Joachim Sabel

Scrambling in German and Japanese: Adjunction Versus Multiple Specifiers

This paper argues that short (clause-internal) scrambling to a pre-subject position has A-properties in Japanese but A!-properties in German, while long scrambling (scrambling across sentence boundaries) from finite clauses, which is possible in Japanese but not in German, has A!-properties throughout. It is shown that these differences between German and Japanese can be traced back to parametric variation of phrase structure and the parameterized properties of functional heads. Due to the properties of Agreement, sentences in Japanese may contain multiple (Agro- and Agrs-) specifiers whereas German does not allow for this. In Japanese, a scrambled element may be located in a Spec AgrP, i.e., an A- or L-related position, whereas scrambled NPs in German can only appear in an AgrP-adjoined (broadly-L-related) position, which only has A!-properties. Given our assumption that successive cyclic adjunction is generally impossible, elements in German may not be long scrambled because a scrambled element that is moved to an adjunction site inside an embedded clause may not move further. In Japanese, long distance scrambling out of finite CPs is possible since scrambling may proceed in a successive cyclic manner via embedded Spec-(AgrP) positions. Our analysis of the differences between German and Japanese scrambling provides us with an account of further contrasts between the two languages such as the existence of surprising asymmetries between German and Japanese remnant-movement phenomena, and the fact that, unlike German, Japanese freely allows wh-scrambling. Investigation of the properties of Japanese wh-movement also leads us to the formulation of the Wh-cluster Hypothesis, which implies that Japanese is an LF multiple wh-fronting language.

Topics in Oceanic morphosyntax

The Oceanic languages, a subgroup within the Austronesian language family, comprise at least 450 languages in the geographical area encompassing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The articles in this book deal with morphosyntactic properties related to sentence types and nominal expressions in under-explored and endangered Oceanic languages. These properties may vary within the family, they give rise to new empirical generalizations, and they illustrate properties that are relevant for theoretical developments in modern linguistic theory.

Noun-phrase conjunction in Austronesian languages: additive, inclusory and comitative strategies

This is an investigation of various types of NP conjunctive strategies in Austronesian languages, additive, inclusory and comitative strategies. The focus is on asymmetrical conjunction involved in the inclusory and comitative types; the aim is to delineate the syntactic constraints and semantic parameters on the use of these conjunctive constructions, as well as their pragmatic effects, including an analysis of the etymology of some of these conjunctive morphemes (comitative marker, noun ‘fellow’, verb ‘accompany, be with’).