Labelling, Instability, and Noun Incorporation

Michael Jonathan Mathew Barrie 한국생성문법학회 2019 생성문법연구 Vol.29 No.2

In standard Minimalist Theory, the impetus for movement is feature strength. Strong features trigger overt movement, while weak features trigger covert movement. The equally stipulative EPP has also been implicated as a rigger for movement. Acknowledging that feature strength and the EPP are unsatisfying explanations for movement in language (Richards 2010; 2016), I investigate labelling and instability as sources of movement, as developed by Chomsky (2013) and Ott (2015). Ott argues that unlabelled structures are unstable and trigger movement. I investigate this nascent proposal in the context of noun incorporation in Northern Iroquoian languages. I show that noun incorporation is driven by instability caused by lack of a label rather than by Baker’s Morphological Visibility Condition. In addition to clarifying certain aspects of noun incorporation that are problematic for Baker’s analysis, this investigation brings us a step closer to the elimination of feature strength from Universal Grammar.

A Short Note on Inclusive and Exclusive Plurals in Korean

Michael Jonathan Mathew Barrie(Michael Jonathan Mathew Barrie ),Éric Mathieu(Éric Mathieu ) 한국생성문법학회 2023 생성문법연구 Vol.33 No.1

The aim of this short article is to give a comprehensive analysis of number in Korean, adding a novel observation about the interpretation of plurals in that language. Based on the new data, our proposal is that number is distributed along the nominal spine with different effects depending on the type of functional head (and semantic features) it is associated with. In particular, we propose that number in Korean is associated with two number projections, NumP1 and NumP2, (see Watanabe 2010 for Japanese, Vazquez Rojas Maldonado 2012 for Purépecha (isolate, tsz), Dali and Mathieu 2021 for Tunisian Arabic (Afro-Asiatic, aeb)). By shedding light on the distinction between inclusive and exclusive plurals in Korean and the relationship between definiteness and plurality, we contribute to the current debate related to the distribution of the Korean plural.

Aspects of -ki Nominalization in Korean

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew,정희련 한국외국어대학교 언어연구소 2019 언어와 언어학 Vol.0 No.83

This paper analyzes -ki nominalizations in Korean. We identify two types of the -ki nominalizations, NOM-ki and GEN-ki, with distinct morphosyntactic properties. We propose an analysis along the lines of Kratzer (1996) in which the nominalizer -ki selects verbal projections of different sizes (TP and vP) to account for the observed patterns. We argue against previous accounts of -ki nominalizations, showing either that important generalizations were missed or that there were flaws in the previous analyses. We propose a novel generalization for the two types of -ki nominalizations and propose an appropriate analysis. Some outstanding issues and implications are briefly discussed.

Locative Inversion and Passivization in Xitsonga

Michael Jonathan Mathew Barrie,Seunghun Lee,Crous Hlungwane 서울대학교 인지과학연구소 2023 Journal of Cognitive Science Vol.24 No.1

We describe and analyze a novel pattern of locative inversion, passivization, and object clitics in Xitsonga, a Bantu language of South Africa. We note that, unlike in most Bantu languages, locative inversion can take place with intransitives, transitives with active voice, and transitives with passive voice. While subject marking is obligatory, object marking is optional and indicates emphasis, although the semantic details are unclear. An interesting pattern emerges with locative inversion. Object marking is possible only with passive voice. We present an analysis in which the subject and object markers are clitics that are inserted post-syntactically. The subject clitic is triggered by agreement between T and the grammatical subject. The object clitic is triggered by theta assignment by V (which raises to Asp) to the thematic object. In locative inversion, the external argument remains in situ and serves as an intervenor between V (housed on Asp) and the object. In the passive, the external argument is suppressed or appears in a by-phrase, and the object can trigger the appearance of the object clitic on Asp.

Pseudo Scope Marking Constructions in Blackfoot

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew 한국생성문법학회 2014 생성문법연구 Vol.24 No.4

This paper discusses and analyzes a kind of scope marking constructionin Blackfoot (Algonquian) and adds to the diversity of such constructionsfound in languages around the world. This construction has manyproperties in common with other scope marking constructions but differsin some crucial ways. Hence, I use the label pseudo scope markingconstruction to describe this phenomenon. I show that this constructionis actually derived by canonical wh-movement with one small difference. What undergoes overt wh-movement is not an XP but rather a feature. Overt feature movement is licensed by the morphology of the questionwords in this language. Specifically, there is a free morpheme tsa, whichI propose corresponds only to a [wh] feature. As a free morpheme, it isable to undergo overt movement. The discussion relies on Lasnik’s StrayAffix Filter in addition to the particular morphological properties ofquestion words in Blackfoot to account for these facts.

