have been opened by Pat. I persuaded the cat to be out of the bag. *I persuaded there to be a problem. I persuaded that to be my husband. I persuaded Pat to have opened the window. ? I persuaded the window to have been opened by Pat. Believe and Persuade

  42. Using passive to make patients controllable • I believe that Sam opened the window. • I believe the window to have been opened by Sam. • I believe the window to have been opened by Sam. • I perusaded the doctor to examine Sam. • I persuaded Sam to be examined by the doctor.

  43. Control in Malagasy • See handout.

  44. Control of Adjunct Clauses • Having just arrived in town,Sam called his mother. • Having just hurt herself, Sam called his mother. • What can be the controller? • Matrix subject? • Matrix object? • What can be the controllee? • Embedded subject? • Embedded object?

  45. Conjunction Reduction • Bill saw Sam and left. • Who left? • Bill saw Sam and greeted him. • Who greeted someone? • *Bill(i) saw Sam(j) and he(i) greeted ___(j). • What can be the controller of conjunction reduction? • What can be the controllee of conjunction reduction?

  46. See handout • Conjunction reduction in Malagasy. • Conjunction reduction and control in Tindi.

  47. Three kinds of empty arguments • Pro-drop: The empty argument is understood with a definite reference: he, she, it, they, etc. • Optional argument with indefinite reference. • Semantic valency change.

  48. Pro-drop • English sentences almost always have a subject noun phrase: • She studied. • Dummy or pleonastic subjects: • It is raining • There is a problem. • Apparent exceptions due to ellipsis: • Does he like chocolate? Seems to. • What are you going to do? Study real hard.

  49. Pro-drop languages • The subject noun phrase can be missing, but is understood as a pronoun referring to something specific: • Your language here. • The direct object noun phrase (or other noun phrases) can also be dropped in some languages. • Your language here.

  50. Optional arguments in English • The children ate chocolate. • The children ate. • What does this mean? • What happened to the cake? • The children ate it. • *The children ate.

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