How regular a pattern in these labyrinths of constructions! Frank Van Eynde University of Leuven HeadLex 2016 University of Warsaw July 25 – 29, 2016
T HE B IG M ESS C ONSTRUCTION (1) a. How regular a pattern it turned out to be! b. It’s so good a bargain I can’t resist buying it. Contrast with a regular pattern and a very good bargain . Bolinger (1972), Berman (1974), Zwicky (1995), Ginzburg & Sag (2000), Kennedy & Merchant (2000), Van Eynde (2007), Kim & Sells (2011), Kay & Sag (2012), Arnold & Sadler (2014) 1 / 47
T HE B INOMINAL NP C ONSTRUCTION (2) a. Let us examine this labyrinth of a construction . b. She had a skullcracker of a headache . Contrast with an employee of a Japanese company . Napoli (1989), Aarts (1998), Bennis, Corver & Den Dikken (1998), Foolen (2004), Keizer (2007), Kim & Sells (2014) 2 / 47
W HY BOTHER ? However unusual they are, idiosyncratic constructions are never entirely exceptional. Being part of the grammar, they are expected to share properties with more regular constructions as well. The purpose of the talk is to provide an analysis of the BMC and the BNPC which captures both their regular and their exceptional properties. For that purpose I employ the framework of constructivist HPSG . Sag (1997), Ginzburg & Sag (2000) 3 / 47
O UTLINE 1. basics of HPSG 2. the simple noun phrase 3. the adjectival phrase 4. a bidimensional hierarchy of phrases 5. the big mess construction 6. the binominal NP construction 7. conclusion 4 / 47
1. B ASICS OF HPSG � � list ( form ) FORM (3) sign : synsem SYNSEM � � category CATEGORY (4) synsem : semantic-object CONTENT HEAD part-of-speech list ( synsem ) SUBJ (5) category : COMPS list ( synsem ) MARKING marking (6) verb : [ VFORM vform ] (7) noun : [ CASE case ] 5 / 47
2 3 sign D E 6 7 likes FORM 6 7 6 7 6 7 2 3 synsem 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 category 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 " # 7 6 verb 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 HEAD 6 7 6 6 7 7 VFORM finite 6 7 6 6 7 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 * " # + 7 6 7 noun 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 6 7 7 SUBJ CATEGORY i 6 7 6 7 6 CASE nom 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 6 7 7 * " # + 6 SYNSEM 7 noun 6 6 7 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 COMPS 6 7 j 6 7 6 CASE acc 7 6 7 6 6 7 7 6 7 6 4 5 7 6 7 6 7 MARKING unmarked 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 state-of-affairs 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 2 3 6 7 6 like-rel 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 CONTENT 7 6 6 7 7 LIKER i 6 6 7 7 NUCLEUS 6 6 7 7 6 7 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 LIKED j 5 6 / 47
P HRASES sign lex-sign phrase headed-phr non-headed-phr (8) phrase : [ DAUGHTERS nelist ( sign )] (9) headed-phr : [ HEAD - DTR sign ] Head Feature Principle (an implicational constraint) � � SYNSEM | CAT | HEAD part-of-speech 1 (10) headed-phr ⇒ HEAD - DTR | SYNSEM | CAT | HEAD 1 7 / 47
2. T HE SIMPLE NOUN PHRASE Co-occurrence restrictions within the noun phrase (11) a. that/*those woman b. those/*that women (12) a. a house/*houses/*milk b. much beer/*house/*houses (13) una bella donna a. SG . FEM beautiful. SG . FEM woman. SG . FEM ‘a beautiful woman’ (14) a. old red houses, responsible young drivers b. * that my car, each a bike c. all my papers, what a big house 8 / 47
A HIERARCHY OF HEADED PHRASES headed-phr head-argument-phr head-adjunct-phr head-subj-phr head-comps-phr ... head-functor-phr ... Heads lexically select their arguments, but not their adjuncts. Functors lexically select their head sister. Van Eynde (1998, 2003, 2006), Allegranza (1998, 2007), Kim & Sells (2011), Sag (2012) 9 / 47
F UNCTOR - DRIVEN SELECTION (15) part-of-speech : [ SELECT synsem-or-none ] synsem-or-none synsem none (16) head-functor-phr ⇒ � � � � SYNSEM | CAT | HEAD | SELECT , 2 sign DTRS 1 � � 1 synsem HEAD - DTR 2 SYNSEM 10 / 47
A N EXAMPLE bella selects a singular feminine nominal, and so does molto bella N 1 N 1 ] Adj[ SELECT donna Adv Adj[ SELECT N[ sing, fem ]] 1 molto bella that selects a singular noun a selects a singular count noun 11 / 47
M ARKING marking unmarked marked Common nouns and adjectives are unmarked. Proper nouns, pronouns and determiners are marked. (17) head-argument-phr ⇒ � � SYNSEM | CAT | MARKING 1 marking HEAD - DTR | SYNSEM | CAT | MARKING 1 (18) head-adjunct-phr ⇒ 1 marking SYNSEM | CAT | MARKING � � � � SYNSEM | CAT | MARKING , 2 DTRS 1 HEAD - DTR 2 sign 12 / 47
