Questions tagged [movement]
The movement tag has no usage guidance.
48 questions
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What category position does a copular-be occupy in a basic English sentence?
Take the simplest declarative sentence with a one-verb copular-be:
They are wrong.
and assuming the simplest structure is
TP
_________|_________
| |
Spec-TP ...
- 203
0
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0
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60
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Preposition stranding and Wh-islands
I am doing research on a few apparent cases of preposition stranding in Brazilian Portuguese (a non-P-stranding language) and, by comparing them to languages that have bona fide P-stranding, I am ...
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2
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1
answer
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Do CP adjuncts of N require/have a subject?
"The cat that ate my homework for fun will upset my teacher."
Hello! I created this sentence to help me understand the concept of EPP. Assume this is how the major components should be ...
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2
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0
answers
93
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Wh-movement of D/NP in Russian
I have recently come across the following expression:
(они) попрали даже то, что ими диктуется о смысле жизни. (they) trampled even what they dictated about the meaning of life.
It made me wonder: ...
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1
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Do indirect objects induce CED effects?
I'd like to ask those of you who speak English as a first language whether indirect objects induce CED effects (cf. Huang).
Consider:
Of which boy did John send [a letter] [to every friend _]?
Of ...
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3
votes
1
answer
236
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What is HMC in generative grammar?
I'm currently reading a Ph.D. thesis concerning the structure of English adjectives. These generative trees are used to illustrate the structure of the phrase "someone tall". The author ...
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1
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2
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Why is head movement subsumed to PF operation
It is assumed that head movement is a syntactic operation formulated by the main framework that treats head movement as a PF operation (as suggested by Chomsky 2001) and not in the narrow syntax. Also ...
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2
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0
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133
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How can I understand "remnant movement" in English heavy-NP shift construction
Kayne 2003 mentions that there exists remnant movement in English. As background, note:
I predicted that John would marry Susan, and marry Susan/her/*Ann he will.
The argument(s) in the preposed VP ...
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3
votes
0
answers
70
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syntactic analysis under Split INFL Hypothesis
I'm a beginner in linguistics, and so here is my problem under the early theory of Split INFL Hypothesis (Pollock, 1989; Belletti, 1990; Haegeman, 1994).
Here are the sentences.
a.They must have been ...
- 31
2
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0
answers
55
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What is the difference between move and adjoin approach?
In Generative grammar, when it comes to the theories of "move" and "adjoin", I am often confused with the usages of these two different approaches.
My understanding is that for ...
- 643
2
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1
answer
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Difference between the Merge postion and the base position
I was reading this analysis of the derivation below. And I wasn't familiar with the terminology "original Merge position." Is it just like "the base position"? Here is the sentence ...
- 175
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0
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Why is the PP, according to this derivation, directly moved from the lower (farther) DP, not the nearer one?
The sentence being parsed:
De CHOMSKY varios libros han ganado premios internacionales, no de Trotsky.
of Chomsky several books have won awards international-PL, not of Trotsky
Why is the PP on top ...
- 175
0
votes
1
answer
98
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Why two appearances of the past participle "ganado" in this derivation?
The sentence being parsed:
De CHOMSKY varios libros han ganado premios internacionales, no de Trotsky.
of Chomsky several books have won awards international-PL, not of Trotsky
Could someone please ...
- 175
0
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2
answers
89
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Do any languages treat "locative" words as more than suffixes or prepositions?
I am working on a conlang and wondering if there is any different way to deal with these "locative" words than either prepositions or prefixes/suffixes. That is, words like "in", &...
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2
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1
answer
133
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Textbook: “grammar behaves as if something is left behind after movement” — How so?
From An Introduction to Language and Linguistics by Fasold and Connor-Linton, on auxiliary movement:
It may seem strange that movement is done in two steps, copying and deletion of the original, ...
4
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1
answer
266
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Is Affix Hopping Still a Thing?
Tense affixes used to be analysed to have moved downwards from T to V in English.
Is this analysis still current? Do minimalists still analyse it like this?
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2
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1
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Wh-movement Question
For wh-movements, I always think of what the sentence would have looked like if it wasn't a question (e.g. for sentence "which promise did he not keep?", I would think that the original ...
2
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1
answer
535
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Floating quantifiers in X-bar theory: "the men all have gone"
In chapter 9 of Syntax: A generative Introduction (2nd ed), Carnie shows that we can solve some problems by generating subjects in Spec of VP and letting them move to Spec of TP. In the first ...
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2
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1
answer
142
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How do movement-based theories account for extraposition?
I'm looking at this example of Extraposition from Wikipedia:
Then under Theoretical Accounts (of discontinuity in general) it is written that "[m]odern theories of transformational grammar ... assume ...
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2
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Allowed surface locations of [+wh] phrases apparently depend on semantics—if so, how and why?
Consider
Harvey's machine can resemble a human completely or not at all.
1a) ... The extent to which it resembles a human is determined by its software.
1b) ... To which extent it resembles a human ...
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1
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What would English sound like if the Normans were Spanish? [closed]
In 1066, a group of French soldiers entered Britain. They spread French with them, and French became the language of nobility. In fact, 30% of our words are French. How would our English be different ...
- 1,559
6
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1
answer
710
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V to T movement in German
Consider the the embedded clause "du Schach gespielt hast" in this sentence
Ich glaube dass du Schach gespielt hast.
I think that you chess played have
‘I think that you have ...
user31981
3
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2
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210
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Does a null-subject language always have to satisfy EPP?
I am analyzing Latin word order. As in many other languages, most Latin sentences begin with the subject, but I've noticed quite a few that have many complements and adjuncts and then end with the ...
