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Grammar Agreement & Case: Essential Concepts

Explore the fundamentals of agreement and case in grammar, including person and number features, probes, goals, and uninterpretable features. Understand how verbs and nouns interact in agreement, the role of case in English, and strategies to handle uninterpretable features.

candace-roberson
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Grammar Agreement & Case: Essential Concepts

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  1. AgreementNov 7, 2012 – Day 29 Introduction to Syntax ANTH 3590/7590 Harry Howard Tulane University

  2. Course management • http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/ANTH3590/ • We need to spend our $150 from the Provost’s Undergraduate Activities Fund. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  3. AGREEMENT, CASE & A-MVT ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Radford §7.1-4

  4. AGREEMENT & VALUATION ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Radford §7.2-3

  5. Agreement • What is agreement in grammar? • Some data • I am happy. ~ We are happy. • You are happy. ~ Y’all are happy. • She/he/it is happy. ~ They are happy. • There is a fly in my soup. ~ They are several flies in my soup. • Call the features of person and number that are the basis of agreement phi/ɸ features. • A verb lacks values for phi features and must find them in order to be conjugated and so is called a probe; • a noun has values for phi features and so is called a goal (of the probe). • A probe must find its goal within its c-command domain. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  6. Agreement with passive be and there (2, 4), first draft CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. PRN there T’ T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane V awarded QP several prizes [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  7. Case • What is case in grammar? • Remember that case in English only shows up on pronouns • Nominative: I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they • Accusative: me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them • Genitive: my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their • Treat case as another feature, [u-Case], for agreement • Nominative comes from agreement with finite T, see next slide. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  8. Case with passive be (7, 9), first draft CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. T’ PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [Nom-Case] T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane V arrested PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [ -Case] ---- ----- ----------- ---------- ------------ 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Nom Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  9. UNINTERPRETABLE FEATURES ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane §7.4

  10. Recall the shape of the grammar Phonetic form/interpretation: syntactic structure is spelled out; unvalued features cause the derivation to crash. Syntax ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Semantic representation: syntactic structure is converted to a meaning; uninterpretable features cause the derivation to crash.

  11. Uninterpretable features Features are interpreted in the semantics, or not. (13) ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  12. How to get rid of uninterpretable features? • Feature deletion (14) • An uninterpretable feature is deleted immediately after any operation it is involved in applies and is thereafter invisible in the syntactic and semantic components (but visible in the PF component). • Simultaneity condition (18) • All syntactic operations involving a given probe apply simultaneously. ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  13. Repeat example of passive be (16, 17) CP C ø TP Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. T’ PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [Nom-Case] T BE [Past-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] [EPP] VP ----------------- ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane ------- -------- ------- V arrested PRN they [3-Pers] [Pl-Num] [ -Case] ---- ----- ----------- ---------- ------------ 3 Pl V assigns THEME to its complement Nom goal supplies phi features to probe. EPP: attracts the closest nominal to spec-T, so EPP looks like EF

  14. EXPLETIVE IT SUBJECTS ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane §7.5

  15. Introduction • Some data 19a) It is said that he has taken bribes. ~19b) It is difficult to cope with long-term illness. ~19c) It’s a pity that they can’t come. • The problem: what does be agree with? • that • that probably doesn’t have phi features • (19b) has no that • the subject of the embedded clause • the embedded clause in (19b) has no subject • the embedded clause in (19c) has a plural subject • impenetrability prevents it from entering into a relationship with a higher head • it • OK, so what are its features? • only [3-Per, Sg-Num] & these are uninterpretable; no gender or case ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  16. So how does be agree with it? • Sneaky assumption: only heads can be probes, not phrases. So it cannot be a probe; only a goal of agreement. • If it originates in Spec-T, it is not c-commanded by its probe. • The only solution is for it to originate in spec-V, just like any other subject, see next slide. • Evidence • They said that he has taken bribes. (25a) active said • I won’t have it said that he has taken bribes. (25b) passive said ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane

  17. Expletive it (26-27) CP TP C ø T’ PRN it [3-Pers] [Sg-Num] Probe finds a goal in its c-command domain. ------------ ------------- T BE [Pres-Tns] [ -Pers] [ -Num] [EPP] VP ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane ------- -------- ------- PRN it [3-Pers] [Sg-Num] V' ------- ----- ----------- ---------- 3 Pl V said CP that he has taken bribes Goal supplies phi features to probe.

  18. NEXT TIME ANTH3590/7590, Harry Howard, Tulane Continue §7

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