LINGUIST List 20.2287: Syntax: Soare: 'The Syntax-Information Structure Interface:...'

LINGUIST List 20.2287

Thu Jun 25 2009

Diss: Syntax: Soare: 'The Syntax-Information Structure Interface:...'

Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny <dilinguistlist.org>

1. Gabriela Soare, The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: A comparative view from Romanian

Message 1: The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: A comparative view from Romanian
Date: 23-Jun-2009
From: Gabriela Soare <Gabriela.Soareunige.ch>
Subject: The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: A comparative view from Romanian
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Institution: University of Geneva Program: Certificate of Specialisation in Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2009

Author: Gabriela Soare

Dissertation Title: The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: A comparative view from Romanian

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax
Dissertation Director:
Guglielmo Cinque Alexandra Cornilescu Luigi Rizzi Ur Shlonsky Yoshio Endo
Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation explores a number of issues involving the clausalstructure of Romanian, in particular the structure of the Romanian IPfield, and the left periphery, on a comparative basis with other Romancelanguages. Regarding this latter issue the dissertation insists on multiplewh-fronting in Romanian proposing an analysis in line with currentMinimalist guidelines. Considering that Romanian is situated at one end ofthe wh-continuum, this dissertation also studies the behaviour ofwh-phrases in a language situated at the other end, i.e. a 'scrambling'language, Japanese.

The discussion is framed within the idea that syntax may directly accessfeatures related to Information Structure (IS) that may be 'floating' ondistinct DP-related projections inside the IP-field, or the Mittelfeld, orproject themselves inside the CP area (i.e. Rizzi 1997, 2001, 2004).Besides case and phi-features, the Numeration is assumed to containfeatures pertaining to Information Structure, such as Topic and Focus, bothof distinct types, which are realized on Subj(ect)- and Obj(ect)-relatedprojections in the Mittelfeld. It is argued that EPP is intimatelyconnected to an IS-feature. The discussion unveils the micro-parametersrelated to subject, object and verb movement possibilities whichdistinguish Romanian from Spanish and Italian.

In the overview of the structure of the Romanian left periphery, thespecial case of the Left-Dislocated Contrastive Focus is analyzed in termsof the minimal c-commanding head-head criterial configuration, whichaccounts for the contrastive Focus interpretation and the obligatorypresence of a clitic. Considering multiple wh's, it is argued that theirorder in the left periphery reflects the order prior to wh-movement andthat this Mittelfeld-internal order is also obtained with their non-whcounterparts. Multiple Agree (Hiraiwa 2000), remnant movement and (heavy)pied-piping of a wh-chunk, made up of wh-phrases only, accounts formultiple wh-movement in Romanian.

Situated at the other end of the wh-continuum, Japanese is analyzed alongthe lines of Kayne's (1994) antisymmetry hypothesis. It is shown that theMittelfeld also contains Topic and Focus features parasitic on phi/Casefeatures. The hypethesis that both subject and object leave the vP receivessupport from the test with different adverb classes in Cinque's (1999)hierarchy. It is argued that A-scrambling of a wh-phrase over anothersystematically induces a D-linked reading. It is further shown that overtlong-distance wh-'scrambling' is a case of topicalisation to the leftperiphery.

The dissertation also proposes a typology of question formation based onthe abstract morphological split between the Q-feature on Force and thewh-feature on Focus along the lines of the antisymmetry and thecartography. The typology relies on several parameters having to do withthe overt vs. covert realization of either feature, the possibility ofeither feature to be associated with an EPP and the mechanism of MultipleAgree involved in cases of multiple wh. These combinatorial possibilitiescan account for the existence of wh-movement in languages like Vata andTlingit (which overtly realize one feature), on the one hand, and Frenchand Romanian (no overt realization), on the other, and its absence inJapanese, Sinhala, Chinese, Tumbuka and French (on the in-situ strategy).