Finite complementation: a pro-drop language property?

Konstantinos Sampanis40. Österreichische Linguistiktagung

(40th Austrian linguistics conference)

November 22. - 24. 2013, Salzburg University

Workshop: Non-overt subjects in a cross-linguistic perspective

Finite complementation: a pro-drop language property?

Diachronically, the verbal category “infinitive” has been gradually

replaced, to a great or full extent, by finite complements.

Due to the convergence of the Balkansprachbund-languages the finite

complementation is realised by syntactically similar constructions

which are usually (and justifiably!) called “subjunctives”.

In all Balkansprachbund-languages the subjunctive forms exhibit a

great degree of structural similarity: They consist of a mood

particle + a verbal form.

Finite complementation: a Balkansprachbund feature

(1.i.) Προσπαθώ να διαβάσω ένα βιβλίο. Mod. Greek prospathó na dhiaváso éna vivlío. try.1Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. read.1Sg. (+Perf.) one.Acc.n. book.Acc “I am trying to read a book.” (1.ii.) Σκοπεύω να έρθω Mod. Greek skopévo na értho intend.1Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. come.1Sg.(+Perf.) “I intend to come” (2.i.) parashikoj të nisem nesër. Albanian intend.1Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. depart.1Sg.Pres. tomorrow “I intend to depart tomorrow.” (2.ii) Tentoi të vijë. Albanian try.3Sg.Aor.Ind. M.Prt. come.3Sg.Subj.Pres. “(S)he tried to come.”

(3.i.) Victor încearcă să cînte. Romanian Victor try.3Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. sing.3Sg.Pres. “Victor is trying to sing.”

(3.ii) Evită să te vadă Romanianavoid.3Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. you.Sg.Dat.Cl. see.3Sg.Subj.Pres. “(S)he avoids seeing you.”

(4.i.) Počinjem da učim nemački. Serbian start.1Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. learn.1Sg.Pres.(-Perf) German “I start learning German.”

(4.ii.) Želi da postaneš bogat. Serbian wish.3Sg. M.Prt. become.2Sg. Perf.Pres. rich.M.Sg. “(S)he wishes that you become rich”

(5.i.) Ne možax da kupja knigata včera Bulgarian not could.1Sg.Aor.Ind. M.Prt. buy.1Sg.(+Perf.) book – the yesterday “I could not buy the book yesterday.” (5.ii.) Iskam da dojdeš Bulgarian

want.1Sg.Aor.Ind. M.Prt. come.2Sg.(+Perf.) “I want you to come.” (6.i.) Namerava da patuva Macedonian intend.1Sg.Pres.Ind. M.Prt. travel.3Sg.(-perf.) “(S)he intends to travel”

(6.ii.)Sakam da mu go dadam Macedonianwant.1Sg.Pres.Ind M.Prt. him.Dat. it.Acc. give.1Sg.(-perf.) “I want to give it to him.”

(7.i)iddu vulía mi vegnu Southern Italian

he wanted prt come-1sg“He wanted me to come.”

(7.ii)basta mi vaju Southern Italian

is-enough prt go-1sg“It suffices for me to go.”

(7.iii)ti dissi mu vèni Southern Italian

you said-1sg prt come-2sg“I told you to come.”

Balkansprachbund effect beyond the Balkans?

(8): Hungarian (“ declined ” / “ agreeing infinitive ”)

(i)

(Nekem) haza kell men-n-em.

I -DAT home need go-INF-1SG

(ii)

(Neked) haza kell men-n-ed.

you -DAT home need go-INF-2SG

(iii)

(Neki) haza kell men-ni-e.

he -DAT home need go-INF-3SG

Cross-linguistic/non-areal cases of finite complementation

(8): Hungarian

(iv)

Jánosnak nem szabad haza men-ni-e.

John -DAT not be.allowed home go-INF-3SG

‘John must not go home.’

(v)

(Nekunk) tanul-n-unk kell.

