Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik 10. Bare NPs and deficient DPs in Haitian Creole and French
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10. Bare NPs and deficient DPs in Haitian Creole and French

From morphosyntax to referent construal
  • Anne Zribi-Hertz und Herby Glaude
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Noun Phrases in Creole Languages
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Noun Phrases in Creole Languages

Abstract

Based on a comparative description of Haitian and French noun phrases, this study focuses on the notion of bareness which characterises so-called bare NPs. Lack of determiner is identified as one type of syntactic deficiency, which must be distinguished from Number deficiency. For any functional feature F, phonological deficiency is argued to be ambiguous between feature unmarkedness, feature deficiency, and spell-out deletion. The study of bare NPs must therefore crucially separate the phonological and syntactic modules of grammar. Surveying the main determiners of Haitian in simplex (nonrelativised) noun phrases, we show that these morphemes all have a deictic value, either because of their inherent features, or because of their selectional properties, and that ‘bare NPs’ correlatively occur as default options which take up whatever interpretations are not available for overt determiners. We next turn to complex relativised noun phrases. Adapting Kayne's (1994) theory of relativisation, we argue from Haitian evidence that they include two layers of functional structure which are independently specified for number and/or definiteness, each distribution of features triggering its own set of semantic effects. We suggest that the distribution of number and locative determiners in relativised DPs, and the correlated semantic effects, might be essentially similar in French and Haitian, in spite of the crucially different properties of ‘D’ heads in these two languages.

Abstract

Based on a comparative description of Haitian and French noun phrases, this study focuses on the notion of bareness which characterises so-called bare NPs. Lack of determiner is identified as one type of syntactic deficiency, which must be distinguished from Number deficiency. For any functional feature F, phonological deficiency is argued to be ambiguous between feature unmarkedness, feature deficiency, and spell-out deletion. The study of bare NPs must therefore crucially separate the phonological and syntactic modules of grammar. Surveying the main determiners of Haitian in simplex (nonrelativised) noun phrases, we show that these morphemes all have a deictic value, either because of their inherent features, or because of their selectional properties, and that ‘bare NPs’ correlatively occur as default options which take up whatever interpretations are not available for overt determiners. We next turn to complex relativised noun phrases. Adapting Kayne's (1994) theory of relativisation, we argue from Haitian evidence that they include two layers of functional structure which are independently specified for number and/or definiteness, each distribution of features triggering its own set of semantic effects. We suggest that the distribution of number and locative determiners in relativised DPs, and the correlated semantic effects, might be essentially similar in French and Haitian, in spite of the crucially different properties of ‘D’ heads in these two languages.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgment ix
  4. Part I: An introduction
  5. 1. Noun phrases in creole languages 3
  6. Part II: Portuguese-lexified Creoles
  7. 2. Bare nouns and the nominal domain in Santome 37
  8. 3. On the syntax and semantics of DP in Cape Verdean Creole 61
  9. 4. Papiamentu and Brazilian Portuguese 107
  10. 5. On the interpretation of bare noun phrases in Guinea-Bissau Portuguese Creole (Kriyol) 145
  11. Part III: Spanish-lexified Creoles
  12. 6. Some aspects of NPs in Mindanao Chabacano 173
  13. 7. Bare nouns in Palenquero 205
  14. Part IV: French-lexified Creoles
  15. 8. Bare nouns in Réunionnais Creole 225
  16. 9. The bare NP in Lesser Antillean 243
  17. 10. Bare NPs and deficient DPs in Haitian Creole and French 265
  18. Part V: A comparison of romance Creoles
  19. 11. Implicit determination and plural 301
  20. Part VI: English-lexified Creoles
  21. 12. Bare nouns and articles in Sranan 339
  22. 13. Aspects of the syntax and semantics of bare nouns in Jamaican Creole 383
  23. Part VII: African American English
  24. 14. NPs in aspectual Be constructions in African American English 403
  25. 15. Bare nouns in African American English (AAE) 421
  26. Part VIII: Dutch-lexified Creoles
  27. 16. Bare nouns in Berbice Dutch Creole 437
  28. Part IX: A Synthesis and a postface
  29. 17. Properties of noun phrases in creole languages 461
  30. 18. Functional deficiency, ellipsis or innovation in creole languages? 471
  31. Index 485
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.31.15zri

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgment ix
  4. Part I: An introduction
  5. 1. Noun phrases in creole languages 3
  6. Part II: Portuguese-lexified Creoles
  7. 2. Bare nouns and the nominal domain in Santome 37
  8. 3. On the syntax and semantics of DP in Cape Verdean Creole 61
  9. 4. Papiamentu and Brazilian Portuguese 107
  10. 5. On the interpretation of bare noun phrases in Guinea-Bissau Portuguese Creole (Kriyol) 145
  11. Part III: Spanish-lexified Creoles
  12. 6. Some aspects of NPs in Mindanao Chabacano 173
  13. 7. Bare nouns in Palenquero 205
  14. Part IV: French-lexified Creoles
  15. 8. Bare nouns in Réunionnais Creole 225
  16. 9. The bare NP in Lesser Antillean 243
  17. 10. Bare NPs and deficient DPs in Haitian Creole and French 265
  18. Part V: A comparison of romance Creoles
  19. 11. Implicit determination and plural 301
  20. Part VI: English-lexified Creoles
  21. 12. Bare nouns and articles in Sranan 339
  22. 13. Aspects of the syntax and semantics of bare nouns in Jamaican Creole 383
  23. Part VII: African American English
  24. 14. NPs in aspectual Be constructions in African American English 403
  25. 15. Bare nouns in African American English (AAE) 421
  26. Part VIII: Dutch-lexified Creoles
  27. 16. Bare nouns in Berbice Dutch Creole 437
  28. Part IX: A Synthesis and a postface
  29. 17. Properties of noun phrases in creole languages 461
  30. 18. Functional deficiency, ellipsis or innovation in creole languages? 471
  31. Index 485
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