Romanian tough-constructions and multi-headed constituents
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Ion Giurgea
Abstract
I propose an account for the absence of agreement on tough-wordsin Romanian tough- constructions (TCs). I argue that absence of agreement cannot be explained by an A-bar movement derivation, because Romanian TCs involve A-movement, the non-finite complement having passive properties. I also argue against an adverb analysis of Romanian tough-words and against a subject analysis of the clausal argument of the tough-word. I propose a novel analysis, which is supported by West Germanic data: non-agreeing TCs are multi-headed constituents, in which the adjective is the internal head, selecting the supine CP, and the supine C is the external head. Since the adjective is not the external head, it cannot take part in agreement relations involving the [Adjective+Supine] constituent. I provide a technical implementation of the notion of multi-headed constituents which relies on Citko’s (2008) flexible label projection: in this case, it is the label of the complement that projects (an instance of Project-Goal). Finally, I discuss the correlation between the availability of multi-headed TCs and the morphological (in)distinctness between adjectives and adverbs.
Abstract
I propose an account for the absence of agreement on tough-wordsin Romanian tough- constructions (TCs). I argue that absence of agreement cannot be explained by an A-bar movement derivation, because Romanian TCs involve A-movement, the non-finite complement having passive properties. I also argue against an adverb analysis of Romanian tough-words and against a subject analysis of the clausal argument of the tough-word. I propose a novel analysis, which is supported by West Germanic data: non-agreeing TCs are multi-headed constituents, in which the adjective is the internal head, selecting the supine CP, and the supine C is the external head. Since the adjective is not the external head, it cannot take part in agreement relations involving the [Adjective+Supine] constituent. I provide a technical implementation of the notion of multi-headed constituents which relies on Citko’s (2008) flexible label projection: in this case, it is the label of the complement that projects (an instance of Project-Goal). Finally, I discuss the correlation between the availability of multi-headed TCs and the morphological (in)distinctness between adjectives and adverbs.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- Root gerunds in Old Romanian 1
- Old French possessives and ellipsis 21
- The generalization of preposition para via fusion and ensuing loss of compositionality 39
- On capacities and their epistemic extensions 59
- Beyond the subject DP versus the subject pronoun divide in agreement switches 79
- Epistemic adverbs, the prosody-syntax interface, and the theory of phases 99
- Romanian tough-constructions and multi-headed constituents 119
- Depictive secondary predicates in Spanish and the relative/absolute distinction 139
- Gender agreement with animate nouns in French 159
- French loanwords in Korean 177
- Affirmative polar replies in Brazilian Portuguese 195
- Participle fronting and clause structure in Old and Middle French 213
- “Toned-up” Spanish 233
- On null objects and ellipses in Brazilian Portuguese 257
- Age effects and the discrimination of consonantal and vocalic contrasts in heritage and native Spanish 277
- The linguistic competence of second-generation bilinguals 301
- The X 0 syntax of “dative” clitics and the make-up of clitic combinations in Gallo-Romance 321
- Some notes on falloir , devoir , and the theory of control 341
- The phonology of postverbal pronouns in Romance languages 361
- From N to particle 379
- Marsican deixis and the nature of indexical syntax 399
- Index 415
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- Root gerunds in Old Romanian 1
- Old French possessives and ellipsis 21
- The generalization of preposition para via fusion and ensuing loss of compositionality 39
- On capacities and their epistemic extensions 59
- Beyond the subject DP versus the subject pronoun divide in agreement switches 79
- Epistemic adverbs, the prosody-syntax interface, and the theory of phases 99
- Romanian tough-constructions and multi-headed constituents 119
- Depictive secondary predicates in Spanish and the relative/absolute distinction 139
- Gender agreement with animate nouns in French 159
- French loanwords in Korean 177
- Affirmative polar replies in Brazilian Portuguese 195
- Participle fronting and clause structure in Old and Middle French 213
- “Toned-up” Spanish 233
- On null objects and ellipses in Brazilian Portuguese 257
- Age effects and the discrimination of consonantal and vocalic contrasts in heritage and native Spanish 277
- The linguistic competence of second-generation bilinguals 301
- The X 0 syntax of “dative” clitics and the make-up of clitic combinations in Gallo-Romance 321
- Some notes on falloir , devoir , and the theory of control 341
- The phonology of postverbal pronouns in Romance languages 361
- From N to particle 379
- Marsican deixis and the nature of indexical syntax 399
- Index 415
