The Projection of Argument-Taking Nomials

Author: Engelhardt M.

Source: Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Volume 18, Number 1, February 2000 , pp. 41-88(48)

Publisher: Springer

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $47.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Drawing on data from Modern Hebrew, I argue that derived argument-taking nominals do not form an aspectually homogeneous class and that the nominal system manifests a perfective/imperfective opposition. Each aspectual type is characterized by a cluster of different syntactic properties. Concretely, it is shown that imperfective nominals, in contrast to perfective nominals, are non-definite, fail to host subjects, and disallow DP internal agreement. The defective nature of imperfective nominals is hypothesized to derive from the absence of the functional head D in their projection. The difference in the aspectual interpretation of the two types of argument-taking nominals is also attributed to the presence or absence of D. The proposed account of aspect in the nominal system provides a principled explanation for the mass properties of argument-taking nominals, linking the latter to the aspectual non-delimitedness of these nominals.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Linguistics and Philosophy MIT E39-245 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 U.S.A E-mail: engelm@mit.edu

Publication date: 2000-02-01