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Morphology and Syntax More on sentence structure.

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Präsentation zum Thema: "Morphology and Syntax More on sentence structure."—  Präsentation transkript:

1 Morphology and Syntax More on sentence structure

2 The head of sentences Two unresolved questions: A. What is the head of a sentence? B. What is the position of modals and auxiliary verbs in the sentence structure? Maybe these questions are related.

3 In English, modals and auxiliaries do not occupy the same position as main verbs. They are further to the left: Sara does not watch that program. *Sara watches not that program. Sara will not watch that program. *Sara not will watch that program.

4 Idea: the auxiliary position is the head position of the sentence. general X-bar schema:XP specifier(s) X X complement(s) X complement(s) sentences: S (= AuxP) NP Aux NP Aux Aux VP Aux VP

5 Another special property of modal auxiliary verbs in English: they must be inflected for tense and agreement. *The carpenter hopes to can build the house. *She has could reading that book. So we relabel the Aux position in the sentence as the Infl position.

6 Full sentence structure CP CP C C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP) NP Infl NP Infl Infl VP Infl VP V V

7 What happens if there is no auxiliary to fill up the Infl position? In English: nothing, really. John will never read the paper in the afternoon. John never reads the paper in the afternoon.

8 What happens if there is no auxiliary to fill up the Infl position? In French: the main verb goes into the Infl position. Jean a souvent donné une pomme à Marie. John has often given an apple to Mary *Jean souvent donne une pomme à Marie. John often gives an apple to Mary John often gives an apple to Mary Jean donne souvent une pomme à Marie. John gives often an apple to Mary

9 CP C C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP) NP Infl NP Infl Infl VP souvent V V

10 Subject-verb inversion What has Geraldine read? *What Geraldine has read? Why would you do a thing like that? *Why you would do a thing a like that?

11 CP Wh-phraseC C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP) NP Infl NP Infl Infl VP V V

12 No subject-verb inversion in embedded questions: I wonder [if Frederick has ever heard that song]. *I wonder [if has Frederick ever heard that song]. Fronted auxiliaries and complementizers are in complementary distribution, because they both occupy the C position.

13 Generalized verb movement to C In English, verb movement to the C position is limited to (i)Interrogative sentences and (ii)Auxiliary verbs *Which string quartet heard George yesterday? Which string quartet did George hear yesterday?

14 In some other languages, verb movement to C can also apply to main verbs... Hvad koster en billet? what costs a ticket What does a ticket cost? *Hvad gør en billet koste? what does a ticket cost what does a ticket cost

15 ... and verb movement to C also occurs in declarative sentences: Denne film har børnene set. this film have children seen The children have seen this film (rather than another one). *Denne film børnenehar set. this film childrenhave seen this film childrenhave seen *This film have the children seen. This film the children have seen.

16 CP NPC denne film C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP) har har NP Infl NP Infl børnene børnene Infl VP Infl VP e V V NP set e

17 German: OV or VO? Er glaubt [CP dass seine Vorfahren diese Philosophie begründeten]. he believes that his ancestors this philosophy established He believes that his ancestors established this philosophy. *Er glaubt [CP dass seine Vorfahren begründeten diese Philosophie]. he believes that his ancestors established this philosophy he believes that his ancestors established this philosophy Seine Vorfahren begründeten diese Philosophie. his ancestors established this philosophy His ancestors established this philosophy. *Seine Vorfahren diese Philosophie begründeten. his ancestors this philosophy established his ancestors this philosophy established

18 So is German OV in embedded clauses but VO in main clauses? Not really: Seine Vorfahren hatten diese Philosophie begründet. his ancestors had this philosophy established *Seine Vorfahren hatten begründet diese Philosophie. his ancestors had established this philosophy his ancestors had established this philosophy Seine Vorfahren würden diese Philosophie begründen. his ancestors would this philosophy establish *Seine Vorfahren würden begründen diese Philosophie. his ancestors would establish this philosophy his ancestors would establish this philosophy

19 Conclusion: German is really OV. So how come the finite verb ends up in the second position of main clauses? Because of generalized verb movement to C!

20 CP CPC C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP) dass dass NP Infl NP Infl seine Vorfahren seine Vorfahren Infl VP Infl VP V NP V diese Philosophie begründeten

21 CP NP C seine Vorfahren C S (= InflP) C S (= InflP)begründeten NP Infl NP Infl e Infl VP V NP V diese Philosophie e


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