CAS LX 522 Syntax I

CAS LX 522Syntax I Week 11. Interim summary and some things to do in class.

The Y model • We’ve covered most of the components—let’s walk slowly through a derivation to illustrate everything we’ve got up to this point. • What does every student want me to be reading? q TheorySubcategorization DS Overt movement,Expletive insertion X-bar theory Case theory, EPP SS Covert movement Phonology/Morphology PF LF Binding theory

Walking through a derivation DS SS • What does every student want me to be reading? • Read:Agent, Theme • Want:Agent, Proposition • Agents go in SpecVP, objects (Theme and Proposition) are sister to their verb at DS. PF LF

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • To start with, figure out the skeleton. • There are two clauses, every student wants (something) and me to be reading what. • The top clause has a +Q, +WH C, since it is a wh-question. PF LF T VP T [PRES] V V TP want T VP T to V Note: I’mignoring theAspP for -ing V VP be V V reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Then start filling in the q-roles for the verbs. • Remember: • Each verb needs to assign its q-roles within its own VP. • Auxiliaries (be, have) do not assign q-roles. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want T VP T to V V VP be DP V me V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Are all the q-roles assigned? • reading: • Agent:me • Theme:what • want: • Experiencer: Bill • Proposition: TP • It’s a good DS. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want T VP T to V V VP be DP V me V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Now, we move things around in order to have a satisfactory SS. • All DPs need Case. • Every SpecTP needs to be filled. • A [+Q, +WH] C needs to have a [wh] element in its specifier. • Matrix [+Q] C needs T to move up to it. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want T VP T to V V VP be DP V me V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Case: So far, only one DP has Case, what. • Reading is an active transitive verb, it assigns accusative Case to its sister. • Moving up the tree, me needs Case, and SpecTP needs to be filled. Both problems can be solved by moving me to SpecTP. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want T VP T to V V VP be DP V me V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Case: How does me get Case? • Nonfinite T (to) does not assign Case to its specifier. • However, me is governed bywant. Want assigns accusative Case to me. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q][+WH] • Case: Now, every student needs Case and the higher SpecTP needs to be filled. • Both problems can be solved by moving every student to SpecTP. PF LF T VP T [PRES] DP V ev.st. V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C TP [+Q,+WH] • Every student gets nominative Case from the finite T. • What’s left? • Matrix [+Q] C needs to have T move to it. • A [+Q, +WH] C needs a [wh] element in its specifier. PF LF DPj T ev.st. VP T [PRES] tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS C SS C+Tk TP -s • T moves up to C. • What’s left? • A [+Q, +WH] C needs a [wh] element in its specifier. • The only [wh] element we have is what, which we’ll need to move into SpecCP. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V DP reading what

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS SS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • What moves up to SpecCP. • Now: • Every DP got Case (along the way). • All SpecTPs are filled. • T moved to [+Q] C. • SpecCP has a [wh] element. • Is this is a good SS? PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS SS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • Well, that’s weird. • It sounds like a good sentence, but it shouldn’t be, should it? • It looks like it should be a Subjacency violation. And know there’s no CP in there, because me is getting Case from want, so they have to be close together. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS SS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • Sentences like this one actually led to a fairly significant shift in how people thought about Subjacency. • For our purposes, a close enough approximation is to thinking of TP as a bounding node only if dominated by a CP. • It’s still TP that’s the barrier to movement, but only if there’s a CP above it—having a V above it like in this sentence makes it “transparent”. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • Now, the derivation splits. • This (the SS) is the “pronunciation focus” of the derivation. • First let’s head off toward PF. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • The only problem with pronouncing this structure is that we have a “stranded affix”—the present tense suffix is in C, and cannot attach to a verb. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS PF DPm C what SS C+Tk TP do-s • So, we have to insert do to support the stranded affix. • This is the pronounced form of the sentence: What does every student want me to be reading? PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS SS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • We’re not done yet… • At SS, the derivation splits, one set of steps leads to PF. This is where do-support (and also affix lowering) happens. • But we also must compute the meaning, the logical form (LF). • So we need to return to SS and consider the LF branch. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

What does every student want me to be reading? CP DS SS DPm C what SS C+Tk TP -s • We have a quantifier, every student, and all quantifiers need to move out of TP before we have a valid LF. (Quantifiers need to leave a trace to serve as a variable) • So every studentneeds to adjoin to TP. PF LF DPj T ev.st. tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

CP What does every student want me to be reading? DPm C DS LF what C+Tk TP -s SS DPj TP ev.st. • The quantifier is not moving very far, but it is now no longer contained in TP. (TP does not dominate DPj) • The requirements on LF are now met, this is a valid LF. • What is the x such that for every student y, y wants me to be reading x? PF LF tj T tk VP tj V V TP want DPi T me VP T to V V VP be ti V V tm reading

Some others Opi that we might want PROsubto do ti • What is likely to be served at Thanksgiving? • Who should not expect to eat every drumstick? • Most students know where to go.

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CAS LX 522 Syntax I