grammatical foundations

P DP

In meaning 1, the string one of the children forms one node, which can be proved by substituting a DP for this string of words:

(1)a [DP one of the children]’s books b [DP John]’s books

In meaning 2, the string the children’s books forms one node, which can again be proved by substituting a DP for this string of words:

(2)a one of [DP the children’s books] b one of [DP them]

The tree structure of the DP with meaning 1 is that in (3a) and the structure of the DP with meaning four is under (3b).

361

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 4

e P©

P0 DP

of D©

D0 NP

the N©

N0

children

362

Exercise 9

bDP D©

D0 NP

Exercise 9

Meaning 1:

Jane wanted to try on a pair of jeans which was in the shop window.

Meaning 2:

Jane wanted to try it on in the shop window.

One of the constituency tests which you can chose from is pseudo-clefting. A pseudo-clefted sentence is like that in (1).

(1)What .... is/was [XP ...].

In (1) the string following the auxiliary is always a phrase. If we apply this test to the sentence Jane wanted to try on a pair of jeans in the shop window, we get the following results in meaning 1:

(2)a. *What Jane wanted to try on in the shop window was [a pair of jeans]. b. What Jane wanted to try on was [a pair of jeans in the shop window].

In meaning 1, the sentence in (2a) is ill-formed. This means that the string a pair of jeans is no phrase. (2b) is a well-formed sentence, thus the string of words a pair of

363

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

jeans in the shop window forms a phrase. It is a DP. Thus the PP in the shop window is part of the DP in meaning 1.

In meaning 2 the results of the test are the following:

(3)a. What Jane wanted to try on in the shop window was [a pair of jeans]. b. *What Jane wanted to try on was [a pair of jeans in the shop window].

In meaning 2, (3a) is a well-formed sentence, while (3b) is ill-formed. This means that the string a pair of jeans forms a DP, while the PP in the shop window is not a part of the DP.

According to the result of the test above, the structure of the sentence can be represented as it can be seen in (4). (4a) represents the structure of the sentence with meaning 1 while (4b) is the structure belonging to meaning 2.

(4)a. Jane wanted to try on [a pair of jeans] [in the shop window]. b. Jane wanted to try on [a pair of jeans in the shop window].

The string a pair of jeans in the shop window is one phrase in meaning 2 while it is two separate phrases in meaning 1.

Chapter 5

Check Questions

Q1 Given the meanings of verbs, some events appear to involve more than one subevent, e.g. an action can involve somebody doing something and as a result some object changes position, or gets into some state, or remains in some state, etc. Aspect can be grasped from two different angles: lexical aspect is evident in the meaning of verbs which denote an activity that has a natural beginning and end. Lexical aspect is internal to the meaning of the verb. Grammatical aspect, on the other hand, relates to the interpretation of a given event in a particular sentence depending on whether it is complete or in progress. Furthermore, the two may also be combined.

Q2 Unaccusatives are typically movement or locative verbs, they cannot appear in causative constructions. They can take an expletive ‘there’ as subject but that does not count as an argument. They take one argument, a theme, but some of them may optionally take a locative PP as an argument. They do not take objects, they cannot be passivised. Intransitives also take one argument but that one argument is either an agent or an experiencer. They cannot appear in a ‘there’ construction. Some of them can appear with objects which are termed ‘cognate objects’. They cannot passivise in English but they can indeed do so in other languages, e.g. in German. Ergatives typically involve a change of state. They cannot appear in ‘there’ constructions either but they can in a transitive context as well as in causative constructions, in fact, causatives manifest the transitive use of an ergative. When an ergative verb is used in a transitive context, its agent argument is in [Spec, vP] and its theme argument is in [Spec, VP].

Q3 The difference between a light verb and a thematic verb is reflected in notation as well: light verbs head vPs while thematic verbs head VPs. While thematic verbs

364

Check Questions

contribute to the meaning of the construction they appear in, the contribution to meaning made by light verbs is reduced, they can be used in combination with some noun or verb. [Spec, VP] is associated with the theme argument, [Spec, vP] with the agent or experiencer argument in a structure. Light verbs can take vPs or VPs as complements.

Q4 There is evidence semantic in nature: the structure is interpreted as causative, i.e. there is an agent ‘causer’ argument present that picks up the theta role assigned by the abstract (empty) light verb head. In languages other than English there may actually be found overt counterparts of this abstract causative verbal head, e.g. in Hungarian there is one such morpheme, -ít.