Noun Incorporation and the Lexicalist Hypothesis

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew 한국생성문법학회 2012 생성문법연구 Vol.22 No.2

Many recent and not so recent debates on noun incorporation (NI) pit a syntactic analysis (Baker, 1988, 1996, Haugen, 2008, Sadock, 1980, 1986)against a lexical origin (Di Sciullo and Williams, 1987, Rosen, 1989) of NI constructions. Within the past 10 years or so, many researchers have abandoned any sort of generative lexicon in favour of the so-called single-engine hypothesis in which word formation is handled strictly in the syntax, with the possibility of some post-syntactic re-arrangements (Halle & Marantz, 1993; Julien, 2002; Marantz, 1997, 2001; inter alia). The goal of this paper is to examine how these discussions on NI bear on the Lexicalist Hypothesis. I show that a separate morphological module is not only unnecessary, but also unparsimonious in explaining NI.

Dissecting Inchoatives and Causatives: English get constructions

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew,성문현 한국언어정보학회 2018 언어와 정보 Vol.22 No.3

Barrie, Michael Jonathan Mathew and Sung, Moonhyun. 2018. Dissecting Inchoatives and Causatives: English get Constructions. Language and Information, 22.3. 91-108. In this paper, we present data from English get-constructions and from Northern Iroquoian to challenge the recent consensus that in no languages are causatives built on inchoatives. Our data suggest the need for distinct functional projections for the causative and inchoative. We argue that while they are bundled in other situations, the functional heads for the causative and inchoative can be split as described in the present paper. This line of research follows recent trends in investigating the fine structure of the vP layer (Alexiadou et al. 2015, Harley 2013, Kim 2011, Marantz 2013, Pylkkänen 2008, Ramchand 2008, Legate 2014). We propose a syntactic mechanism for bundling and, in doing so, account for differences in the range of possible meanings with adverbs between canonical causatives and get-causatives. Briefly, get-causatives have unbundled causative and inchoative heads and have a wider ranger of adverbial meanings due to the projection of independent CausP and InchP. Canonical causatives have a bundled Caus-Inch head, projecting a single Caus/InchP, which leads to fewer sites for adverbs to adjoin and accordingly to a narrower range of adverbial meanings. (Sogang University)

Numeral Classifiers in Eastern Tamang

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew,전재현 대한언어학회 2022 언어학 Vol.30 No.1

In this paper, we examine numeral classifiers and number marking in one dialect of Eastern Tamang. As Tamang is a relatively understudied dialect continuum, we give a basic description of the empirical facts. We then employ various diagnostics from the literature and one we created ourselves to determine whether classifiers compose with nouns or with numerals. We conclude that since the classifier composes with numerals, the numeral classifier is a constituent that composes with the NP. We also examine number marking and observe that the plural marker is obligatory in some environments for animate nouns, but not for inanimate nouns. We conclude by making some tentative remarks that this dialect of Eastern Tamang might be undergoing a transition from a classifier language to a number language.

The Syntax and Prosody of DOM and PNI in Mongolian

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew,강준구 한국생성문법학회 2022 생성문법연구 Vol.32 No.3

We examine the behavior of bare nouns in differential object marking and pseudo noun incorporation environments in Mongolian. Unmarked bare nouns and pseudo incorporated nouns have the same segmental structure; however, we show that they differ in their prosody. The prosodic word in Mongolian has a characteristic LH contour. This contour is found on unmarked bare nouns which are not pseudo incorporated; however the pseudo incorporated noun lacks this contour. Guntsetseg (2016) identifies various syntactic differences, which we use to provide a structural analysis of nominals. Specifically, the pseudo incorporated noun is a bare nP and non-pseudo incorporated nouns are full KPs, regardless of whether they are case marked or not. We propose an analysis in a modified version of Match Theory in which phases map to prosodic categories. Specifically for Mongolian the KP phase and the nP phase both map to a phonological word. Thus, a full KP contains two recursive phonological words, while a nP (a pseudo incorporated noun) contains only a single phonological word. We propose that only non-minimal phonological words bear a LH contour. Thus, only a full KP will appear with this contour.

Subject/Object Asymmetries in Northern Iroquoian

Barrie Michael Jonathan Mathew 한국생성문법학회 2023 생성문법연구 Vol.33 No.4

This squib examines two seldom discussed subject/object asymmetries in Northern Iroquoian. Namely, (i) agreement is found with incorporated subjects but not with incorporated objects, and (ii) wh-movement is possible with incorporated human subjects but not with incorporated human objects. A primary goal of this squib is to add these two asymmetries to the discussion on noun incorporation and Northern Iroquoian grammar in general. Current theories of noun incorporation provide no solution. There is also no proposal in the generative tradition that accounts for the complex agreement patterns found in Northern Iroquoian. Although I provide no solution here, I point to a potential solution involving separate subject and object probes. I implore future researchers to take these asymmetries into account when analyzing Northern Iroquoian grammar and noun incorporation in general.