On the locus and licensing of edge features

Nunes, Jairo

doi:10.5334/gjgl.1113

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

2021

DOI: 10.5334/gjgl.1113

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On the locus and licensing of edge features

Jairo Nunes

Abstract: Assuming Chomsky's (2000; phase-based model, this paper deals with the issue of how the features that trigger successive cyclic A'-movement are lexically encoded and licensed. Modifying and expanding on work by Nunes (2014; 2016a), I argue that UG allows these "edge features" to be lexically hosted by phase heads (see Chomsky 2000) or moveable elements (see Bošković 2007) and that each choice has several intricate empirical consequences. In addition, I contend that like any other uninterpretable feature (see, … Show more

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Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

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Phasehood as defective intervention: Possessor extraction and selective DP islandhood in West Circassian

Ershova

2024

Syntax

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AbstractĀ‐extraction of possessors in West Circassian is constrained in a puzzling way: the possessor of an ergative or applied argument DP may not undergo clausebound wh‐movement, but long‐distance possessor extraction across a clausal boundary is grammatical. Based on the variable islandhood of these DPs, this paper argues for an agree‐based approach to phasehood. Phase opacity is treated as intervention defective intervention, with the phase intervening between the probe and the goal. Defective intervention does not take place if the corresponding phase has independently entered an Agree relation with the movement‐triggering probe. Islandhood is thus correctly predicted to be contextually determined: in West Circassian, the difference between clausebound and long‐distance possessor extraction is conditioned by the set of agreement features on the local movement‐triggering probe: a wh‐feature on C in the case of clausebound extraction and a successive‐cyclic edge feature on embedded C in the case of long‐distance wh‐movement. Additionally, the account appeals to the opacity of phase edges to explain the contrast between DPs that display islandhood effects (ergative and applied argument DPs) and constituents that are uniformly transparent for subextraction (the absolutive DP and postpositional phrases).

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Phasehood as defective intervention: Possessor extraction and selective DP islandhood in West Circassian

Ershova

2024

Syntax

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Clitic climbing and restructuring in the history of French

Olivier,

Sevdali,

Folli

2023

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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This paper constitutes an empirical investigation into the diachrony of clitic climbing (and consequently restructuring) in French based on data from a novel corpus of legal texts, as well as a theoretical analysis of the loss of this phenomenon from the history of French. We show that clitic climbing was obligatory until the Middle French period, until its eventual loss before the start of the 19th century. Assuming that clitics are φ-heads that AGREE with v, we take restructuring to be monoclausal, despite apparent counterevidence where a subordinator or a Wh-item intervenes. We propose that restructuring is a necessary but not sufficient condition to clitic climbing, the latter depending on whether the upper v-head bears a set of unvalued φ-features. We associate the loss of clitic climbing to the loss of interpolation (i.e. the order [clitic-XP-V]), as we show that both constructions are available when cliticisation is a phonological mechanism only. In Modern French however, clitics are necessarily proclitic and verb-adjacent which indicates that cliticisation is syntactic. Lastly, we propose that French never lost restructuring, but instead it lost most transparency effects associated with it (such as clitic climbing), while retaining others (such as long passives and quantifier climbing).

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Edge Features and Multiple Wh-Questions

Nunes

2021

CadLin

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Building on Chomsky’s (2000) proposal that A’-movement is triggered by an EPP-type of feature added to phase heads and Bošković’s (2007) proposal that the relevant feature is to be found on the moving element itself, Nunes (2020) has argued that these two apparently conflicting views ultimately instantiate different grammatical options available at UG. He shows that much of the crosslinguistic variation regarding single wh-questions hinges on whether edge features (features that trigger successive cyclic A’-movement) are lexically associated with wh-elements or phase heads and whether the edge features are intrinsically valued or unvalued. In this paper, I extend this approach to multiple wh-questions, showing that these factors also derive the basic typology of multiple wh-questions found in natural languages.

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On the locus and licensing of edge features

Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

Phasehood as defective intervention: Possessor extraction and selective DP islandhood in West Circassian

Phasehood as defective intervention: Possessor extraction and selective DP islandhood in West Circassian

Clitic climbing and restructuring in the history of French

Edge Features and Multiple Wh-Questions

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