A morphologically guided matching approach to German(ic) relative constructions
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Volker Struckmeier
Abstract
This article argues for a matching analysis of attributive constructions in German proposed by Struckmeier (2007): The suffixal morphology found on attributive adjectives and participles (traditionally called case, gender and number), and similar markers found on relative pronouns in German, constitute evidence that is problematic for raising analyses of attributive constructions (Kayne 1994): Morphological, syntactic and semantic facts are adduced which raising analyses cannot explain. This paper proposes to regard attributive morphology as a phase head (Chomsky 2000), which identifies relativized arguments in its domain. This approach derives the synchronic facts, and extends to diachronic and typological comparisons, giving the analysis a wider empirical reach than raising analyses. Keywords: attributive; agreement; relative clause; raising; matching; antisymmetry
Abstract
This article argues for a matching analysis of attributive constructions in German proposed by Struckmeier (2007): The suffixal morphology found on attributive adjectives and participles (traditionally called case, gender and number), and similar markers found on relative pronouns in German, constitute evidence that is problematic for raising analyses of attributive constructions (Kayne 1994): Morphological, syntactic and semantic facts are adduced which raising analyses cannot explain. This paper proposes to regard attributive morphology as a phase head (Chomsky 2000), which identifies relativized arguments in its domain. This approach derives the synchronic facts, and extends to diachronic and typological comparisons, giving the analysis a wider empirical reach than raising analyses. Keywords: attributive; agreement; relative clause; raising; matching; antisymmetry
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Comparative Germanic Syntax ix
- Modal complement ellipsis 1
- On the adverbial reading of infrequency adjectives and the structure of the DP 35
- Crossing the lake 67
- Preposition-determiner amalgams in German and French at the syntax-morphology interface 99
- Conditional clauses, Main Clause Phenomena and the syntax of polarity emphasis 133
- Cross-Germanic variation in binding Condition B 169
- Development of sentential negation in the history of German 199
- Contact, animacy, and affectedness in Germanic 223
- Syntactic change in progress 249
- Cross Germanic variation in the realm of support verbs 279
- The shift to strict VO in English at the PF-interface 311
- Deriving reconstruction asymmetries in Across The Board by means of asymmetric extraction + ellipsis 353
- A morphologically guided matching approach to German(ic) relative constructions 387
- Index 415
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Comparative Germanic Syntax ix
- Modal complement ellipsis 1
- On the adverbial reading of infrequency adjectives and the structure of the DP 35
- Crossing the lake 67
- Preposition-determiner amalgams in German and French at the syntax-morphology interface 99
- Conditional clauses, Main Clause Phenomena and the syntax of polarity emphasis 133
- Cross-Germanic variation in binding Condition B 169
- Development of sentential negation in the history of German 199
- Contact, animacy, and affectedness in Germanic 223
- Syntactic change in progress 249
- Cross Germanic variation in the realm of support verbs 279
- The shift to strict VO in English at the PF-interface 311
- Deriving reconstruction asymmetries in Across The Board by means of asymmetric extraction + ellipsis 353
- A morphologically guided matching approach to German(ic) relative constructions 387
- Index 415
