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Agreement is not an essential ingredient of finiteness

Evidence from impersonal sentences in Norwegian dialects and in English
  • Tor A. Åfarli
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Finiteness Matters
This chapter is in the book Finiteness Matters

Abstract

I argue in this article that agreement is not an essential ingredient of T/finiteness. Using the mechanism of valuation of unvalued features, I argue that unvalued agreement features in T only exist if there is visible subject – verb agreement in the language/dialect. Correspondingly, I argue that unvalued agreement features in participles only exist if there is visible subject – participle agreement. The likelihood that these assumptions are correct is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of expletive subjects and agreement relations in impersonal constructions in Norwegian dialects and in English.

Abstract

I argue in this article that agreement is not an essential ingredient of T/finiteness. Using the mechanism of valuation of unvalued features, I argue that unvalued agreement features in T only exist if there is visible subject – verb agreement in the language/dialect. Correspondingly, I argue that unvalued agreement features in participles only exist if there is visible subject – participle agreement. The likelihood that these assumptions are correct is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of expletive subjects and agreement relations in impersonal constructions in Norwegian dialects and in English.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I: Finiteness: underlying relations
  5. Finiteness and Pseudofiniteness 47
  6. The Split T Analysis 79
  7. Universals and variation 93
  8. Finiteness, inflection, and the syntax your morphology can afford 121
  9. Part II: Morphosyntactic exponents of (non-)finiteness
  10. Agreement is not an essential ingredient of finiteness 171
  11. Non-finiteness in Saamáka 189
  12. Finiteness and response particles in West Flemish 211
  13. Part III: Finiteness in language acquisition
  14. Word order and finiteness in acquisition 257
  15. The influence of phonological factors on the expression of finiteness by children learning Dutch as their first and second language 287
  16. Contradictory parameter settings in one mind 309
  17. Index 343
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.231.06afa

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I: Finiteness: underlying relations
  5. Finiteness and Pseudofiniteness 47
  6. The Split T Analysis 79
  7. Universals and variation 93
  8. Finiteness, inflection, and the syntax your morphology can afford 121
  9. Part II: Morphosyntactic exponents of (non-)finiteness
  10. Agreement is not an essential ingredient of finiteness 171
  11. Non-finiteness in Saamáka 189
  12. Finiteness and response particles in West Flemish 211
  13. Part III: Finiteness in language acquisition
  14. Word order and finiteness in acquisition 257
  15. The influence of phonological factors on the expression of finiteness by children learning Dutch as their first and second language 287
  16. Contradictory parameter settings in one mind 309
  17. Index 343
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