Ángel J. Gallego

A critique of Phase Extension, with a comparison to Phase Sliding

Abstract 1. Introduction Den Dikkens paper (henceforth DD) explores an interesting alternative to Chomskys conception of Phase Theory to account for different phenomena involving Predicate Inversion (PI). In particular, DD concentrates on cases of so-called copular, locative, and dative inversion (the respective instances in (1)): (1) a. The #1 best-seller in the country is this book. b. On the presidents desk lay this book. c. I gave my students this book.

A note on cognate objects: Cognation as doubling

This note considers some of the problems raised by so-called “cognate objects” in the light of Hale & Keyser’s (1993, 1997, 1998) analysis of unergative verbs, which involves incorporation of a noun occupying the internal argument position. Unless we assume that the cognate object is post-syntactically inserted in the internal argument position (which already contains a trace/copy left by the element undergoing incorporation), this element should not be licensed. I propose that this tension can be solved if the incorporating noun (or root) and the cognate object start off as part of the same syntactic object: a big NP/DP. From such perspective, cognation can be seen as a subcase of a more general phenomenon: doubling.

Reconsidering Subextraction: Evidence from Spanish

This paper argues that so-called subextraction (e.g., Who i has John seen a picture of t i ? ; cf. Corver 2006 for recent discussion) does not involve movement of a wh-phrase to a DP internal escape hatch position before reaching the CP layer. Instead, we claim that apparently subextracted wh-phrases are actually direct dependents of the verb after a process of reanalysis (or readjustment; cf. Chomsky 1977, Kayne 2002) applies. Our proposal rethinks an old (Bach & Horn 1976) idea, reframes it in modern terms and argues against the cyclic status of DPs (cf. Bruening 2009, Leu 2008, Ott 2008, and references therein), by leaning on new evidence from Spanish. The non-cyclic status of DPs is a fairly standard idea ever since clausal properties were assumed to hold for nominal domains (cf. Chomsky 1970, Brame 1982, Abney 1987, and much subsequent literature).

A phase-theoretic approach to cliticization in Romance

Abstract This paper puts forward an analysis of cliticization within the framework of phases (cf. Chomsky 2000 et seq.). In particular, it is argued that object clitics in Romance A-move as XPs to the v*P phase edge, adhering to standard locality constraints (the Phase Impenetrability Condition). The proposal is explored in the context of clitic climbing (and “restructuring”), which is related here to the existence of defective domains where the relevant Probe (v*) fails to assign Case to the Goal (the clitic). Finally, the possibility that semantic effects are associated to climbing (cf. Uriagereka 2002) is also considered, in line with the interpretation triggered by displacement processes of the object shift sort (cf. Chomsky 2001).

Predicados ligeros y valoración de rasgos

Este articulo explora la nocion de predicado ligero, utilizada por la teoria gramatical para discutir sobre fenomenos que pertenecen al ambito de la semantica lexica. El trabajo tiene tres objetivos: revisar para que tipo de categorias gramaticales (V, N, Adj, etc.) se han propuesto analisis (des)composicionales, reflexionar sobre la supuesta ‘debilidad semantica’ de los llamados predicados ligeros y proponer una explicacion formal (basada en el mecanismo de Acuerdo de Chomsky) de por que estos elementos deben combinarse con otros.

LA APLICACIÓN DE LA GRAMÁTICA EN EL AULA: RECURSOS DIDÁCTICOS CLÁSICOS Y MODERNOS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA GRAMÁTICA

En este trabajo introducimos una tipologia de ejercicios de gramatica que parte de la presentada en Bosque (2015b), a la que anadimos algunos tipos nuevos. Unos y otros se comparan aqui con los ejercicios que resultan mas habituales en los libros de texto de lengua castellana y catalana en Espana, asi como con los que suelen proponerse en los examenes de selectividad. Se explica en estas paginas que los ejercicios que tienen menor tradicion entre nosotros son precisamente los que mejor desarrollan la capacidad de los estudiantes para observar, argumentar, reflexionar y, en definitiva, comprender las estructuras gramaticales. Por el contrario, los que poseen mayor tradicion en nuestras aulas (especialmente los de etiquetado y los de amplificacion) son los que menos favorecen esas capacidades. En el trabajo se presta especial atencion a las competencias que cada tipo de ejercicio pretende potenciar, asi como a sus posibles desarrollos didacticos en el aula.