LT5402 Syntax and Morphology Assignment 2 Semester A 2023–2024
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Assignment 2
LT5402 Syntax and Morphology
Semester A 2023–2024
35 points possible
Problem 1 [10 points]
Consider the following example:
(1) *Might Mary attend the event.
The above example is ungrammatical as a declarative. Your task is to examine more thoroughly why that should be the case. There are (at least) two potential derivations for (1).
i. In one of the potential derivations, the modal has not moved. What’s wrong with such a derivation? Explain briefy. [2 pts]
ii. In another potential derivation, the modal has moved, and the derivation is immune to the problem you just noted in (i). What’s wrong with the derivation in this case? Explain briefy. [2 pts]
Now, consider the following example:
(2) *The event might Mary attend.
iii. What would be one potential derivation for (2) where the modal does not move? Describe the crucial step(s) involved. [2 pts]
iv. Propose a condition that will exclude the derivation you just described in (iii). [2 pts]
More generally...
v. Is attend as used here a raising verb, a control verb, or neither? Explain briefy. [2 pts]
Problem 2 [11 points]
Consider the following sentence:
(3) Did Mary say that valuable vase just cracked?
i. Is the underlined word in (3) an unergative or unaccusative verb? [2 pts] Perform the resultative test to support your answer. [2 pts]
ii. Adopting the system developed until the end of the class on Nov 16, tree the sentence in (3) without using any triangle. [7 pts]
Problem 3 [7 points]
Consider the following example:
(4) They prefer to help one another.
i. Does the matrix verb prefer in (4) select a TP or a CP as its complement? [2 pts]
Now, the fact that (4) is grammatical means that all binding conditions are satisfed.
ii. Which binding condition governs the distribution of DPs like one another in (4)? [1 pt]
iii. State the binding condition you just identifed in (i). [1 pt] Then, explain in detail how the DP one another in (4) satisfes that binding condition. (NB: You must adopt the defnition of ‘binding domain’ from the Oct 12 class, i.e. the binding domain of a DP α is the minimal TP that dominates α.) [3 pts]
Problem 4 [7 points]
Consider the abstract structures below (which need not represent English):
It is not the case that all these structures are legitimate (≈ ‘grammatical’) in our system.
i. Identify all the structures that are not legitimate in our system (e.g. (5), (8), etc.). [3 pts]
ii. For each of the structures you identifed in (i), explain briefy why that structure is not legitimate. [4 pts]
2023-11-23