5 Questions on Introduction to Transformational Grammar - Fall 2008 | LINGUIST 601, Assignments of Linguistics

Download 5 Questions on Introduction to Transformational Grammar - Fall 2008 | LINGUIST 601 and more Assignments Linguistics in PDF only on Docsity! LINGUIST 601 November 4, 2008 Due on November 12, 2008 Assignment 7 I Consider the following Hebrew data. What generalizations can be drawn from this data set concerning the interaction of unaccusativity, (in)definiteness, and the possibility of postverbal subjects. Assume that variants of (1-3) where the subjects is pre-verbal are all grammatical. (1) a. parca erupted.f.sg mehuma riot.f.sg (ha.boqer) this.morning ‘A riot erupted this morning.’ b. hitxilu started.Pl haPganot demonstration.Pl (ha.boqer) this.morning ‘Demonstrations started this morning.’ c. hoPiaγ appeared γašan smoke laBan white ba-šamayim in-the.sky (ha.boqer) this.morning ‘White smoke appeared in the sky this morning.’ (2) a. parcu erupted šaloš three mehumot riots ‘Three riots erupted.’ b. hitxilu started harbe many haPganot demonstrations ‘Many demonstrations started.’ c. hoPiaγ appeared harbe much γašan smoke laBan white ba-šamayim in-the.sky ‘Much white smoke appeared in the sky.’ (3) a. *parac erupted.MSg ha.vikuax the.argument.MSg (ha.boqer) this.morning b. *hitxilu started.MPl kol all ha.haPganot the.demonstrations.MPl (ha.boqer) this.morning c. *hoPiaγ appeared ha.γašan the.smoke ha.laBan the.white ba-šamayim in-the.sky (ha.boqer) this.morning 2 Now consider the following data from Italian. Extend the generalizations you drew from the Hebrew data to encompass the Italian data to the extent possible, noting of course the points at which Hebrew and Italian differ. (4) a. Il the ragazzo boy è is arrivato arrived ‘The boy arrived.’