In:Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 16: Selected papers from the 47th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Newark, Delaware
Edited by Irene Vogel
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 16] 2020
► pp. 219–240
Split auxiliary selection with affected subjects in Old Majorcan Catalan
Published online: 21 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.16.14sal
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.16.14sal
Abstract
We aim to shed light on the split auxiliary selection found in Old Majorcan Catalan, in constructions where, instead of haver (‘have’), esser (‘be’) is used as the auxiliary verb for compound tenses, although just with persons 1 & 2; not only with unaccusative verbs, but also with transitive and unergative verbs. We claim that, in fact, these constructions have affected or undergoer subjects, derived from a lower position: at least, [Spec, ProcessP]. Hence, this system for auxiliary selection is mixed: both person-driven and event-driven. The Majorcan data provide evidence in favour of Ramchand’s (2008; 2018) decomposition of the vP, and for a nanosyntactic lexicalization of the auxiliaries: haver lexicalizes a chunk such as [Aux, i*], while esser lexicalizes only [Aux], in case a Person[+participant] head intervenes.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Previous accounts
- 3.Our provisional analysis: The initiator-undergoer chain
- 4.Fulfilled predictions
- 5.A mixed system of auxiliary selection: person-driven and event-driven
- 6.Final remarks
- 6.1A resultative construction?
- 6.2A nanosyntactic approach
Acknowledgements Notes References
References (52)
Alcover, Antoni M. 1903. “Questions de llengua y literatura catalana.” Bolletí del Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana 1:15.
Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. 1981. Gramàtica històrica catalana. València: Tres i Quatre (Biblioteca d’Estudis i Investigacions).
1994. Gramàtica de la llengua catalana: Descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica i diastràtica. Barcelona: Proa.
Bentley, Delia. 2016. “Split intransitivity.” In The Oxford Guide to Romance Languages, ed. by Adam Ledgeway, and Martin Maiden, Chapter 50. Oxford: OUP.
Bonet, Eulàlia, and Joan Mascaró. 2016. “Phase Theory and Prosodic Domains.” Bellaterra: CLT seminar (handout).
Bonet, Eulàlia, Lisa L. S. Cheng, Laura Downing, and Joan Mascaró. 2019. "(In)direct Reference in the Phonology-Syntax Interface under Phase Theory: A Response to “Modular PIC” (D’Alessandro and Scheer 2015)". Linguistic Inquiry 50(4): 751-777.
Caha, Pavel. 2009. “The Nanosyntax of Case”. Ph.D. thesis, University of Tromsø.
Cuervo, M.ª Cristina. 2008. “La alternancia causativa y su interacción con argumentos dativos.” Revista de Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada 46: 1.
D’Alessandro, Roberta, and Ian Roberts. 2010. “Past Participle Agreement in Abruzzese: Split Auxiliary Selection and the Null-Subject Parameter.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 28.
Fábregas, Antonio. 2007. “The Exhaustive Lexicalization Principle.” Nordlyd 34. University of Tromsø, 165–199.
. 2009. “An Argument for Phrasal Spell-Out: Indefinites and Interrogatives in Spanish.” Nordlyd 36 (1). University of Tromsø, 129–168.
Hale, Ken, and Samuel J. Keyser. 2002. Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press.
Harley, Heidi, and Elizabeth Ritter. 2002. “Person and Number in Pronouns: A Feature-Geometric Analysis.” Language 78: 484–526.
Jaque, Matías. 2014. “La expresión de la estatividad en español: Niveles de representación y grados de dinamicidad.” Ph.D. thesis, UAM, Madrid.
Kayne, Richard S. 1993. “Toward a Modular Theory of Auxliary Selection.” Studia Linguistica 47: 3–31.
Keller, Frank, and Antonella Sorace. 2003. “Gradient Auxiliary Selection and Impersonal Passivization in German: An Experimental Investigation.” Journal of Linguistics 39, 57–108.
Kiparsky, Paul. 1998. “Partitive Case and Aspect.” In The Projection of Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors, ed. by Miriam Butt, and Wilhelm Geuder. Stanford (California): CSLI.
Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. “Severing the External Argument from the Verb.” In Phrase Structure and the Lexicon, ed. by J. Rooryck, and L. Zaring, 109–138. Dordrecht: Kluver.
Larsson, Ida. 2015. “The have/be Alternation in Scandinavian – Perfects, Resultatives and Unaccusative Structure.” In , Auxiliary Selection Revisited. Gradience and Gradualness, ed. by R. Kailuweit, and M. Rosemeyer, 145–182. Berlín: Deruyter.
Legendre, Geraldine. 2010. “A Formal Typology of Person-Based Auxiliary Selection in Italo-Romance.” In Syntactic Variation: The Dialects of Italy, ed. by Roberta D’Alessandro, Adam Ledgeway, and Ian Roberts, 86–101. Cambridge: CUP.
Loporcaro, Michele. 1998. Sintassi comparata dell’accordo participiale romanzo. Torino: Rosemberg & Sellier.
Manzini, M. Rita, and Leonardo M. Savoia. 2007. A Unification of Morphology and Syntax: Studies in Romance and Albanian Dialects. Londres: Routedge.
Massanell, Mar .2017. Los atlas lingüísticos como fuente para estudios de sintaxis dialectal: El caso del Atles lingüístic del domini català (ALDC).” Verba 44: 271–315.
Mateu, Jaume. 2002. “Argument Structure. Relational Construal at She Syntax-Semantics Interface.” Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
. 2009. “Gradience and Auxiliary Selection in Old Catalan and Old Spanish.” In Historical syntax and linguistic theory, ed. by P. Crisma, and G. Longobardi, 176–193. Oxford: OUP.
Moll, Francesc de Borja. 1952 (2006). Gramàtica històrica catalana. València: Universitat de València.
Obrador, Bernat. 1906a. “Del ús dels verbs auxiliars catalans.” Actes del I Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana, tema VII. Barcelona: Estampa d’En Joaquim Horta.
. 1906b. “Resposta a l’esmena addicional de [Puig i Sais (1906)].” Actes del I Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana. Barcelona: Estampa d’En Joaquim Horta.
Puig i Sais, Armengol. 1906. “Esmena addicional (no acceptada pel ponent) a la conclusió III [de la ponència de B. Obrador].” Actes del I Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana. Barcelona: Estampa d’En Joaquim Horta.
. 2018. Situations and Syntactic Structures: Rethinking Auxiliaries and Order in English [Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 77]. MIT Press, 2018.
Ramos, J. Rafel. 2005. “Els auxiliars dels temps compostos en català medieval.” Caplletra 38: 179–209.
Rosselló, Joana. 2002. “El SV (I): El Verb i Arguments Verbals.” In Gramàtica del català contemporani, Vol. 2, ed. by Joan Solà, M. Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró, and Manuel Pérez Saldanya, 1853–1949. Barcelona: Empúries.
Salvà, Sebastià. 2015. “Concordança del participi i aspecte intern en el català de Mallorca”. final master thesis, màster interuniversitari de Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge (CCiL), Barcelona.
. 2017. “Past Participle Agreement in Majorcan Catalan: The Relevance of Inner Aspect.” Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 6:1, 53–75.
Silverstein, Michael. 1976. “Hierarchy of Features and Ergativity.” In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, ed. by Robert M. W. Dixon, 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
Sorace, Antonella. 2000. “Gradients in Auxiliary Selection with Intransitive Verbs.” Language 76: 859–890.
. 2004. “Gradience and Implications for Unaccusativity.” In The Unaccusativity Puzzle. Explorations of the Syntax-Lexicon Interface, ed. by A. Alexiadou, E. Anagnostopoulou, and M. Everaert. Oxford: OUP.
Starke, Michal. 2005. “Nanosyntax.” Seminar taught at CASTL, University of Tromsø.
. 2009. “Nanosyntax: A Short Prime to a New Approach to Language.” Norlyd 36 (1): University of Tromsø, 1–6.
