Overt Pro ronoun Subjects of f In Infinitival Cla lauses in in - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2 Overt Pro ronoun Subjects of f In Infinitival Cla lauses in in Gã Gã Deborah Naa Adorkor Allotey May 31 st , 2020 Graduate Linguistics Program: French Studies Dept .

2 In Introduction n Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

3 The he ne need for r PRO PRO ❖ English non-finite clauses appear to lack a subject. (1)a. Cindy i remembered [PRO i to buy a book] (1)b. Cindy persuaded Mark i [PRO i to buy a book ] ❖ Infinitival subjects need to be null for (1a,b) to be grammatical ❖ PRO (Chomsky 1981) a null DP category simultaneously anaphoric and pronominal offers a principled solution to the EPP and theta criterion Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

ist: G ã ’s Overt Plot Plot Twis vert Pro Pronouns 4 In Gã (Kwa group of the Niger-Congo language family), there is a full overt pronoun where we expect a PRO: (2) a. Mii ₖ tao ma ma ₖ na bo 1.SG want 1.S .SG see.INF. you ‘I want to see you’ (2) b. *Mii tao ø na bo 1.SG want [PRO] see.INF. you ‘I want to see you’ (2b) is ungrammatical because of the absence of the overt pronoun ma ma. Overt pronoun is obligatory in the embedded infinitival construction. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

5 My y arg argument: The goal of this talk is to show that the overt pronouns in infinitival predicates of Gã are the lexical counterparts of PRO in subject position. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

6 Outline of f Talk Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

7 Ro Road admap ❖ Brief background on Gã ❖ Arguments for G ã’s overt PRO ❖ Sketching a hypothesis for G ã’s overt PRO ❖ Summary and Conclusions Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

8 The Gã Language Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

Gã ❖ Kwa sub-group of the Niger-Congo family (Williamson 1989) ❖ Spoken in south-east Ghana ❖ >600,000 people L1 speakers (Lewis 2015) ❖ Non pro drop ❖ Tonal language : High, mid, low ❖ SVO basic word order Overt Pro ronoun Su Subje jects cts of Infin nfinit itiv ival l Cl Clau auses in n Gã Gã

10 Cro ross-linguistic evidence fo for Overt PRO PRO Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

11 (3) A ₖ t ʃ oro m ₖ ihu gi [Igbo] 1.SG want 1.SG see.INF you ‘I want to see you’ (4) Me ₖ di be m ₖ -akpo we [Ewe] 1.SG want to 1.SG-see.INF you ‘I want to see you’ (5) Mi ₖ p ɛ s ɛɛ mi ₖ hu wo [Akan] 1.SG want that 1.SG see.INF you ‘I want to see you' Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

12 (6)Decidiu ir ele ao mercado [European Portuguese] decided to-go he.NOM to-the market ‘He ₖ decided for it to be the case that he ₖ goes to the market’ (Barbosa, 2016) (7) Pedro ₖ quer [ele ₖ chegar infcedo] [Brazilian Portuguese] Peter wants [he.NOM arrive.INF early] ‘Peter wants to arrive early. (Corlaban, 2018) [Spanish] (8) Juan ₖ prometió a su profesor [hacer él ₖ los deberes] John promised to his teacher [do.INF he.NOM the homework] ‘John promised his teacher to do the homework by himself.’ (Corlaban, 2018) Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

13 Pre revious analyses of f Overt t PRO PRO Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

14 For Gã Dakubu (2004) & Campbell (2017) : Overt PRO is a subjunctive subject embedded under a matrix volitional verb Korsah (p.c): Overt PRO is an agreement marker agreeing with matrix subject Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

15 Cross-linguistically Herbeck (2015) & Barbosa (2016): Overt PRO – interpretable, externally merged D head with variable phi-features in T. Szabolcsi (2009): Long Distance Agree Hypothesis (LDA) Satik (2019): Left-periphery bound pronoun Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

16 Overt PRO in in Gã: : Evidence and Arg rgumentation Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

17 Prop Pr opert rties of of G ã’s Overt vert PRO PRO 1. 1. Must ust be e overt 2. 2. Must ust be e a pronoun 3. Must 3. ust be e co co-index exed with th matri rix argument 4. 4. Must ust be be C co command nded 5. 5. No No long-distance ante ntecedent 6. 6. Slo Sloppy rea eadin ing g onl nly 7. Bo 7. Bound Varia riable 8. 8. Spe Spec TP P of em embed clause Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

