Tal Siloni

The Lexicon-Syntax Parameter: Reflexivization and Other Arity Operations

We argue that crosslinguistic variation regarding verbal reflexivization is parametric, reflecting a broader lexicon-syntax parameter: arity operationsoperations on -roles, which affect the valence of a predicatecan apply in the lexicon or in the syntax. The significant empirical coverage of this parameter supports the view that the lexicon must be an active component of the grammar. The discussion focuses mainly on the formation of reflexive verbs. We argue that the prevailing view that reflexive verbs have an unaccusative derivation cannot be maintained. Rather, the reflexivization operation bundles a -role with an external -role, forming a combination that must merge externally. Next, we also briefly review other arity operations: (a) reciprocalization, (b) decausativization, and (c) saturation, which is involved in the formation of passives, middles, and impersonals. Variation in auxiliary selection, owing to the application of reflexivization or other arity operations, is independent of the lexicon-syntax parameter and follows under our approach from a structural accusative Case parameter.

Adjectival Constructs and Inalienable Constructions

Semitic nominal construct states, which express a genitival relation between a head noun and a noun phrase without the mediation of a (dummy) preposition (1), have received much attention in the recent generative literature ((1996), (1999), (1989), (1993), (1988), (1987), (1988), (1991), (1991), (1994), (1997), among others).

On participial relatives and complementizer D0 : a case study in Hebrew and French

A new facet of D0 is brought to light in this paper; its ability to act as the relative complementizer of participial clauses. Participial relatives in certain languages (e.g., Hebrew) are headed by a particle homophonous to the definite article. The particular behavior of these relatives and their cross-linguistic distribution indicate that this particle is a complementizer-like D0. Moreover, various considerations suggest that participial relatives in other languages (e.g., French), which do not show an overt element of this type, also contain an equivalent (null) D0. The participial clause in both cases is shown to be an AGRP which does not have an internally determined tense. Consequently, it is proposed that it is the presence or absence of tense that defines the choice between C0 and D0 as the relative complementizer. Finally, as participial relatives seem to involve an operator-variable chain, like regular relatives, the licensing of the variable in an apparently Caseless position is briefly discussed.

The theta system : argument structure at the interface

1. Introduction: The Theta System 2. The Linguistic Expression of Causation 3. The Content of Semantic Roles: Predicate-argument structure in language and cognition 4. Combine 5. In the Event of a Nominal 6. Lexicon Uniformity and the Causative Alternation 7. In Defense of the Non-causative Analysis of Anticausatives 8. Hidden Entries: A psycholinguistic study of derivational gaps 9. To Have the Empty Theta-role 10. Emission Verbs 11. Verbal Passives in English and Hebrew: A comparative study 12. An Event Semantics for the Theta System 13. Children Acquire Unaccusative and A-movement Very Early on

Hebrew Idioms: The Organization of the Lexical Component

The paper argues that the empirical domain of idioms can shed light on the architecture of the mental lexicon and the nature of its building blocks whether roots or words. A corpus-based study of the distribution of various diatheses in verb phrase idioms in Hebrew was conducted. Its results reveal an intriguing discrepancy between the behavior of unaccusatives, transitives and adjectival passives on the one hand and verbal passives one the other. The findings are straightforwardly accounted for if the lexicon includes actual verbs – words not merely roots – under which verb phrase idioms are stored as sub-entries.

Agrobject is not Agrparticiple

On the basis of empirical data from Romance and Semitic languages, this paper shows that contrary to widespread assumptions, the locus of participle agreement and that of object agreement (accusative Case checking) cannot be identical. Under an Agr-based approach, this means that two distinct agreement projections must be postuled. The paper further argues that the position of Agr o P is contingent upon the diathesis of the participle liable to appear in complex tenses. The paradigm of data is accounted for straightforwardly and without problems of overgeneration under a minimalist approach. Certain consequences fall out regarding the structural difference between active and passive participles, the behavior of object clitics and pronouns, and certain diachronic changes and dialectal variation

Verbal and Nominal Gerunds

Under the approach to syntactic nominalization defended in this work, a verb cannot incorporate into a noun following lexical insertion. N cannot host a syntactic affix that has a nominalizing function and consequently subcategorizes for a VP (chapter 3). In this sense, verbs cannot change their categorial specification. Hebrew event nominals have been shown to be purely nominal, although at first glance they seem to manifest some verbal properties (chapter 3).

Noun Raising and Genitival Relations

Traditionally the noun phrase has been structurally represented as an NP, the maximal projection of N, with the determiner in its specifier position (Jackendoff 1977, among others):

Semi-Relatives and Reduced Relatives

Several recent studies have proposed a principled explanation of why D is the head of the noun phrase (Szabolcsi 1987, 1989, Stowell 1989, 1991, Longobardi 1994). Somewhat simplified, their insight is that D determines the referential capacity of the nominal expression, which consequently is able to act as an argument. In this respect, Szabolcsi (1987, 1989) argues, D functionss on a par with the complementizer of sentential complements: each renders its complement (NP and IP, respectively) an expression that is able to bear a θ-role. In this chapter I discuss a novel facet of D, which supports the functional analogy between articles and complementizers: I claim that D can act as the relative complementizer of certain clausal structures.