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366
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Can a TG generate sentences which a CFG cannot generate?
TG is transformational grammar. CFG is context free grammar. A TG includes a CFG, and if you remove the transformations from a TG, what is left is a CFG, at least in my understanding of classical TG ...
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6
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1
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317
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Is 'raising' an outdated concept in modern linguistics?
Here's a paragraph from this EFL Magazine article "SUBJECT RAISING: DO YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW?" (2015):
Not long ago, most linguists believed there really was a set of processes in our brains ...
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2
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272
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Question on move operation
I'm learning about minimalism at the moment. I'm not sure if I understand the move operation.
I think I understand that in English the move operation takes place when you want to formulate a question....
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158
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Head to head movement (V to T) in Haitian Creole
Bouki pa konnen Boukinet
(S) (NEG) (V) (O)
Why is there no V-T raising in this example? Is it because there is no adverb?
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1
vote
1
answer
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What is the difference between successive-cyclic wh-movement and long-distance wh-movement?
I am concerned with movement spanning the barrier between two clauses, such as:
What did John say [CP that Mary will buy __]?
or
What did John say [CP will Mary buy __]? //with the same meaning as
...
2
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1
answer
85
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What languages have extraction markers?
I'm looking for languages that have extraction markers or wh-agreement markers like those cited in Chung (1994) in Chamorro below:
The example shows wh-agreement morphology on the verb when the ...
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2
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How do contractions work in syntactic movement?
Specifically when the surface structure uncontracted would be ungrammatical. Eg: "Don't turtles live forever?" (Do turtles not live forever/*Do not turtles live forever).
EDIT - Sorry if it's broad ...
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1
vote
1
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259
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Why do 'wonder' and 'think' act differently in wh-movement?
For instance:
Object moving:
Who do you think that John saw t? (correct)
*Who do you wonder that John saw t? (incorrect)
Subject moving:
Who do you think t saw John? (correct)
*Who do you wonder t ...
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1
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Is the V-T movement possible in English?
To clarify: V-T movement would be a type of movement of the V head (verb phrase) to I (or T) head (inflection phrase). Some languages, like French, allow for this movement. But during my syntax ...
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4
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2
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201
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X-bar theory without movement
Are there any theories out there that use X-bar theory but deny movement (like Dependency Syntax can)?
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0
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158
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What is the difference between Travis' head movement constraint and Rizzi's relativized minimality?
What is the difference between the head movement constraint of Travis (1984), and the relativized minimality of Rizzi (1990)?
1
vote
1
answer
445
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Restrictions on Wh-movement
I know that for wh-movement out of a non-root CP successive cyclic movement is needed, so moving to spec-CP of the lower CP and then from there to the root-CP, but what's the specific restriction on ...
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4
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1
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Syntax: VP subject internal null V head from Carnie's book
I'm going to try to ask this question in a way it doesn't look like a homework assignment, which is not, because previous message was classified off-topic.
I'm reading Carnie's book, and he just ...
- 61
3
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0
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63
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Movement and Spell-Out of Heads
Generally, DPs need to move to certain positions or configurations in order to check for case features (among other things) and allow spell-out. For example, raising predicates raise the subject of an ...
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0
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The Minimalist Program and Features
In MP, constituents move as a last resort in order to get certain features checked. For example, subjects in English move from within the predicate of a sentence to SpecIP in order to get its strong ...
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1
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133
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Is v-spec Specific for agent? If so, How to Solve This Problem?
In my syntax classes, I learnt that v-spec is specific for agent role. The thing is, I came across a structure in the resource below:
Radford, A. (2004). Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the Structure ...
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4
votes
2
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556
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On the Analysis of Tough-Movement
Tough-movement was said to involve object-to-subject movement back in the day. The object of the embedded clause is raised to the matrix clause:
Mary1 is tough to please t1
Later, the analysis of ...
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2
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0
answers
171
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What features cause Head Movement?
Suppose a head, T, moves to C. In the minimalist program, what features cause the movement of that head? I've been looking at literature on head movement but all I can find is papers on arguments for ...
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Passive Imperatives
The optional subject of an imperative is usually the second person pronoun. I've found something quite peculiar in Malay, where the utterance is an imperative and is passive but the subject is not the ...
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What is A-movement ? Can I find a short essay that can explain it?
I have been trying to get a summarized idea about A-movement.
I wish you could help me out with this .
Thanks
1
vote
1
answer
475
views
Head to head movement
Let's assume that in a head-final language like Turkic ones In complement clauses embedded clause is a TP, the verb occupies T position and the subject Spec-TP. Let's also assume that we have an ...
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2
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1
answer
195
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A better understanding of Verb Second
Verb second is the phenomenon in which the finite verb is preceded by exactly one constituent. Not all languages have verb second, though, as can be seen here. The only thing I do not understand is ...
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201
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Hypotheses for floating quantifier's positions in generative grammar
Regarding the floating quantifiers' theory on external argument's movement.
These data raises two different problems:
a) The dogs ALL should have been petted.
b) *The dogs should have been ALL ...
2
votes
1
answer
221
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Why doesn't the subject prevent WH- extraction of an internal argument?
I think this is a very basic question.
Whom will you invite?
Why doesn't the subject you block the movement of whom?
I'll try an answer: the movement of whom is not an A-movement because it isn'...
13
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4
answers
817
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Ontological status of syntactic transformations
Syntactic theories in the generative tradition involve transformations, i.e. movement of constituents, between deep structure and surface structure. What is actually meant by this? Is it intended as a ...
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