<OT> New Posting: ROA-629

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 629-1103

Complex predication and parallel structures in optimality-theoretic syntax

George Aaron Broadwell <g.broadwell at albany.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=629


Abstract:
 In a number of languages, complex predicates show evidence
for two or more distinct constituent structures.  For example,
McKay’s (1985) treatment of German and Goodall’s (1987)
treatment of French and Spanish argue that the behavior
of causatives in these languages is best treated by positing
two phrase structure representations – one monoclausal and
one biclausal.  Similarly, Butt’s (1995) treatment of the
Urdu instructive and permissive posits two syntactic structures
– one in which the permissive/instructive matrix verb and
verbal noun form a c-structure V’ constituent, and one in
which the verbal noun heads a distinct phrase.
	This paper will pursue a more general account of parallel
syntactic structures and complex predicates. Using Optimality-The
oretic Lexical-Functional Grammar (Bresnan 2000), I will
argue that these cases involve predicates where  two constituent
structures emerge as equally optimal under the relevant
constraint evaluation.  These structures exist in parallel
to each other, recalling Goodall’s (1987) more general approach
to parallel structures in syntax.

Comments: Handout from a talk given at the 7th Workshop on Optimality Theory Syntax in Nijmegen, Netherlands
Keywords: auxiliary verbs, complex predicates, LFG, Zapotec,  parallel structures
Areas: 
Type: Conference Handout

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=629