1. Syntax VI November 29, 2010

2. Announcements! The time and place of the final exam will be: Craigie Hall C 105 Wednesday, December 15th 8-10 am Also note: USRIs will take place at the end of class on Wednesday, December 8th.

3. Quick Write Greatest Hits

5. An Earlier Quick Write We looked at the grammaticality of the following sentences: 1.Jack and Jill ran up the hill. 0 out of 68 disapproved. 2.Jack and Jill ran the hill up. 64 out of 68 disapproved. 3.Up the hill ran Jack and Jill. 2 out of 68 disapproved. 4.Jack and Jill ran up the bill. 15 out of 68 disapproved.

6. An Earlier Quick Write 5. Jack and Jill ran the bill up. 24 out of 68 disapproved. 6.Up the bill ran Jack and Jill. 45 out of 68 disapproved. Note the following combination: Jack and Jill ran the bill up. *Jack and Jill ran the hill up. And also this combination: Up the hill ran Jack and Jill. *Up the bill ran Jack and Jill.

7. An Earlier Quick Write It’s okay to move a PP to the front of the sentence: Up the hill ran Jack and Jill. But you can’t move just the P to the end of the sentence: *Jack and Jill ran the hill up. Note that “up” behaves differently in the other sentences: *Up the bill ran Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill ran the bill up. In the “bill” sentences, “up” is not a preposition, it’s a particle. …and it’s okay to end a sentence with a particle.

8. Back to Inversion CP C’ CIP NPI’ DetN’IVP theNisV’ boyV sleeping Rule: move the I head to the C node. This “inversion” rule creates a yes/no question. Note: the auxiliary verb moves from one head slot to another.

9. Inversion Results CP C’ CIP isNPI’ [+Q]DetN’IVP theNtV’ boyV sleeping The C slot has to be marked with a [+Q] (for “question”) to make this movement happen. …like the I slot being marked for tense. The movement leaves a “trace” (t) behind in the I slot.

10. Wh-Movement CP NPC’ WhatCIP didNPI’ BartIVP tV’ VNP kick t The Wh- particle moves from a non-head position to another non-head position. (so it doesn’t cross paths with move #1)

11. Questions around the World In other languages, questions can be formed by moving any verb (not just an auxiliary) to the front of the sentence. Dutch: Femke leest veel boeken. “Femke reads many books.” Q: Leest Femke veel boeken? reads Femke many books “Does Femke read many books?”

12. Wh non-movement Some languages form Wh questions without moving anything. Japanese: Taro-ganani-omitsuketa-no? Taro-subjectwhatfound-question marker “What did Taro find?” Swahili: Ulipatiananikitabu you gavewhoa book “Who did you give a book?”

13. Principles and Parameters Language has universal features = principles Nouns, verbs, etc. Phrases with heads and complements. Individual languages have options = parameters Head-first or head-last? Wh-movement or no Wh-movement? Kids acquiring language get the universal principles for free; it’s part of Universal Grammar (UG) …but they have to figure out the “parameters” from what they hear in the world around them, as they grow up.