Head-movement has played a central role in morpho-syntactic theory, but its nature has remained unclear. While it is widely accepted that the main grammatical constraint controlling head-movement is the Head Movement Constraint (HMC), this constraint is flouted in many of the linguistic structures examined in this book. More specifically, the strictures of the HMC turn out to be sometimes inactive for specific grammars allowing multiple head-movement to take place in particular syntactic contexts.
In The Grammar of Multiple Head-Movement, Phil Branigan shows that multiple head-movement is far from rare, forming a part of the grammar in Finnish, in English, in Perenakan Javanese, in northern Norwegian and Swedish dialects, and generally in the Slavic and Algonquian language families. Basing his analysis on a new model of the grammatical parameters which control word formation in the human brain, Branigan shows how careful attention to the contexts in which multiple head-movement takes place allows new generalizations to be identified. And these, in turn, allow a new model to be formulated of how head-movement fits into the overall architecture of grammatical computation. Through careful comparative study, Branigan not only provides a better understanding of head-movement, but also provides new opportunities to address larger questions concerning the architecture of the grammatical system and the theory of linguistic parameters.
A new account of how complex words are formed in languages as different as Russian or Innu-aimun, as well as in English, this study deepens our understanding of how languages vary and of the mental computational system of human grammars.
Author(s): Phil Branigan
Series: Oxford Studies Comparative Syntax
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 372
City: New York
Cover
The Grammar of Multiple Head-movement: A Comparative Study
Copyright
Abstract
Contents
Abbreviations
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 What is Multiple Head-movement?
1.2 The Morphosyntactic Challenge From Slavic Aspect
1.3 The Morphosyntactic Challenge of Tripartite Stem Structures in Algonquian
1.4 The Claims and What is to Come
Chapter 2: A Modular Theory of Head Movement
2.1 Situating Head-movement
2.2 A Driver for Head-movement
2.3 A Mechanism for Head-movement
2.4 Deriving The Head Movement Constraint
2.5 Enabling Multiple Head-movement
2.6 Minimal Case Studies With Multiple Head-movement
2.6.1 Auxiliary Inversion in Perenakan Javanese
2.6.2 Finnish Polar Answers
2.6.3 Scandinavian Adjective “incorporation”
2.6.4 English Brown-eyed Adjectives
2.7 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Multiple Head-movement in Russian
3.1 Morphological Components of Russian Tense/aspect
3.2 The Locus of Perfectivity
3.3 Limitations of Alternative Models of Russian Verbal Structures
3.3.1 Verbs in Situ Models
3.3.2 Compliant Head-movement Approaches
3.3.3 Partial Head-movement Models
3.3.4 Remnant Movement
3.4 Conclusions
Chapter 4: Multiple Head-movement in Innu-aimûn
4.1 Preverbs and Verb Complexes in Innu-aimûn
4.1.1 General Characteristics of Preverbs
4.1.2 Multiple Head-movement in The Independent Order
4.1.3 Multiple Head-movement in The Conjunct Order
4.1.4 Deriving The Conjunct Order
4.2 Some Nuances and Complexities
4.2.1 Wh-questions in Independent Order
4.2.2 Modal Inflections and Modal Preverbs
4.2.3 ka- . . . -ua Verbs in Innu-aimûn
4.2.4 “Serial” Verb Structures
4.3 Multiple Head-movement With Verb Phrase Adjuncts
4.3.1 Manner Adverbial Initials and Preverbs
4.3.2 Multiple Head-movement With Floated Quantifiers
4.3.3 Multiple Head-movement With Comitative Verbs
4.3.4 Multiple Head-movement and Symmetry-breaking Derivations
Locative Initials
Goal Predicates in Innu-aimûn
Symmetry Breaking Adjunction in Stative Verb Phrases
Comparing Incorporation-based Alternatives
4.4 Multiple Head-movement in vp
4.4.1 Noun Accommodation and Tripartite Stem Structure
4.4.2 Classifier Medials
4.4.3 Noun Accommodation With Silent Verb Roots
4.5 Multiple Attraction in Nominal Phrases
4.5.1 Multiple Head-movement to D
Multiple Head-movement With Quantifiers
Multiple Head-movement With Attributive Modifiers
4.5.2 Multiple Attraction by n
4.6 Multiple Head Movement in Locatives
4.7 Interacting Multiple Head-movements Within The Verb Phrase
4.8 Non-alternatives to Multiple Head-movement
4.8.1 Low Verb Approaches
4.8.2 Compliant Head-movement
4.8.3 Remnant Movement
4.8.4 Dechaine and Weber’s Adjunct-merge Model
4.8.5 Roberts’s Theory of Multiple Head-movement
4.9 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Parameter Setting With Multiple Head-movement
5.1 Introduction
5.2 How Existing Models React to The PLD
5.2.1 Triggers in Roberts’s (2020) Model
5.2.2 The Role of Pld in Yang (2002)
5.2.3 Harmony in Parameter Space
5.3 Parameter Setting With Exceptions
5.4 Formalization of a Learning Algorithm
5.5 Conclusion
Appendix A: Selected Notes On Innu-aimûn Grammar
A.1 Sociolinguistic Context
A.2 Pertinent Orthography and Phonology
A.2.1 Orthographic Conventions
A.2.2 Phonological Rules
A.3 Inflection
A.3.1 Nominal Inflections and Their Derivations
A.3.2 Verbal Inflections
A.3.3 Verbal Inflection in The Conjunct Order
A.3.4 Initial Change
A.4 Transitive Verb Pairs
A.5 Other Finals in Verbal Morphology
A.6 Word Order
References
Index