A N EXAMPLE 2 marked ] N[ MRKG D[ MRKG 2 ] N[ MRKG 1 unmarked ] 1 ] those Adj[ MRKG N[ MRKG unmarked ] long bridges � � HEAD noun HEAD | SELECT | CAT MRKG unmarked (19) MRKG unmarked � � HEAD noun HEAD | SELECT | CAT MRKG unmarked (20) MRKG marked 13 / 47
A NOTHER EXAMPLE (21) die uns unbekannte Frauen the us unknown women ‘the women unknown to us’ 1 unmarked ] N[ MRKG Adj[ MRKG 1 ] N[ MRKG unmarked ] N[ MRKG marked ] Adj[ MRKG 1 ] Frauen uns unbekannte 14 / 47
I TERATIVE PROPAGATION 1 marked ] N[ MRKG N[ MRKG 1 ] N[ MRKG unmarked ] 1 ] N[ MRKG unmarked ] pages D[ MRKG a few (22) * Those a few pages (23) A few pages are/*is still missing. 15 / 47
P REDETERMINERS (24) a. All the/*some foreign students left the room. b. What a/*the mess it was! marking unmarked marked definite indefinite quant ... a ... 16 / 47
A N EXAMPLE � � HEAD noun HEAD | SELECT | CAT MRKG def ∨ unmarked (25) MRKG quant N[ MRKG 2 ] D[ MRKG 2 quant ] N[ MRKG 1 ] 1 def ] all D[ MRKG N[ MRKG unmarked ] the students 17 / 47
A NOTHER EXAMPLE (26) a. What a mess it was! b. What promise she had shown! � � HEAD noun HEAD | SELECT | CAT MRKG a ∨ unmarked (27) MRKG quant 2 ] N[ MRKG 2 quant ] 1 ] D[ MRKG N[ MRKG what D[ MRKG 1 a ] N[ MRKG unmarked ] a mess 18 / 47
3. T HE ADJECTIVAL PHRASE (28) It’s a very good bargain. 1 unmarked ] N[ MRKG Adj[ MRKG 1 ] N[ MRKG unmarked ] Adv[ MRKG 1 ] Adj[ MRKG unmarked ] bargain very good how has a MARKING value of type marked . (29) * A how serious problem is it? 19 / 47
I TERATIVE PROPAGATION (30) How ridiculously trivial a problem it turned out to be! 1 marked ] Adj[ MRKG 1 ] Adv[ MRKG Adj[ MRKG unm ] Adv[ MRKG 1 ] Adv[ MRKG unm ] trivial how ridiculously 20 / 47
T AKING STOCK ◮ Functors lexically select their head sister and leave a mark on the phrases to which they are adjoined. ◮ The lexical selection is a defining characteristic of the head-functor phrases. ◮ The marking is a defining characteristic of the head-adjunct phrases. ◮ Since head-functor-phr is a subtype of head-adjunct-phr , there may be adjuncts which do not lexically select their head sister. 21 / 47
4. A BIDIMENSIONAL HIERARCHY OF PHRASES phrase HEADEDNESS CLAUSALITY headed-phr non-headed-phr clause non-clause Multiple inheritance (Ginzburg & Sag (2000)) 22 / 47
N OMINALS phrase HEADEDNESS CLAUSALITY headed-phr clause nominal ... head-adj-phr np-int-mod np-int-pred � � CAT | HEAD noun (31) nominal ⇒ SYNSEM scope-object CONTENT � � index INDEX (32) scope-object : RESTR set ( fact ) 23 / 47
NP - INTERNAL MODIFICATION (33) red box (34) np-int-mod ⇒ 2 3 " # INDEX i SYNSEM | CONTENT S Σ 2 6 7 RESTR Σ 1 6 7 6 7 6 2 3 7 2 3 6 INDEX i 7 * + 6 7 4 SYNSEM | CONTENT 5 , 1 6 DTRS 6 7 7 “ ” 4 5 6 7 RESTR Σ 1 neset fact 6 7 6 7 6 7 2 3 6 7 " # 6 INDEX i 7 6 HEAD - DTR 4 SYNSEM | CONTENT 7 1 5 4 5 RESTR Σ 2 Pollard & Sag (1994) 24 / 47
NP - INTERNAL PREDICATION (35) the opera ‘Carmen’, actor James Franco (36) np-int-pred ⇒ 2 3 2 INDEX i 3 6 7 8 2 3 9 6 7 fact 6 7 6 7 > > 6 > > 7 7 6 > > 2 3 6 SYNSEM | CONTENT > 6 7 > 7 6 attr-rel 7 < = 6 6 7 7 6 RESTR Σ S 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 PROP | SOA | NUCL THEME i 6 7 6 6 7 7 6 7 > > 4 5 6 > > 7 4 5 4 5 > > ATTRIBUTE j 6 > > 7 : ; 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 2 2 3 3 7 CAT | HEAD | SELECT none 6 7 6 7 * + 2 3 6 6 6 7 7 7 INDEX j 5 , 1 6 DTRS 6 SYNSEM 6 7 7 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 CONTENT “ ” 4 5 6 4 4 5 7 RESTR neset fact 6 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 h i HEAD - DTR SYNSEM | CONTENT | INDEX i 1 Van Eynde (2015) 25 / 47
5. T HE B IG M ESS C ONSTRUCTION N 1 marked ] 2 marked ] Adj[ MRKG N[ MRKG Adv[ MRKG 1 ] Adj[ unmarked ] D[ MRKG 2 ] N[ unmarked ] how long a bridge how long is subsumed by head-functor-phr , and so is a bridge , but what about how long a bridge ? (37) how long a bridge vs. * long a bridge 26 / 47
M ULTIPLE INHERITANCE phrase HEADEDNESS CLAUSALITY headed-phr nominal head-adjunct-phr np-int-mod head-functor-phr ... big-mess-phr (38) We see even so occasional a philosophical scholar as Raleigh quoting Aquinas. (39) She is too hard a worker to be accused of shirking. Arnold & Sadler (2014) 27 / 47
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