Free Word Order

LIN5317 A, Fall 2015
Dennis Ott
Week 10
Free Word Order
I. Scrambling
“Scrambling” = reordering of arguments and adjuncts out of their base positions that is not
(obviously) either A-movement or A’-movement, yielding a degree of word-order freedom.
(1) a. weil
jemand
oft
den Hans angerufen hat. (German)
because
someone
often the Hans called
has
b. weil
jemand den Hans oft
angerufen hat.
c. weil den Hans jemand
oft
angerufen hat.
“because someone frequently called Hans.”
(2) dass (im Garten) Maria (im Garten) oft (im Garten) auf Hans wartet.
that (in.the yard Maria
often
for Hans waits
“that Maria often waits for Hans in the yard.”
(3) [ C [TP XP
(4)
that
[TP …
[VP XP
(*John) someone
…
[VP … XP … ]]]]]
(*John) often calls
(5) Japanese
a. Mary-ga
John-ni sono hon-o
watasita.
Mary-NOM John-to that book-ACC handed
b. sono hon-o John-ni
Mary-ga watasita.
c. John-ni
sono hon-o Mary-ga watasita.
“Mary handed that book to John.”
(6) Persian
a. mâdar barâ bachche se dâstan goft
mother for child
three story said
b. barâ bachche mâdar se dâstân goft
c. barâ bachche se dâstân mâdar goft
d. se dâstân barâ bachche mâdar goft
“The mother told the child three stories.”
(7) Hungarian
a. Kati megevett egy szelet tortát.
Kate ate
a piece of cake
b. Egy szelet tortát Kati evett meg.
a piece of cake Kate ate.
c. Kati egy szelet tortát evett meg.
Kate a piece of cake ate
d. Egy szelet tortát evett meg Kati.
a piece of cake ate
Kate
“Kate ate a piece of cake.”
John
S < IO < DO
DO < IO < S
IO < DO < S
S < IO < DO
IO < S < DO
IO < DO < S
DO < IO < S
S<V<O
O<S<V
S<O<V
O<V<S
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What is scrambling?
•
Scrambling as movement: scrambling is either ‘stylistic’ reordering in the mapping to PF
(Ross), or genuine narrow-syntactic movement (Internal Merge).
•
Scrambling as base-generation: languages with free word order simply don’t have a basic
order but can base-generate different orders, with non-local Case/theta-assignment.
•
Scrambling is sensitive to islands:
(8) a. weil
jemand [den Hans und die Maria] angerufen hat.
because someone [the Hans and the Maria called
has
b. *weil den Hans jemand [t und die Maria] angerufen hat.
“because someone called Hans and Maria.”
•
Scrambling doesn’t allow P-stranding…
(9) a. weil
die Leute für ihre Freiheit oft
kämpfen mussten.
because the people for their freedom often fight
must.PST
b. *weil die Leute ihre Freiheit oft [für t] kämpfen mussten.
“because the people often had to fight for their freedom.”
•
(German)
…but it does allow Q-float:
(10) a. weil
die Schüler irgendein Lehrer [alle t] angerufen hat.
because the students some
teacher [all
called
has
“because some teacher called all the students.”
b. Sake-o John-ga
[san-bon t] motte kita.
sake-ACC John-NOM [three-CL with-came
“John came with three bottles of sake.”
•
(German)
(German)
(Japanese)
Scrambling typically does not reconstruct for binding, but it may reconstruct for scope.
(11) a. Maikeru-ga
[Keeto-to Zyoo]-nii otagai-oi
syookaisita.
Michael-NOM [Kate-and Joe-DAT each other-ACC introduced
b. *Maikeru-ga
otagai-oii
[Keeto-to Zyoo]-nii t syookaisita.
“Michael introduced Kate and Joe to each other.”
(Japanese)
(12) a. weil
jeder Student zwei Bücher gelesen hat.
because every student two books read
has
only: “because for every student it is the case that they read two books.”
(German)
b. weil zwei Bücher jeder Student t gelesen hat
either: “because there are two books that every student read.”
or:
“because for every student it is the case that they read two books.”
c. LF: weil [zwei Bücher] jeder Student [zwei Bücher] gelesen hat
∀>2
2>∀
∀>2
2
•
German-type scrambling is strictly bounded by finite clauses, unlike A’-movement…
(13) a. Den Wagen hat Hans versprochen [dass er t reparieren würde]. (German)
the car
has Hans promised
[that he repair
would
b. *weil
Hans den Wagen versprochen hat [dass er t reparieren würde].
