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Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement

Abstract

This chapter looks at two cases where subject agreement in Hebrew does not follow the morphosyntactic (phi) features of the subject: singular agreement with plural subjects, and plural agreement with singular group-denoting subjects. The paper argues that there are important differences between these two cases; in particular, it is argued that the former is not agreement but lack of agreement, whereas the latter involves (syntactic) agreement. Lack of agreement is tied to constraints on thematic role assignment. Neither case poses a real problem to current syntactic models of agreement.

Abstract

This chapter looks at two cases where subject agreement in Hebrew does not follow the morphosyntactic (phi) features of the subject: singular agreement with plural subjects, and plural agreement with singular group-denoting subjects. The paper argues that there are important differences between these two cases; in particular, it is argued that the former is not agreement but lack of agreement, whereas the latter involves (syntactic) agreement. Lack of agreement is tied to constraints on thematic role assignment. Neither case poses a real problem to current syntactic models of agreement.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. List of contributors ix
  4. List of abbreviations xi
  5. List of figures xiii
  6. Editors' note xv
  7. Preface xvii
  8. Introduction 1
  9. The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian 13
  10. Polish equatives as symmetrical structures 61
  11. Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement 95
  12. A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian 117
  13. The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions 129
  14. The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian 165
  15. Possessives within and beyond NP 193
  16. On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish 221
  17. Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish 247
  18. Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs 267
  19. Transparent free relatives 295
  20. Index 319
Advances in the Syntax of DPs
This chapter is in the book Advances in the Syntax of DPs
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.217.04dan

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. List of contributors ix
  4. List of abbreviations xi
  5. List of figures xiii
  6. Editors' note xv
  7. Preface xvii
  8. Introduction 1
  9. The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian 13
  10. Polish equatives as symmetrical structures 61
  11. Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement 95
  12. A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian 117
  13. The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions 129
  14. The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian 165
  15. Possessives within and beyond NP 193
  16. On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish 221
  17. Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish 247
  18. Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs 267
  19. Transparent free relatives 295
  20. Index 319
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