Papers by Nicholas J Sobin
The lexical source of <i>BIN</i> and habitual <i>be</i> in <scp>African American English</scp>
Syntax, Feb 24, 2024
Case assignment in Ukrainian morphological passive construction
Linguistic Inquiry, 1985
Page 1. REMARKS AND REPLIES 649 Case Assignment in Ukrainian Morphological Passive Constructions ... more Page 1. REMARKS AND REPLIES 649 Case Assignment in Ukrainian Morphological Passive Constructions Nicholas J. Sobin This article examines Ukrainian constructions involving morphological passive forms, and the assignment ...
On the inadequacy of some recent syntactic proposals
Papers in linguistics, Jul 1, 1971
0* At least one version of Semantic Interpretive Theory (Jackendoff 1968a, 1969) represents a rad... more 0* At least one version of Semantic Interpretive Theory (Jackendoff 1968a, 1969) represents a radical departure from what we will refer to, for expository purposes, as Standard Theory (Chomsky 1965)* Generative Semantics (Lakoff 1970) claims to be to Standard Theory ...
Determiners in genitive constructions
Lingua, Aug 1, 2002
Bernstein, Cowart and McDaniel (Linguistic Inquiry 30, 1999, 493), Stanford, CA) offer an importa... more Bernstein, Cowart and McDaniel (Linguistic Inquiry 30, 1999, 493), Stanford, CA) offer an important insight into the structure of possessive DP (eg the in the girl&amp;#x27;s truck) has a &amp;#x27;low&amp;#x27;source, the possessor phrase, rather than a &amp;#x27;high&amp;#x27;source, the D heading the top DP. ...
On the subject of gapped sentences
Papers in linguistics, 1980
Abstract Since the proposal by Kuno (1976) that Gapping is strongly constrained by the Requiremen... more Abstract Since the proposal by Kuno (1976) that Gapping is strongly constrained by the Requirement for Simplex Sentential Relationship, others (eg Jake 1977) have found exceptions to this proposal. This paper argues that Gapping, more accurately sentence‐ ...
Directing Syntactic Traffic
Syntax, Mar 26, 2020
Case assignment in Ukrainian morphological passive construction
Linguistic Inquiry, 1985
Page 1. REMARKS AND REPLIES 649 Case Assignment in Ukrainian Morphological Passive Constructions ... more Page 1. REMARKS AND REPLIES 649 Case Assignment in Ukrainian Morphological Passive Constructions Nicholas J. Sobin This article examines Ukrainian constructions involving morphological passive forms, and the assignment ...
Auxiliary Structures and Time Adverbs in Black American English
American Speech, 1973
English) has received a great deal of attention from researchers. From the original position that... more English) has received a great deal of attention from researchers. From the original position that black English is simply the dialect of the region in which black speakers happen to reside (Pederson 1968), there has been a change toward realization that different ...
On code-switching inside NP
Applied Psycholinguistics, Dec 1, 1984
ABSTRACTIn this article it is argued that, contrary to the assertions of Pfaff (1979), adjective/... more ABSTRACTIn this article it is argued that, contrary to the assertions of Pfaff (1979), adjective/noun code-switches inside NP are possible. While not strictly following the placement rules of the language of the adjective as claimed by Aguirre (1976) and others, these switches do appear to be limited by conditions on placement internal to the languages involved. So long as significant contrasts in the placement of particular categories of lexical items are maintained, code-switching inside NP is possible and can result in “creations” such as NPs with postnominal English color adjectives.
On the syntax of english echo questions
Lingua, Jul 1, 1990
Abstract Frequently, echo questions (EQs) in English have been considered so deviant from normal ... more Abstract Frequently, echo questions (EQs) in English have been considered so deviant from normal questions as to be excluded from syntactic descriptions of the latter (eg, Culicover (1976: 73); Pesetsky (1987: 122)). This article proposes an analysis of English EQs which ...
Syntax, Jan 29, 2009
Case in English is ''dormant''-not valued or resolved in the syntax-unless it is ''activated'' by... more Case in English is ''dormant''-not valued or resolved in the syntax-unless it is ''activated'' by the EPP feature of T. Case-activated DPs move to Spec,TP for Case valuation. Further extraction (e.g., wh-movement) of subjects requires ''phase-early'' Case resolution, guaranteeing that the uninterpretable Case feature of a subject is resolved early, in Spec,TP, in compliance with the Earliness Principle. An inability to resolve an active Case feature early results in the C-t effect. The dormant ''object'' case form is determined at PF either by a rule of default case (accusative) or by one of a set of rules assigning a prestige (usually nominative) case. This system correctly predicts a variety of details of the C-t effect and the possible occurrence and distribution of prestige case forms (It is I or between you and I) where Case is dormant. The C-t effect in Spanish, Russian, and Polish are also briefly considered.
Agreement, default rules, and grammatical viruses
Linguistic Inquiry, 1997
Certain constructions of prestige English, including nominative Case in coordination and plural a... more Certain constructions of prestige English, including nominative Case in coordination and plural agreement in expletive constructions, pose difficulties for speakers of English uncharacteristic of normal linguistic constructions. Assuming the Minimalist Program, ...