*because Hans the car
promised
has [that he repair
would
“(because) Hans promised that he would repair the car.”
•
…but other languages do allow long-distance scrambling:
(14) a. Mary-ga
[John-ga
hon-o
katta
to] omotta.
Mary-NOM [John-NOM book-ACC bought C thought
b. Hon-o Mary-ga [John-ga t katta to] omotta.
“Mary thought that John bought a book.”
(Japanese)
(15) a. On skazal [čto stranno [čto Petrov
nam pomogal]].
he said [that is-odd [that Petrov-NOM us helped
b. On skazal [čto Petrov stranno [čto t nam pomogal]].
“He said that it is odd that Petrov helped us.”
(Russian)
(SP) Implicational scrambling parameter
Internal Merge can adjoin XPs to 1. VP/vP and TP: yes/no; if yes à 2. CP yes/no.
Why scrambling?
•
•
•
Scrambling languages rely on word order to mark information-structural properties, e.g. old
vs. new information in discourse.
Is scrambling permitted as long as case morphology overtly indicates grammatical relations?
Unlikely: languages without (much) morphological case have scrambling.
Does scrambling have to do with left- vs. right-branching VPs? Could be: scrambling
languages are typically (always?) OV.
Scrambling in English? The case of pseudo-gapping:
(16) a. Mary hasn’t dated Bill yet, but she will.
VP-ellipsis
b. Mary hasn’t dated Bill yet, but she has Harry. pseudo-gapping
(17) a. but she will [VP date Bill]
à but she will ΔVP
b. but she has Harryi [VP dated ti] à but she has Harry ΔVP
II. Object Shift and Holmberg’s Generalization
Object Shift (OS) moves an object DP from its vP/VP-internal position to a vP/VP-external
position, where it follows the subject but precedes adverbs and the negation.
(18) a. [VP AdvP [VP … DP ]] à
b. [VP DP [VP AdvP [VP … t ]]]
vP/VP distinction ignored!
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(19) Danish: pronominal OS only
a. Peter har uden
tvivl aldrig læst bøger / *dem.
Peter has without doubt never read books *them
b. Peter læste dem uden
tvivle aldrig t.
Peter læste dem without doubt never
c. *Peter læste bøgerne uden
tvivle aldrig t.
Peter read the.books without doubt never
“Peter without doubt never read (the) books/them.”
(19) Icelandic: pronominal and full-DP OS
a. Af hverju las Pétur (þessa bók) aldrei (þessa bók)?
why
read Peter (this book never
b. Af hverju las (*hana) Pétur (hana) aldrei (*hana)?
why
read
Peter (it
never
“Why did Peter never read this book/it?”
•
Like German-type scrambling, OS is bounded by finite clauses:
(20) Ég veit (*bókina) [af hverju þau seldu (bókina) ekki t].
I know (*the.book [why
they sold (the.book not
•
(Icelandic)
OS, unlike scrambling, only ever applies to DPs, never to PPs or AdjPs.
(21) a. *Jòn talaði
ekki við Maríu.
(Icelandic)
*Jon spoke
not with Mary
b. *Jòn talaði Maríu
ekki við t.
c. *Jòn talaði við Maríu ekki t.
“John didn’t talk to Mary.”
•
Most importantly, and again unlike scrambling, OS is dependent on verb movement:
(22) a. Varför läste studenterna (den) inte (*den)?
why read the.students (it
not
“Why didn’t the students read it?”
b. Varför har studenterna (*den) inte läst (den)?
why have the.students (*it not read
“Why have the students not read it?”
c. Hon frøagade [varför studenterna (*den) inte läste (den)].
he asked
[why the.students (*it not read
“He asked why the students didn’t read it.”
(Swedish)
(23) a. Af hverju las Pétur (þessa bók) aldrei (þessa bók)?
why
read Peter (this book never
b. Af hverju hefur Pétur (*þessa bók) aldrei lesið (þessa bók)?
why
has
Peter (*this book never read
“Why has Peter never read this book?”
(Icelandic)
(HG) Holmberg’s Generalization
OS if licensed iff the (main) verb raises out of VP/vP.
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