The he embedded pr pron onoun must st be be overt vert 18 Unlike PRO, the ma pronoun cannot be silent. (9) Dida ₖ sum ɔ - ɔɔ ni *(e ₖ ) na bo Father like-NEG C 3.SG see.INF you ‘Father is reluctant to see you’ (10) Mii ₖ tao ni *(ma ₖ ) na bo 1.SG want C 1 .SG see.INF. you ‘I want to see you’ If the embedded pronominal is omitted from these sentences, they are rendered ungrammatical. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

19 The he embedded pron pronoun must ust be be a a pro pronoun The ma pronoun position does not permit lexical nouns in the embedded infinitival clause. (11) a. E ₖ / Ameele ₖ kai ni e ₖ -he wolo 3.SG /Ameele remember C 3.SG-buy book ‘ Ameele remembered to buy a book’ b. *Ameele ₖ kai ni Ameele ₖ -he wolo Ameele remember C Ameele-buy book c. *E ₖ kai ni Ameele ₖ -he wolo 3.SG remember C Ameele-buy book Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

20 The he embedded pron pronoun must ust be be co co-indexed The embedded ma pronoun must be co-indexed with a matrix argument. (12) Mi ₖ kai ni ma ₖ he wolo 1.SG remember C 1.SG buy.INF book ‘I remembered to buy a book’ (13) Mi wa Ama ₖ ni e ₖ -ya skul 1.SG help Ama C 3.SG-go.INF school ‘I helped Ama to go to school’. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

Oblig Obligato tory Prop operties The he Ma Ma Pron onoun 21 Cont ontroll lled PRO ✓ ✓ Mus Must t be e co co-index exed ✓ ✓ Subj bject t Con ontr trol ✓ ✓ Obje bject Con ontr trol Mus Must t be e C-commanded Lon ong dis ista tance ante antecedent Slo loppy rea reading only nly Bou ound Vari Variable Spe pec TP P of em embe bed clause Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

The embedded pr pron onoun must st be be c-co commanded 22 Landau (2013) & Hornstein (1999) :PRO must be c- commanded. Guess what? The ma pronoun too. (14) [Jojo ₖ gbek ɛ bii l ɛ ] ₗ hi ɛ kpano ni ame * ₖ / ₗ sha ts ɛ nsii l ɛ Jojo children DET forgot C 3.PL wash.INF dishes DET Jojo’s children forgot to wash the dishes.’ (15) [Gbek ɛ bii ₖ l ɛ papa] ₗ kai ni e * ₖ / ₗ -he woji l ɛ Children DET father remembered C 3.SG-buy INF books DET ‘The children’s father remembered to buy the book’ The embedded infinitival subject pronoun must be co- referent with the possessive phrase and not the possessor. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

Obligatory Oblig Prop operti ties The he Ma Ma Pron onoun 23 Con ontroll lled PRO ✓ ✓ Must Mus t be e co co-index exed ✓ ✓ Subj bject t Con ontr trol ✓ ✓ Obje bject Con ontr trol ✓ ✓ Mus Must t be e C-commanded Lon ong dis ista tance ante antecedent Slo loppy rea reading only nly Bou ound Vari Variable Spe pec TP P of em embe bed clause Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

24 Long dista Lon distance bin binding of the the embedded pron pronoun is is not not po poss ssible The subject of the embedded clause must pick its antecedent in the immediately preceding clause. (16) Aku ₖ k ɛɛ ak ɛ e ₗ -tao ni e * ₖ / ₗ -ya skul gbiko Aku said C 3.SG-want.INF C 3.SG-go.INF school day A ‘ Aku said she wants to go to school one day’ (17) Mi ₖ k ɛɛ ak ɛ Debo ₗ hiekpano ni e ₗ /*ma ₖ he wolol ɛ 1.SG say C Debo forgot C 3.SG/*1.SG buy book ‘I said Debo forgot to buy the book’. Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

Obligato Oblig tory Prop operti ties The he Ma Ma Pron onoun 25 Cont ontroll lled PRO ✓ ✓ Mus Must t be e co co-index exed ✓ ✓ Subj bject t Con ontr trol ✓ ✓ Obje bject Con ontr trol ✓ ✓ Mus Must t be e C-commanded ✗ ✗ Lon ong dis ista tance ante antecedent Slo loppy rea reading only nly Bou ound Vari Variable Spe pec TP P of em embe bed clause Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã

The he ma a pro pronoun mus ust t be be co cons nstrued slop sloppy 26 under elli und llipsi sis English elided VPs can be interpreted in at least two ways : (18) John scratched his arm and Bob did too a) a) Stric trict rea reading: John ₖ scratched his ₖ arm and Bob ₗ [scratched his ₖ arm] too b) Slo loppy y rea reading: : John ₖ scratched his ₖ arm and Bob ₗ [scratched his ₗ arm] too Overt Pronoun Subjects of Infinitival Clauses in Gã