Final

Question 1

Asymmetric c-command (Definition)

Answer 1

when one node c-commands another, but the reverse is not possible. I.e. a node X c-commands Y but Y does not C-command X because the two nodes are not sisters

Question 2

Complement (Definition)

Answer 2

a complement is the first argument that an element selects and merges with, therefore presenting as the sister of the head

Question 3

the θ-criterion

Answer 3

a rule that states a requirement for a 1-to-1 correspondence between DPs in a sentence and the assigned θ-roles. For every θ-role there is exactly one DP that receives it and every DP is received by only one θ-role.

Question 4

Projection (definition)

Answer 4

two elements that merge with produce an element that reflects the properties of the head of the previous two. The features from only the head project up and onto the resulting (dominating) node

Question 5

Wh-movement (definition)

Answer 5

an operation that takes place in questions (which in English typically begin with wh) where the wh-element moves to Spec-CP as a part of the derivation

Question 6

Non-finite clause (definition)

Answer 6

a non-finite clause is a clause without tense or agreements. they are usually an embedded clause. the subjects of non-finite clauses typically behave differently than subjects of finite clauses.

Question 7

The Binary Branching Hypothesis

Answer 7

constraint on merge that states only two elements can be merged at a time

Question 8

The Extension condition

Answer 8

constraint on merge that states two elements can be merged at their roots only

Question 9

Move (definition)

Answer 9

take a syntactic object that is a constituent of an existing structure and merge it with the entire structure

Question 10

Merge (definition)

Answer 10

take two syntactic objects X and Y, and join them together at their roots to form a new syntactic object

Question 11

Why do auxiliaries move to T in English, while main verbs stay in situ (i.e. unmoved)

Answer 11

we need a uFeature in order for move to take place. It makes the most sense to place the uFeature on T, with interpretable counterparts on all the auxiliaries, so only the top one will have to move and T will be identified as the head and will project (T will have a [uAux])

Question 12

Complementizer (definition)

Answer 12

english embedded clauses optionally start with the word that which forms a constituent together with the following clause

Question 13

Matrix clause (definition)

Answer 13

the clause than an embedded clause is embedded in

Question 14

Examples of complimentizers

Answer 14

that, if, whether

Question 15

Examples of auxiliaries

Answer 15

may, can, will, have, should, would, must

Question 16

What undergoes wh-movement?

Answer 16

it only applies to a specific set of constituents, called wh-expressions because most of them begin with wh (what, when, where, which, why, how)

Question 17

The main properties of D that need to be accounted for

Answer 17

complementary distribution of various types of D
combination of D with a complex consituent
number agreement between D and N
cross-linguistic variation in the order of D and N
semantics of familiarity, quantification, proximinity

Question 18

Hierarchy of Projections

Answer 18

Clausal: T > (Neg) > (Perf) > (Prog) > (Pass) > v > V
Nominal: D > N

Question 19

wh-expressions

Answer 19

sentences used to pose open-ended questions, which usually start with wh

Question 20

embedded questions

Answer 20

a clause with a Q feature that is a part of a whole sentence (cannot stand alone)

Question 21

complementary distribution

Answer 21

one element that is in complementary distribution with another occurs in the same position as another and therefore cannot occur together

Question 22

in situ

Answer 22

when something stays in its original position

Question 23

superiority

Answer 23

the element closest is chosen for movement

Question 24

V2

Answer 24

a word order present in other languages (e.g. German) in which the finite verb is always the second element

Question 25

What is the selectional behavior of the adjectives proud, afraid, and tired? How would you analyze this in terms of our theory of c-selection in terms of uninterpretable category features? What problems might arise, and how would we solve them?

Answer 25

These words appear to take PP complements. The problem with this is that this would predict that the adjectives required a PP compliment, but with any imaginable P, yet we see that Ps other than “of” are no good. We can deal with this by saying that these adjectives are actually selecting DP complements, not PP.

Question 26

Explain the motivation for a movement analysis of English wh-questions.

Answer 26

In a wh-question such as, “Which friends will you invite”, the phrase “Which friends” has a special dual status. It is the direct object, getting the theta role from the verb invite, but it also identifies the sentence as a question and indicates what information is sought by the question. These two roles are associated with two distinct positions within the sentence structure. Therefore the phrase “Which friends” would need to appear twice within the tree structure to account for the two roles that it plays within this sentence.

When a single syntactic constituent is associated with two different positions and is pronounced in a position that is displaced from where it would occur in related but someone different sentences, it is precisely what movement is for. WE can say that “Which friends” is Merged as the complement of V, where it gets its theta role. Then it moves to Spec-CP, allowing the [uwh] on C to be checked.

Question 27

Explain how the restriction Affect Closest works, what operations it applies to, and what motivated us to propose it in the first place.

Answer 27

This restriction states any syntactic operation involving a particular feature looking to interact with another feature of a particular type has to interact with the closest feature of that type. We define closeness in terms of asymmetric c-command. This was motivated to expand Move Closest, based on the observation that Agree is also restricted such that an element looking to Agree for a certain feature is required to do so with the closest thing with an appropriate matching feature. Affect Closest also explains the superiority effects in wh-movement that were explained by Move Closest.

Question 28

In our theory, we use the same kind of feature to implement both c-selection and movement. Explain how this works and why it makes sense for both operations to have the same featural basis.

Answer 28

C-selection is satisfied by Merge and is implemented in terms of uninterpretable category features. The selecting predicate bears such a uFeature, which forces it to be Merged with a phrase having the relevant category. uFeatures have to be checked in the course of the derivation, and checking requires sisterhood. SInce Merge takes two things and creates a new structure where the two things are sisters, it is naturally driven in this way, deriving c-selection. MOvement can also be said to be triggered by a uFeature that must be checked by getting an element with a matching interpretable feature in a sisterhood relationship. Movement accomplishes this by taking an item with such a feature that is already in the tree structure and Merging it with the element bearing the uF at the root. In other words, movement amounts to a special type of Merge. Both Merge and Move build up the structure, determining together which elements will end up where in the structure. therefore, it is reasonable to have c-selection and movement be implemented such that they are driven by the same type of feature.

Question 29

Explain what an unaccusative clause is, how we analyzed it, and how it is similar to and different from a passive clause

Answer 29

An unaccusative clause is a particular type of intransitive, where the sole argument corresponds thematically to the object of a transitive and thus starts out as the complement of V, but then moves to Spec-TP and appears as the subject. Our analysis of unaccusatives is that they involve a v which doesn’t have a [uD] feature and also doesn’t have an accusatory case [case: ACC] feature. Thus, it does not c-select and AGENT and also doesn’t assign accusative case to whatever is in Comp-V. The T in such structures still has its [uD, case: nom] features. Since the only DP around is the one in the complement of the verb, it is what gets moved up to Spec-TP, and since it has an unvalued case, it gets valued via agree with T.

Passive clauses are similar because they lack an AGENT and have what would be the object of a transitive show up in the subject position in Spec-TP, getting a nominative case and triggering null agreement on T.

They differ in many ways: passives involve a form a be as an auxiliary, with the main verb in the past participle form, and can optionally have the AGENT specified in a special phrase with the preposition by. Only certain verbs can be unaccusative, but basically every transitive can be passivized in English.