Q5 In passives, a verb loses the ability to assign a theta role to its subject and the ability to case-mark its object. Under the present analysis, a light verb is responsible for theta-marking the subject and assigning case to the theme argument in the specifier position of its thematic VP complement. If there is no light verb in the construction, neither theta-marking of the subject, nor case-marking of the theme occur. Thus, passivisation is seen as a process where the light verb responsible for theta-marking and case-marking is removed and replaced by the passive morpheme. As a result the theme argument of the thematic verb cannot receive case and moves out of the VP to a position which is case-marked.

Q6 In order to be able to maintain the UTAH it is assumed that experiencer transitives contain two light verb projections where both the v head positions contain abstract (non-overt) bound morphemes that are capable of assigning the relevant theta roles (agent and experiencer) to their specifier positions. As there are two light verb projections, one is associated with the agent and the other with the experiencer, hence there is no reason to assume that the two theta-roles compete for the same structural position. In these cases the thematic verb moves to adjoin to the lower v head position (whose specifier is associated with the experiencer role; subsequently, the resulting complex (V + v) move together to adjoin to the higher light verb head (the v associated with the agent role). There are examples of English constructions in which there are light verb layers erected on top of each other. Furthermore, there are languages other than English, where multiple light verbs are regularly overtly represented, e.g. Urdu.

Q7 Multiple complement constructions involve verbs which take three arguments. In one type apart from the subject there is a theme and a locative (verbs of placement) while in the other type apart from the subject there is a theme and a goal/beneficiary double object constructions). In the text theta-marking light verbs are introduced, hence accommodating three arguments into the structure is not a problem. The event structure of these verbs can be broken down into three sub-events. With verbs of placement, the agent (subject) is introduced in the specifier of the light verb position. The theme is introduced in the specifier position of the thematic verb and the locative in the complement position of the thematic verb. With double object constructions, the goal is generated in the complement position of the thematic verb and the theme is in the specifier position of the thematic verb. To be able to derive different word orders, the goal moves into a specifier position between the specifier of the light verb and the specifier of the thematic verb. As the event structure of the double object construction

365

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

involves three sub-events, there are two light verb phrases erected on top of the thematic verb, thus there is a specifier position available for the goal to move into.

Q8 Clausal complements of verbs can be both finite or non-finite, declarative or interrogative. When a verb takes a DP and a clausal complement, the DP always precedes the clause. This is assumed to occur because it receives case from the verb in the light verb position. If so, the clausal complement cannot have occupied that position originally. (Clauses are not subject to the Case Filter anyway.) Furthermore, in some cases the subject of the complement clause depends on the verb in the higher clause, in cases of Exceptional Case Marking.

Q9 Unaccusative verbs, light verbs, ergative verbs, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, multiple complement verbs, verbs with clausal complements, phrasal verbs.

Exercise 1

expletive ‘there’ and ‘it’: a, d, e, f, g, h, i (the subject), j

Exercise 2

In order to determine the subcategory of the verbs in the sentences, the characteristics of different verb types are listed first.

Unaccusative verbs:

One argument

Theme argument

There construction possible

Locative inversion construction possible

Locative inversion + there construction possible

Ergative verbs:

One argument

Theme/patient argument

There construction not possible

Locative inversion construction not possible

Transitive usage possible

Transitive verbs:

Two arguments

Agent/experiencer and patient/theme arguments

Passivisation possible

Intransitive verbs:

One argument

Agent/experiencer argument

Cognate object possible

No passivisation (at least in English)

366

Exercise 2

Multiple complement verbs:

More than two (usually three) arguments Dative alternation possible

Locative structure

Based on these features and distributional criteria, subcategories of verbs can be determined and their syntactic structure can be also provided.

Since the exercise focuses only on the subcategorisation frames of the verbs they appear in an uninflected form in the trees.

a A face appeared behind the window.

theme argument

There appeared a face behind the window. Behind the window a face appeared. Behind the window there appeared a face.unaccusative

b Susan sang.

agent argument Susan sang a song.intransitive

eV t1

367

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

c Michael moved my map from the middle.

three arguments

multiple complement verb

d The bomb blew up.

patient argument

*There blew up the bomb.

*In the prison blew up the bomb. The terrorists blew up the bomb.ergative verb

e Larry laughed.

agent argument

Larry laughed a cruel laugh.intransitive

368

Exercise 2

f Kevin killed Karen.

agent and patient arguments Karen was killed by Kevin.transitive

g Ben brought a bulldog for Betty.

three arguments

multiple complement verb

369

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 5

h Norah knows Nick.

experiencer and theme argumentstransitive

i The boat sank.

patient argument *There sank the boat.

*In the Atlantic sank the boat. The pirates sank the boat.

ergative verb VP

DP V©

sink

j A letter lay on the table.

theme argument

There lay a train on the table. On the table a letter lay.

On the table there lay a letter.unaccusative

370