{"title":"Relative superlatives and Deg-raising","authors":"Blanca Croitor, I. Giurgea","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.2","url":null,"abstract":"We address the ongoing debate between raising and in-situ analyses of relative superlatives. We present some arguments in favor of the in-situ analysis of DP-internal relative superlatives: first, the in-situ analysis accounts straightforwardly for the use of the definite article; we show that a recent attempt to explain the use of THE under the raising analysis makes incorrect predictions. Secondly, there is evidence that only a sub-type of relative superlatives, that have certain peculiar properties, rely on raising; crucially, these superlatives lack the definite article. This divide among relative superlatives has first been proposed by Pancheva & Tomaszewicz (2012) for certain adnominal superlatives. We add another context which supports this divide — the predicative context, where relative superlatives which can only be interpreted by raising to the vicinity of the correlate can be found. Based on new data coming from Romanian, we show that these predicative superlatives have different properties fr...","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"411-442"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Middle English V2: Compatible with a North Germanic source?","authors":"J. Emonds","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.4","url":null,"abstract":"The new hypothesis that Middle English descends syntactically from Norse has been strongly contested by several specialists in ME syntax. One counterargument contends that ME Verb-Second patterns with Old English in sharing Verb-Third with OE but not Norse. The present paper argues that a Mainland Scandinavian adverb sa ‘so’, which appears after scene-setting adverbials (mostly PPs), is in SPEC(IP) and there blocks the common and expected UG order “PP — [IP subject — finite verb — …]” found in ME. When early Anglicized Norse lost this use of the sa adverbial, the UG order resurfaced in ME; this was not because of direct descent from OE.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"457-470"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.4","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Result states and repetitive adverbs","authors":"Anikó Csirmaz, Benjamin Slade","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.3","url":null,"abstract":"This paper considers some paradoxes that arise in connection with repetitive adverbials in English. We propose a simple syntactic structure of verbal predicates along the lines of Ramchand (2008) and show how the apparent paradoxes can be resolved with that structure and some straightforward assumptions. One observation is that repetitives behave differently with verbs taking affected subjects (like read) than with verbs taking non-affected subjects (like paint). Another observation is the fact that repetitives are not uniform in their behaviour with respect to resultatives. Once again, structural assumptions, specifically, distinct structural positions of the resultatives, account for this varied behaviour.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"443-455"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Two conjunctions are better than one","authors":"Moreno Mitrović, U. Sauerland","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.5","url":null,"abstract":"Across languages, the morpheme expressing conjunction frequently has other uses as well. Several linguists have attempted to unify all uses of conjunction morphemes under one general algebraic scheme. We argue in favor of a more limited unification and propose a universal decomposition of conjunction structures: We propose that there exist both a “nominal” e-type and “verbal” or “clausal” t-type junctor. Our account is substantiated with evidence from synchronic typology and diachrony. Our analysis hinges on a generalisation, that e-conjunctors, but crucially not t-conjunctors, may have non-conjunctional quantificational meanings. Historically, we invoke the same principle to explain the change in the conjunction grammar of Indo-European which uniformly abandoned the e- and adopted the t-level conjunctions across the board.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"471-494"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a cross-linguistic typology of marking polarity in embedded degree clauses","authors":"Julia Bacskai-Atkari","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.1","url":null,"abstract":"The article focuses on comparative complementisers in comparative clauses expressing inequality in various languages, with particular attention paid to their role as lexicalising negative polarity. I argue that the relevant property follows from degree semantics, in that the comparative subclause encodes the inequality of the degree expressed by a matrix clausal element and the one expressed by the comparative operator. Just like ordinary negation, this has to be encoded overtly; however, as it does not constitute an instance of genuine clausal negation, the property cannot be encoded by an operator, and hence must be realised on a functional head, which is either the complementiser or a separate polarity head.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"38 1","pages":"389-409"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Guest Editors’ note: The origins of the Budapest Linguistics Conference (BLINC) and introduction to the present issue","authors":"M. Hordós, M. Newson, Krisztina Szécsényi","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.4.0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"178 1","pages":"379-388"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.4.0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is Finnish topic prominent","authors":"Pauli Brattico","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.3.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.3.2","url":null,"abstract":"Finnish finite clause exhibits topic prominence in the sense that the preverbal subject position is occupied by the topic (for example, by the direct object topic), not necessarily by the grammatical subject. Three currently unexplained facts concerning the Finnish free word order phenomenon and topicalization are noted in this paper: subject-verb agreement interacts with word order; the preverbal “topic” position is not reserved exclusively for topics; and noun phrase (DP) arguments are also able to dislocate to the right edge of a (potentially very long) finite clause. A generalized morphosyntactic agreement mechanism that requires the presence of nominal phi-features inside the highest finite projection of a clause is posited to explain the link between agreement and word order. The problem with topicality is accounted for by assuming that the topic-focus mechanism operates outside of narrow syntax. Free word order and non-configurationality are argued to result from argument adjunction, not from movem...","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"299-330"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vowel length as evidence for a distinction between free and bound prefixes in Czech","authors":"Pavel Caha, M. Zíková","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.3.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.3.3","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that Czech verbal prefixes alternate between two states, roughly corresponding to the traditional notions ‘free’ and ‘bound’. The distinction, however, is not reflected in the separability of the prefix and the verb; it is reflected in vowel length. Main evidence for the claim is drawn from the way vowel length of adpositions is treated Czech internally and from a comparison to Norwegian. Theoretically, we implement the alternation as a phrasal movement of the prefix from a VP internal position (where the prefix behaves as bound) to a VP external position, drawing on Taraldsen’s (2000) proposal for Norwegian and Svenonius’s (2004b) account of prefixation in Slavic.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"331-377"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.3.3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identifying Arabic compounds other than the Synthetic Genitive Construction","authors":"A. R. Altakhaineh","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.3.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.3.1","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines types of compounds other than the Synthetic Genitive Construction (SGC) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Jordanian Arabic (JA), discussing the word class of the parts of the compound and identifying the head. The analysis reveals that there are four types of compounds in MSA, and three in JA. The Prep + Prep combination is missing from JA. I also argue that the word class of the parts of the compound of Arabic in general, and of MSA in particular, is not diverse. Regarding the head, I suggest that N + N compounds other than the SGC, Adj + Adj compounds and reduplicated compounds can be either semantically double-headed or headless","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"277-298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.3.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67635022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Null operators, ellipsis, and scrambling","authors":"Masanori Nakamura","doi":"10.1556/064.2016.63.2.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.2.2","url":null,"abstract":"Move is subject to phase-based locality, whereas Agree is not, a natural consequence of cyclic linearization. Then, null operator movement, having no impact on linearization, should be immune to certain phase-related effects. I show that this prediction is borne out, based on the interactions between (null operator) movement and ellipsis. Furthermore, I extend the present proposal to scrambling in Japanese. It turns out that the observed correlation between movement and ellipsis helps us choose among competing theories of scrambling. Specifically, theoretical as well as empirical considerations support an analysis of scrambling in Japanese as involving either null operator movement or PF movement.","PeriodicalId":54157,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hungarica","volume":"63 1","pages":"169-196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1556/064.2016.63.2.2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67634974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}