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Feb 1, 1987
, and the students of Language and Society, for their generous contributions to this work. Any er... more , and the students of Language and Society, for their generous contributions to this work. Any errors are my own.
Aspects of the temporal interpretation of English sentences
University Microfilms International eBooks, 1974
Linguistic Inquiry, Jul 1, 2004
Bobaljik (2002) proposes that covert and overt A-movement may be distinguished at the PF interfac... more Bobaljik (2002) proposes that covert and overt A-movement may be distinguished at the PF interface rather than in the syntax. In his proposal, movement takes place uniformly in the syntax, leaving a full copy in the moved-from position. In ''overt'' movement, PF privileges the higher copy (i.e., this copy is pronounced), and in ''covert'' movement, PF privileges the lower one. LF may also independently privilege a higher or lower copy (though a principle called Minimize Mismatch (Bobaljik 2002:251, Diesing 1997) exerts pressure toward PF and LF privileging the same copy). This results in four logically possible combinations: PF and LF both privileging the higher copy (overt movement with no reconstruction effects); PF privileging the higher copy, and LF the lower copy (overt movement with reconstruction effects); LF privileging the higher copy, and PF the lower copy (covert/LF movement); and both PF and LF privileging the lower copy (LF movement with reconstruction effects). Examples of the first three types are widely recognized. Bobaljik argues (2002:246ff.) that the fourth possibility, which he labels Lower Right Corner (LRC) constructions, are exemplified by expletive constructions (ECs) with there. In this squib, I will offer evidence that movement of the sort that Bobaljik proposes does not take place in ECs, and hence that ECs do not exemplify LRC movement constructions. This result does not cast doubt on his general analysis or conclusions, but only on the status of ECs as movement constructions. In fact, economy considerations offer reasons to think that LRCs may exist in theory but not in reality, preserving the full underlying logic of Bobaljik's analysis.
Syntax, Aug 1, 2003
In a substantial body of work, negative inversion (NI) is argued to be movement of a verb toward ... more In a substantial body of work, negative inversion (NI) is argued to be movement of a verb toward a negative expression and out of IP/AgrP. NI constructions are claimed to work in parallel with wh-questions. This paper offers an AgrP-internal account of NI constructions, which is consistent with positing a simpler CP layer. I argue here that there is no attraction of the verb to the negative expression (i.e., no Negative Criterion) and that the apparent inversion is impeded movement where the elements involved (verb and subject) fail to arrive at the normal declarative surface positions. It is demonstrated that such an analysis accounts straightforwardly for a variety of phenomena that require complexity or dual analysis in IP/AgrP-external approaches to NI.
An Acceptable Ungrammatical Construction
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, 1994
English Linguistics Research, Sep 2, 2016
The Problems of Projection (POP) approach to minimalist syntax (Chomsky 2013, 2014, 2015) offers ... more The Problems of Projection (POP) approach to minimalist syntax (Chomsky 2013, 2014, 2015) offers no account of the basic facts of short movement, agreement, and Case in expletive sentences, and involves certain derivational mechanisms of some complexity which, if eliminated, would simplify the overall theory. The present paper addresses these issues. It is argued that Inheritance is an unnecessary complication of the theory, that each head serves as a phase head (simplifying the inventory of possible head types), and that short movement is due to the argument structure requirements of functional verbal heads rather than to labeling deficiencies, as claimed in the POP literature cited above.
Kansas working papers in linguistics, 2000
Th/Ex, Agreement, and Case in Expletive Sentences
Syntax, Nov 11, 2014
Recent accounts of existential sentences (ES) within the government‐and‐binding/Minimalist Progra... more Recent accounts of existential sentences (ES) within the government‐and‐binding/Minimalist Program tradition (Chomsky 2000, 2001; Deal 2009) claim that nominative Case valuation and ϕ‐agreement take place in ES (directly or indirectly) between T and the associate DP, essentially the same as between T and “subject” in non‐ES. However, the surface facts of Case and ϕ‐agreement in ES run contrary to such claims (e.g., There is only me in that picture/*There am only I in that picture; There is/?*are a boy and a girl at the door). Furthermore, such accounts leave unexplained the short‐movement phenomenon (including Milsark's [1974] “Leftmost be Condition”) found in ES (e.g., There is someone being arrested/* There is being someone arrested or There is a train arriving/*There is arriving a train). Following claims of Richards &amp; Biberauer (2005) and Deal (2009) that merger of there in ES is low, I explore the possibility that “short movement” in ES, as well as the ban on multiple instances of there, is accounted for via Extended Projection Principle features of the relevant verbalizing functional heads that are articulated into their Agree and Merge components. Furthermore, an analysis of Case and ϕ‐agreement is presented that accounts directly for the broad range of ϕ‐agreement forms (including “frozen” forms and first‐conjunct agreement), the necessarily accusative Case form of pronominal associates allowable ES, and the ban on ϕ‐agreement with pronominal associates in ES.
Uploads
Papers by Nicholas J Sobin