: 2018
Syntax: A First Encounter Marcel den Dikken Department of English Linguistics ELTE
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: • a generative syntax is a formal system that is capable of deriving (or ‘generating’) all and only those sentences of human natural language that are grammatical • sentences are formed by combining heads and phrases into X-bar projections in accordance with (a) the Projection Principle (all lexical information, for category, subcategorisation, and thematic (or θ-) roles, must be syntactically represented) (b) the θ-Criterion (θ-role↔argument biuniqueness) (c) the UTAH (correspondence between thematic and structural relationships)
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: • verbs project their internal arguments within VP but need a ‘little v’ to get their external θ-role and accusative Case assigned (cf. Burzio’s Generalisation) • finite I, which projects outside the v–VP core, entertains a Spec-Head relationship with its specifier under which (a) person/number agreement between the finite verb and the structural subject is checked (b) nominative Case is assigned to the subject • on top of IP a projection of the functional head C can be included in the structure of the sentence (a) C serves as the locus for lexical complementisers and as the landing-site for Subject–Aux Inversion (b) SpecCP serves as the host for wh-operators (incl. whether) and the null operator
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: • heads and phrases can undergo movement; all occur- rences of movement leave a trace behind
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: vP DP she V-to-v head movement DP she v′ v VP Vi put v Ø DP them V′ V PP on the floor ti
phrasal movement to SpecIP SAFE 13 SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: IP phrasal movement to SpecIP DPj she I′ I vP do I -ed DP tj v′ put them on the floor
phrasal movement to SpecCP phrasal movement to SpecIP SAFE 13 SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: phrasal movement to SpecCP CP I-to-C head movement whatk C′ C phrasal movement to SpecIP IP In C DPj I′ did [Q] she I vP tn tj put tk on the floor
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: • heads and phrases can undergo movement; all occur- rences of movement leave a trace behind • the nominal phrase has a structure broadly similar to that of the clause, featuring the functional categories Q (for quantifiers) and D (for determiners) • the D-head of possessive nominal phrases is occupied in English by the genitival marker ’s, which, like person/ number marking in finite I, entertains a Spec-Head agree- ment relation with its specifier
SAFE Savings DP DP D′ D QP D′ ’s Q′ D NP the library Q NP many/few books
SAFE Savings IP DP I′ I vP D′ -s hold many/few books D NP the library
SAFE Savings → our main savings from this course are these: • heads and phrases can undergo movement; all occur- rences of movement leave a trace behind • the nominal phrase has a structure broadly similar to that of the clause, featuring the functional categories Q (for quantifiers) and D (for determiners) • the D-head of possessive nominal phrases is occupied in English by the genitival marker ’s, which, like person/ number marking in finite I, entertains a Spec-Head agree- ment relation with its specifier • the structural parallelism between clauses and nominal phrases is further enhanced by the binding asymmetries (involving reflexives, pronouns, and names) found between subjects/possessors, on the one hand, and hierarchically lower constituents, on the other
Syntax: A First Encounter Marcel den Dikken Department of English Linguistics ELTE
: 2018