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Elective Course The Syntax and Interpretation of the DPMihaela Tănase-DogaruFall semester 2015

Lecture 1 Introduction. Relevant noun classes: Proper Names. Gender

1. Aim: the internal organization of the DP/NP and its semantic interpretationHypothesis: it is appropriate to study the interpretation of the nouns in syntax, because most grammatical properties of the noun are specified within syntactic constructions.- which features of the noun are specified syntactically?a)b)(1) a. Put the cat out before you go to bed.

b. Cat was still morose.c)(2) She bought chicken for dinner.

She brought the chicken from the village

2. The categorial description of the noun

+/- N and +/- V (Chomsky 1971, Cornilescu 1995)- four major parts of speech: N (noun), A (adjective), V (verb), P (preposition / postposition).

+/- N and +/- V =

(3) [+N] = ………………………………………………………………………………………………..[+V] = ………………………………………………………………………………………………

The noun = [+N, -V].

- this description = oversimplification, because the noun is a predicate:

(4) a. They are students this year.b. They walk fastc. They are fast walkers / I consider them fast-walkers.d. They are quick

- the noun fast-walker, like the verb walk designates………………………………………………….

(5) fast-walker (x)walk (x)

- both the noun and the verb can externalize the internal variable, which becomes a subject, as in (4). The noun shows its predicative capacity, and it externalizes its internal variable as if it were a verb.- the noun also disposes of the category of determination. Determiners = a class of logical binders of the noun’s internal variable. The role = turning a predicate into an argument. Arguments are theta-marked, usually referential expressions.

(6) seven fast walkers 7(x) fast walkers (x)this fast walker this (x) walker (x)

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3. The functional architecture of the NP/DP

- the functional structure of the nominal group relates its double role predicative / argumental.

(7) syntactic structure

- the DP is an argument since it has reference and it has an individual denotation, while the NP level is predicative is nature, since it designates a property.

a) the NP is a predicate, a function from entities to truth values <e,t>

b) the D is responsible for mapping a predicate onto an individual (argument) <e>

- the structure in (7) = the minimum amount of structure for the nominal phrase in a sentence- more functional structure is needed – there are several types of determiners which are not mutually exclusive

(8) these seven winnersDP > QP > NumP > NP

- each element occupies a specified syntactic position and each is associated with a particular interpretative feature, which has to be spelled out. - difficult task:

(9) boys (more than one)no boys / zero boys ?

4. The distribution of determiners

- all determiners are able to license an argument, turning a predicative expression into a referential one- determiners = very different patterns of selectivity wrt nouns, being sensitive to features like countability, plurality, singularity

(10) Selectional properties of a / the

1. a. the catb. the catsc. the meatd. a cate. *a catsf. (*a) meat

(11) The parallel use of bare plurals and mass nouns

2. a. Cats are on the roof.

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b. Cats eat mice.c. I saw catsd. I like cats

3. a. Bread is on the tableb. Bread is made of flour.c. I ate breadd. I like bread.

- the is invariant across the three important noun classes, singular, plural, mass. - a is always singular and barred with plural and mass nouns- robust parallelism between mass nouns and plurals (why?)

Hypothesis:

(12) A nominal expression is an argument only if it is introduced by a lexically filled D. Arguments are DPs.

- in Italian, determinerless nominal sapper only in non-A positions:

(13) *Acqua viene giu dalla colline.L’acqua viene giu dalla colline.

- when NPs project without a DP, a predicate emerges:

(14) Gianni e amico di Maria.Ho incontrato il amico di Maria.

- the main function of D is to provide a referential index, resulting in the mapping of predicates to objects, or to quantifiers.

5. Common vs. Proper Names

- proper names are interpreted as if they were definite DPs- in many languages they may or must appear with the article:

(15) Ion / O Joao / O Kostis

Hypothesis: Proper Names are inherently marked as <def> and they raise to the D position assigning a range to the determination variable and checking a definite feature in D- an abstract head feature <def-u> assigns range to <e> and the head N must merge a copy in D to check its feature overtly- in English – covert movement; in Italian – overt movement:

(16) Il mio Gianni ha finalmente telefonato*Mio Gianni ha finalmente telefonatoGianni mio ha finalmente telefonato.

(17) Old Jolyon came in.*Jolyon old came in.

- the interpretation of a nominal as proper or common depends on the structure where it is embedded and not on the intrinsic properties of the nominal.