We -DAT study-INF-1PL. must

We must study.


(9):Portuguese (“inflected infinitive”)

(i)

eu chegar tu chegaresvocê/ele/ela chegarnós chegarmosvós chegardesvocês/eles/elas chegarem

(ii)

É preciso vocês terminarem o trabalho. is necessary you.2Pl.Nom. finish.Inf.+3Pl. the work“It is necessary for you to finish the work”


(9):Portuguese

(iii)Eu penso terem os deputados

trabalhado pouco I think.1Sg.Pres.Ind. have.Inf.+3Pl. the deputies.Nom.m. work.Prc. little“I think the deputies have worked little”

(iv)eles tentaram sair(*-em)

they tried.3Pl.Pret.Ind. leave.Inf.(+*-3pl)“they tried to leave”


(10):Armenian

(i)

Ani-n uz-um ē k’ez ōgn-i

Ani.Nom.-the want.Pres.Prc. is you.Dat.Sg. help.3Sg.Fut.Subj.“Ani wants to help you.” (Colloquial) (ii)

Ani-n uz-um ē k’ez ōgn-el

Ani.Nom.-the want.Pres.Prc. is you.Dat.Sg. help.Inf. “Ani wants to help you.” (Standard)


(11): Persian (Farsi)

(i)

Sârâ bâyad tu xune be-mun-e.

Sara must in house Subj.-stay.3sg.“Sârâ must stay at home.”

(ii)

Sârâ momken-e zabân-e farânse be-dun-e.

S. possible-be.3sg. language-EZ French Subj.pres-know.3sg.“It is possible that Sârâ will know French.”


All afore-mentioned languages are pro-drop ones:

A mere coincidence?

Pro-drop & Finite Complementation

A number of linguistic phenomena are correlated with the pro-drop property, e.g.:

Free subject inversion Absence of complementiser-trace effects Rich agreement Clitic climbing Infinitive-clitic order ……..


Hypothesis:

“Finite complementation emerges only if (→) a language has the pro-drop property” (it is then an one-way condition)

The hypothesis is falsifiable if and only if a non pro-drop language has historically developed finite complements out of non-finite ones.


Simplification of CBP΄s verbal inflection: (12)(European Portuguese) (CBP)

cant-o cant-o cant-as cant-a (você) cant-a cant-a cant-amos cant-a (a gente) canta-is cant-am (vocês) cant-am cant-am

The simplification goes hand-in-hand with a reduction in null subjects.

(cf. e.g. Rodrigues 2002, with references)

The case of Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese (CBP)

Inflected Infinitive (13) (European Portuguese)eu chegar tu chegaresvocê/ele/ela chegarnós chegarmosvós chegardesvocês/eles/elas chegarem

(CBP)eu chegar tu chegaresvocê/ele/ela chegarnós chegarmosvós chegardesvocês/eles/elas chegarem (!)

The case of Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese

o The ongoing loss of the inflected infinitive obviously intertwines with the simplification of the verbal inflection and the continuing loss of the pro-drop property in CBP.

o We can account for the loss of the inflected inf. on the grounds of reduction of the verbal paradigm. However, since even the 3. Pl. of the inflected inf. is eliminated (3. Pl. is still marked in the verbal paradigm of the CBP), we may suggest that

the gradual loss of the inflected infinitive is associated with the gradual loss of the pro-drop parameter.

o In either case, the verbal inflection, the pro-drop parameter and the finite complementation are linguistic features which are narrowly associated.

The case of Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese

Internal factors:

The subjects of non-finite controlled verbs (PRO) are anaphorical to the subject of the matrix verb. In the absence of an overt subject the language may tend to replace the non-finite structures with finite ones, if these are available in the syntactic inventory at all, in order to “strengthen” the reference to the subject of the matrix verb anew.

Once there is a “strong competition” between non-finite and finite structures within a given pro-drop language, finite complements will probably begin to replace non-finite ones.

