The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian
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Steven L. Franks
Abstract
Unlike ordinary adjectives, Russian sam ‘alone’ and odin ‘one’ (“semipredicatives”) are in the dative in infinitival non-obligatory control contexts but in obligatory control structures they must agree in case with their antecedents. This paper starts from the puzzle of avoiding overapplication of the mechanism for assigning dative – the standard assumption that dative arises through agreement with a PRODAT subject introduces a “look-ahead” problem. Approaches of Franks, Babby, Grebenyova, and Landau are considered, with the aim of unifying critical insights. It is argued that (i) there is no need to posit PRODAT; (ii) semipredicatives can be directly assigned dative whereas ordinary adjectives must agree; (iii) arguments have more sensitive case requirements than do adjuncts.
Abstract
Unlike ordinary adjectives, Russian sam ‘alone’ and odin ‘one’ (“semipredicatives”) are in the dative in infinitival non-obligatory control contexts but in obligatory control structures they must agree in case with their antecedents. This paper starts from the puzzle of avoiding overapplication of the mechanism for assigning dative – the standard assumption that dative arises through agreement with a PRODAT subject introduces a “look-ahead” problem. Approaches of Franks, Babby, Grebenyova, and Landau are considered, with the aim of unifying critical insights. It is argued that (i) there is no need to posit PRODAT; (ii) semipredicatives can be directly assigned dative whereas ordinary adjectives must agree; (iii) arguments have more sensitive case requirements than do adjuncts.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- List of abbreviations xi
- List of figures xiii
- Editors' note xv
- Preface xvii
- Introduction 1
- The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian 13
- Polish equatives as symmetrical structures 61
- Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement 95
- A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian 117
- The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions 129
- The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian 165
- Possessives within and beyond NP 193
- On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish 221
- Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish 247
- Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs 267
- Transparent free relatives 295
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- List of abbreviations xi
- List of figures xiii
- Editors' note xv
- Preface xvii
- Introduction 1
- The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian 13
- Polish equatives as symmetrical structures 61
- Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement 95
- A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian 117
- The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions 129
- The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian 165
- Possessives within and beyond NP 193
- On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish 221
- Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish 247
- Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs 267
- Transparent free relatives 295
- Index 319
