Beyond Morphology Interface Conditions on Word Formation

by Ackema, Peter; Neeleman, Ad

• ISBN13: 9780199267293
• ISBN10: 0199267294
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book provides a compelling argument for a radically modular view of the human language faculty. It does so on the basis of the most comprehensive study to date of how word formation is constrained by different components of the grammar. Peter Ackema and Ad Neeleman argue that complex words are generated by a dedicated rule system which interacts with the syntax on the one hand and the phonology on the other. Their detailed analysis of these interactions explains numerous observations, many of them new.

Author Biography

Peter Ackema is Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He has worked extensively on issues regarding the morphology-syntax interface, on which he has published a book (Issues in Morphosyntax, 1999) as well as numerous articles. he has also published on a wide range of syntax-internal and morphology-internal topics, in such journals as Linguistic Inquiry, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory and Yearbook of Morphology. Ad Neeleman is Reader in Linguistics at University College London. His main research interests are case theory, the syntactic encoding of thematic dependencies, and the interaction between the syntax and syntax-external systems. Earlier works include Complex Predicates (1993), Flexible Syntax (1999, with Fred Weerman), and a number of articles in such journals as Linguistic Inquiry, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory and Yearbook of Morphology.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
General Preface	xi
1 Morphology and Modularity
1.1 Nonmorphological Constraints on Word Formation	1	(2)
1.2 The Place of Morphology in Grammar	3	(6)
1.3 Intramodular Interaction	9	(2)
1.4 Intermodular Interaction	11	(2)
1.5 Comparison with Other Theories	13	(4)
2 Arguments for Word Syntax	17	(31)
2.1 Syntactic versus Morphological Assemblage of Complex Heads	17	(2)
2.2 Stranding	19	(4)
2.3 Inheritance	23	(7)
2.4 Syntactic versus Morphological Complex Heads	30	(7)
2.5 Undergeneration by the Movement Account	37	(5)
2.6 Lexical Integrity	42	(3)
2.7 Concluding Remarks	45	(3)
3 Competition between Syntax and Morphology	48	(41)
3.1 Competition and Blocking	48	(2)
3.2 The Locus of Merger	50	(4)
3.3 Synthetic Compounds	54	(12)
3.3.1 Two Possible Analyses	54	(5)
3.3.2 Competition and Synthetic Compounding	59	(5)
3.3.3 An Apparent Paradox	64	(2)
3.4 Particle Verbs	66	(7)
3.4.1 Uniform Realization	66	(5)
3.4.2 Nonuniform Realization	71	(2)
3.5 Verbal Idioms	73	(7)
3.6 Root Compounds	80	(5)
3.7 Polysynthetic Languages	85	(3)
3.8 Concluding Remarks	88	(1)
4 Generalized Insertion	89	(43)
4.1 The Nature of Insertion	89	(1)
4.2 Restrictions on Insertion	90	(6)
4.3 Insertion of Syntactic Representations in Syntactic Representations	96	(12)
4.3.1 Parentheticals	96	(3)
4.3.2 Inclusiveness	99	(3)
4.3.3 Matching with a Nonlicensing Function	102	(1)
4.3.4 Matching with a Licensing Function	103	(3)
4.3.5 Idioms	106	(2)
4.4 Insertion of Morphological Representations in Syntactic Representations	108	(14)
4.4.1 Complex Words	108	(2)
4.4.2 Matching with a Licensing Function	110	(4)
4.4.3 Matching with a Nonlicensing Function	114	(6)
4.4.4 The Invisibility of Inserted Material Revisited	120	(1)
4.4.5 Summary	121	(1)
4.5 Insertion of Syntactic Representations in Morphological Representations	122	(7)
4.6 Concluding Remarks	129	(3)
5 Distributed Selection	132	(51)
5.1 Introduction	132	(2)
5.2 Morphology in a Modular Grammar	134	(4)
5.3 Mapping	138	(9)
5.3.1 Idiosyncratic Mapping Rules	138	(1)
5.3.2 General Mapping Rules	139	(5)
5.3.3 Predictions	144	(3)
5.4 Affixes that Aren't	147	(7)
5.4.1 Phrases Embedded in Words	147	(2)
5.4.2 AFFixes Corresponding to /Word/s	149	(3)
5.4.3 AFFIxes that are Not Spelled Out	152	(2)
5.5 The Acquisition of Synthetic Compounds	154	(5)
5.6 Subject Names in the Adult Language	159	(5)
5.7 Phonological Phrasal Affixation	164	(2)
5.8 Syntactic Phrasal Affixation	166	(6)
5.9 Mixed Categories	172	(9)
5.10 Concluding Remarks	181	(2)
6 Context-Sensitive Spell-Out and Adjacency	183	(51)
6.1 The Nature of Adjacency Conditions	183	(1)
6.2 Allomorphy Rules at the PF Interface	184	(8)
6.2.1 The PF Interface	184	(2)
6.2.2 Prosodic Domains and Allomorphy Rules	186	(6)
6.3 Dutch Agreement Weakening	192	(8)
6.4 Arabic Agreement Weakening	200	(5)
6.5 Cliticization in Dutch	205	(12)
6.5.1 Middle Dutch	205	(5)
6.5.2 Modern Dutch	210	(5)
6.5.3 Phonological Cliticization	215	(2)
6.6 Celtic Subject Cliticization	217	(5)
6.7 Old French Pro Drop	222	(4)
6.8 Arabic Pro Drop	226	(3)
6.9 Concluding Remarks	229	(5)
6.9.1 An Asymmetry in Feature Suppression	230	(1)
6.9.2 Mapping and Representational Modularity	231	(3)
7 PF Feature Checking	234	(44)
7.1 Context-Sensitive Spell-Out and Feature Checking	234	(2)
7.2 Germanic Complementizer Agreement	236	(14)
7.2.1 The Problem of Complementizer Agreement	236	(4)
7.2.2 Complementizer Agreement as a PF Phenomenon	240	(8)
7.2.3 First-Conjunct Agreement	248	(2)
7.3 Traces at PF and the Complementizer-Trace Phenomenon	250	(10)
7.4 Case Checking	260	(6)
7.5 Possible Extensions	266	(10)
7.5.1 Degree Heads	267	(3)
7.5.2 The Head Final Filter	270	(3)
7.5.3 Cluster Creepers	273	(3)
7.6 Conclusion	276	(2)
References	278	(19)
Name Index	297	(4)
Subject Index	301