(ATTENTION: Still working on it!).

Causation

External factors:

Once a finite complement is available, the speakers of a pro-drop language may opt for it (repetition of personal endings; tendency to “imitate” the syntactic structure of the main clauses also in the embedded clauses.)

Bilingual speakers (or even children) may find finite complementation “simpler” (because of its analytical character) and therefore preferable. (Ancient Greek / Latin Accusativus cum Infinitivo vs subordinated finite clauses; Koine Greek as lingua franca; Multilingual environment (Balkansprachbund))

Causation

Classical Greek(14)

ἄξια δὴ τούτων ᾤοντο δεῖν ποιοῦντες ὀφθῆναι

áksia dè toúto:n ó:ionto dei:n

worthy-of.Acc.Pl.n. but them.Gen. think.3Pl.Impf.Ind. be-necessary.Pres.Inf.

poiou:ntes ophthe:nai make.Pres.Prc.Nom.Pl.m. be-seen.Aor.Inf.

“They thought it was their duty to be seen performing deeds worthy of these (ancestors)”.

(Dem. 60:31)

Causation

New Testament Greek (“Koine:”)(15)θέλω δὲ πάντας ὑμᾶς λαλεῖν γλώσσαις μᾶλλον δὲ ἵνα προφητεύητε.

thelo: de pantas humas laleι:n glossais want.1Sg. but all.Acc.m. you.Acc.Pl. speak.Inf. tongues.Dat.Pl.

mallon de hina prophe:teue:te more but Conj. prophesy.2Pl.Subj.

„I want you all to speak in tongues or rather to prophesy.” (literally: I want you all to speak in tongues but even more that you

prophesy.”) (1 Corinthians 14.5)

Causation

Languages which exhibit finite complementation phenomena to a larger or lesser extent are pro-drop languages and therefore we may postulate that there is a correlation between the pro-drop property and these syntactic phenomena.

This hypothesis is backed up by the ongoing loss of the pro-drop parameter in CBP which, directly or indirectly is linked with the loss of the inflected infinitive.

Although the causes for this correlation are not completely clear, in this paper it is tentatively suggested that once a pro-drop language develops a finite alternative to a non-finite complement, the former will gradually start replacing the latter in order to “reinforce” the reference to the verbal subject.

Thus: rich agreement > pro-drop > finiteness

Summing up

Thank you for your attention!

DUM-TRAGUT, Jasmine (2009): Armenian. Modern Eastern Armenian. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

JOSEPH, Brian D. (1983): The synchrony and diachrony of the Balkan Infinitive, a study in areal, general, and historical linguistics. Cambridge: University Press.

KISS, Katalin É. (2004): The Syntax of Hungarian. Cambridge: University Press.

PIRES, Acrisio. (2006): The minimalist syntax of defective domains: gerunds and infinitives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

ROBERTS, Ian. (2007): Diachronic Syntax. Oxford: University Press.

ROBERTS Ian & ROUSSOU Anna. (2003): Syntactic Change – A minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization. Cambridge: University Press.

RODRIGUES, Cilene. (2002): Morphology and Null Subjects in Brazilian Portuguese. In Lightfoot W.D. (ed.): Syntactic effects of morphological change. Oxford: University Press. 160 – 178.

References

ROUNDS, Carol (2001): Hungarian – an essential Grammar. London and New York: Routledge.

SAMPANIS, Konstantinos. (2011): A diachronic and typological approach to the Modern Greek subjunctive complementation. (Unpublished doctoral thesis - Department of Linguistics, University of Salzburg).

TALEGHANI, Azita H. (2008): Modality, aspect and negation in Persian. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

TOMIĆ, Olga Mišeska. (2006): Balkan Sprachbund Morpho-Syntactic Features. Dordrecht: Springer.

References

Documents

Finite complementation: a pro-drop language property?