Predicate fronting in Yiddish and conditions on multiple copy Spell-Out

Diagnosing Predicate Fronting in Samoan

∗ James N. Collins, Stanford University, [email protected]. Acknowledgements: Thanks to Emily Sataua and Joey Zodiakal for their time as consultants. Data from these two consultants for this project was collected in 2013. Both consultants self-identify as speakers of American Samoa Samoan. Thanks also to Vince Schwenke-Enoka and Rev. Iakopo Leleimalefaga for additional judgements. Thanks to ...

Predicate Fronting and Constituent Order in Malagasy

This paper discusses how predicate-initial (VOS) order in Malagasy is derived, and the implications of this derivation for general theories of word order. Malagasy clauses are comprised of a predicate phrase followed by a constituent here called the TRIGGER, which occupies the specifier of an A’-position (provisionally labelled TopP). I argue against an analysis where TopP projects its specifie...

Understanding Cyclic Spell-Out

In Chomsky (1998) the interesting suggestion is made that syntactic structures may be phonetically interpreted in successive stages rather than at a single point, and that the input to occurrences of this “cyclic Spell-Out” process are phase constituents of type vP and CP. The cyclic Spell-Out/CSO hypothesis of the relation of syntax to phonology has been considerably influential since its intr...

Nominalization and Predicate-Fronting: Two Sources of Ergativity

In this paper we propose a unified account of ergativity in two unrelated languages with very different systems of marking grammatical relations. Both Chol (Mayan, Mexico) and Mẽbengokre (Jê, Brazil) have what appear to be aspect-based ergative splits. However, while in Mẽbengokre ergativity is found in verb stems which are formally nominal, ergativity in Chol is found in what can be shown to b...

The Multiple Spell-Out Hypothesis and the Phonological Component: Evidence from Greek