Gert: Created page with " So far, we have only looked at sentences with Subject-Verb-Complement(s) order. However, under certain circumstances English also permits sentences where some constituent th..."

2017-06-13T19:59:43Z

Created page with " So far, we have only looked at sentences with Subject-Verb-Complement(s) order. However, under certain circumstances English also permits sentences where some constituent th..."

New page

So far, we have only looked at sentences with Subject-Verb-Complement(s) order. However, under certain circumstances English also permits sentences where some constituent that normally appears after the subject appears before it. Here are some examples, with the name of the construction:

'''Polar interrogative clauses'''

Did Lilly dance? 
Has Lilly been dancing?

'''Topicalization clauses'''

Lilly Fido likes. 
Lilly I think that Fido was speaking to.

'''Non-subject Wh-interrogative main clauses'''

Who does Fido like? 
Who do you think that Fido was speaking to?

'''Non-subject Wh-interrogative subordinate clauses'''

I asked who Fido likes? 
I asked who you think that Fido was speaking to?

Even though the following clauses display no overt displacement, they are both interrogative clauses and should therefore be analyzed together with the interrogative clauses above.

'''Subject Wh-interrogative clauses'''

Who likes Fido. 
Who thinks that Fido was speaking to Lilly.

'''Polar interrogative subordinate clauses'''

I asked whether Fido likes Lilly 
I asked whether you think that Fido was speaking to Lilly.

== Necessary additions to the grammar ==

In order to analyze all the sentence types above, we need to add only 3 features, 2 grammatical rules, and a number of principles to the previous grammar:

# The three new features

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Feature !! Value type!! Function of the feature
|-
| INV(erted) || ''boolean'' || Is the verb inverted (before the subject) or not?
|-
| WH || ''list(param)'' || List of the Wh-parameters a sign contains.
|-
| SLASH || ''list(loc)'' || List of the gaps a sign contains.
|-
|}

The extended architecture of signs therefore looks as follows:

(24) on p. 19

Constraint-based Syntax 2: Week 7 - Revision history

Gert: Created page with " So far, we have only looked at sentences with Subject-Verb-Complement(s) order. However, under certain circumstances English also permits sentences where some constituent th..."