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- two manners of assigning a referential index to the variable <e> in D:a) insertion of an article

(18) syntactic structure common name reading

b) movement of a nominal

(19) syntactic structure proper name reading

- PNs must be considered discourse anaphors, just like common nouns. If the feature <def-u> is associated with a PN reading, it will be itself a discourse anaphor, inheriting its index from the discourse and assigning range to <e> - John = a restricting modifier of the index <def-u>, functioning as orange would in picking put the proper discourse antecedent for the orange cat.

(20) a. Cat cameb. I invited Dog / *dog

(21) a. Tall Kim showed up here.b. Good old Kim showed up here.c. Tall Kims are a rare sight.d. I saw tall Kims.e. The tall Kims will handle this problem.

Generalization: When cat, dog, Kim occur with a determiner, they must be interpreted as common nouns, regardless of whether they are singular or plural. When they appear as singular without a determiner they must be interpreted as proper nouns. When they appear as plurals without a determiner, they may or must be interpreted as common nouns.

- in some languages, the proper name function is taken over fully or partially by predicates and modifiers: The Pacific Ocean- PNs of boats must occur with the definite article: The Queen Mary- PNs may appear with demonstratives (specific communicative function, often slighting): This Kim is getting on my nerves

Proper Names that have definite description form

A. Plural geographical names: The Cayman Islands, The Bahamas B. Geographical names such as rivers, mountains, seas, canals: The Potomac, The Panama CanalC. Public institutions such as hotels, restaurants, museums, libraries: The Library of Congress, the Ritz, The Metropolitan MuseumD. Names of ships – those with a well-known history: The Titanic vs. BritanniaE. Many newspapers: The Times, The Guardian vs. Time, NewsweekF. Variation: (The) High Street, (The) Cape Colony, (The) Worthing Theatre

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How about:

(22) The Bronx*Bronx*The three Bronxes*every Bronx

- two ways of treating The Bronx and, by extension, The Pacific Oceana) idiomsb) ?

(23) He is a Bronx-lover.This is a Bronx type environmentEvery city can use a Bronx.

- Bronx is rigid and must be capitalized; like NPs, it may appear as the left member of a noun compound; the left member in a compound is a terminal (non-referential) and therefore not a DP – Bronx and Pacific Ocean are common nouns, but the set to which the refer includes one member. - the same explanation goes for der Hans or O Kostis

Proper Names functioning as common nouns

A. Person or family called X

(24) I haven’t been in touch with the Joneses for ages

B. Person like X

(25) He has neither the imagination nor the intellectual power of a Jefferson

C. Product of X

(26) He didn’t buy the Picasso

D. Action typical of X

(27) You could do a Chuck Norris in this type of situation.

Nouns that are regular theta-assigners

a) relational nouns:

b) picture nouns:

c) nominalizations:

- different Genitive pattern – allow a complement with of, alongside the Saxon Genitive; non-theta-assigners may be restricted to the Saxon Genitive

(28) the brother of JohnJohn’s brother

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*the table of JohnJohn’s table

Result: Nouns are actually [+N, 0V]

6. Gender

- English: semantic gender, as opposed to grammatical gender- gender in English is a three-term system: he, she, it

(29) Neuter (-personal) non-neuter (+personal)it masculine feminine

he she

- it means non-human but also ambiguous human status: child, baby, alien, corpse, ghost

Means of gender marking

1. Lexical pairs

(30) man woman personhusband wife spousefather mother parentboy girl childlad lassking queen sovereign/monarchbridegroom bridebrother sister siblinguncle auntnephew niecelord lady

2. Word-formation means

a) gender suffixes-ess

(31) actor actresscount countesshost hostess

-trix

(32) executor executrixmediator mediatrix

- ina

(33) czar czarina

-ette

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(34) undergraduette, usherette

b) composition

- gender specific premodification

(35) male nurse, female officer

- compounding with a gender specific element

(36) chairman chairwomanpoliceman policewomanspokesman spokeswoman

- not a perfect parallelism:a) woman-only forms: beggar-woman, slave-woman, ghostwomanb) man-only forms: anchorman, barman, boatman, cameraman, coalman

- common/dual gender nouns show their gender through syntactic agreement: relative, friend, guest, enemy, servant, engineer, teacher

(37) The teacher praised her pupils