Anti-agreement, anti-locality and minimality. The syntax of dislocated subjects

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In this Subject: Computer Science ,&nbsp; <a title="Language & Linguistics" href="/content/subcat?j_subject=222&j_availability=">Language & Linguistics
By this author: Schneider-Zioga, Patricia

Author: Schneider-Zioga, Patricia

Source: Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Volume 25, Number 2, May 2007 , pp. 403-446(44)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Anti-agreement is the phenomenon whereby the morphosyntactic form of subject/verb agreement is sensitive to whether or not an agreeing subject has been locally extracted. This paper argues that, together with an anti-locality constraint on movement (Grohmann, 2003) which prohibits overly local movement as elaborated in (i-v), the occurrence of a canonically left dislocated subject in anti-agreement languages accounts for all syntax peculiar to the phenomenon in the Bantu language of Kinande: (i) subjects can extract long-distance even across islands; (ii) subjects are locally unextractable if the canonical subject/verb agreement occurs; (iii) local subject extraction requires a change in subject/verb agreement morphology; (iv) objects cannot locally extract even if they appear to do so; and (v) objects can extract long-distance; however, they are sensitive to islands. Evidence comes from an analysis of the distribution of nominal expressions in the language as well as in-depth examination of two different wh-question formation strategies in the language. This study also reveals that the last resort strategy in a language is relativized to what is first resort: if resumption is first resort, movement is last resort, and vice versa.

Keywords: Anti-agreement; Agreement; Anti-locality; Locality; Subject; A'-dependencies; Left edge; Dislocation; Case; Kinande; Bantu; Base generation; Resumption; Resumptive pronoun; Wh-agreement