Rolf Noyer

Movement Operations after Syntax

We develop a theory of movement operations that occur after the syntactic derivation, in the PF component, within the framework of Distributed Morphology.The theory is an extension of what was called Morphological Merger in Marantz 1984 and subsequent work.A primary result is that the locality properties of a Merger operation are determined by the stage in the derivation at which the operation takes place: specifically, Merger that takes place before Vocabulary Insertion, on hierarchical structures, differs from Merger that takes place postVocabulary Insertion/linearization.Specific predictions of the model are tested in numerous case studies.Analyses showing the interaction of syntactic movement, PF movement, and rescue operations are provided as well, including a treatment of Englishdo-support.

Clitic sequences in Nunggubuyu and PF convergence

Although X0 movement places clitics within sentences,ordering within cliticclusters must be readjusted at PFto conform to nonsyntactic orderingrequirements. This paper addressesexactly how the conflicting demands ofsyntactic ordering and purely morphologicalordering are mediated, with datafrom Nunggubuyu (Australia, documented byHeath (1980, 1982, 1984)). Twomechanisms are proposed. First, a pre-Spell-Outdeletion of features by means ofImpoverishment rules (Bonet 1991, 1995) bleedsthe insertion of certain clitics.Impoverishment rules also feed and bleed oneanother, giving rise to complexsurface patterns. Second, clitics which surviveImpoverishment must move inMorphology from their abstract (syntactic)position to conform with surfaceordering restrictions. Heath formalized thesemovements as Affix Hoppingtransformations, but this paper shows thatHopping is always local, and can thusbe modelled as an instance of MorphologicalMerger (Marantz 1988). Whereclitic sequences cannot be properly reorderedby local movements, clitic deletionapplies as a Last Resort to allow PFconvergence. The proposed localityrestriction explains a battery of seeminglyunrelated clitic deletions in aprincipled way.

Generative metrics and Old French octosyllabic verse

Both Old French meters and their Modern French descendants are usually thought to lack the internal binary constituent structure of, say, English or German iambic verse. In this article, however, an underlying iambic structure for the Old French octosyllable is established through quantitative analysis of a large corpus of texts written from c. 975 to 1180 (42 distinct works, including over 22,000 lines). Because no texts conform absolutely to the grammar of English iambic verse (Halle & Keyser, 1971; Kiparsky, 1977), certain measures are proposed for the degree to which a sample deviates from the iambic pattern; these values are then compared with the (chance) deviation of normal Old French prose. A significant correlation emerges between these measures and date of composition, author, and genre: early texts are almost perfectly iambic, and late 12th-century texts approach, but do not reach, chance levels. It is concluded that the grammar of meter used by Old French authors underwent a gradual change during the 12th century, a change comparable to more familiar phonological and syntactic changes. Historians of French literature have long debated to what extent word accent plays a role in Old French verse. According to the predominant view, represented in handbooks such as Tobler (1894), word accent is relevant only in line-final position (and, in lines with obligatory medial caesura, also in hemistich-final position). For example, in the Old French octosyllable discussed in this article, a well-formed line consists of eight syllables, the last of which must be stressed and may be followed by an extra, uncounted stressless syllable (stressed syllables are italicized): (1) ‘Dame’, dit Brengvein, ‘morte sui. Mar vi l’u re que vus cu nui, E vuse Tristran vos0tr [e] ami! Tut mun païs pur vusguerpi, E pus, pur vostre fol curage, Perdi, dame, mun puce lage.’ (TristanD 2–6) I would like to thank David Embick, Anthony Kroch, Donald Ringe, and Beatrice Santorini, as well as three anonymous reviewers, for many helpful comments. Language Variation and Change, 14 (2002), 119–171. Printed in the U.S.A.