Agreement, case assignment and nominal coordination
The topic of this dissertation is agreement and case assignment, with particular reference to conjoined noun phrases. The initial chapters look at the different possibilities available in such contexts, including agreement with the features of each individual conjunct, agreement with the features of only one conjunct, or agreement with features computed on the basis of those of the individual conjuncts but not necessarily possessed by them. We propose a way of handling all of these patterns with a single formal mechanism, later applying the same intuitions to the assignment (or non-assignment) of case values by a head to its dependents. Attempts are also made to explore in greater depth some of the factors that might influence the choice of alternative agreement configurations, as well as to extend the scope of the model which we elaborate as we go along to non-conjoined environments where variable agreement occurs. Special emphasis is laid throughout on fluctuations in agreement, either because the controller has mismatched attributes or because the syntactic structure and/or the semantic interpretation allow variation. The final conclusion is that a modular approach to grammar is best placed to deal with
Hristov, Bozhil Petrov
Linguistics ; Syntax ; agreement ; case assignment ; coordination ; Bulgarian ; English ; Serbian/Croatian
Agreement, case assignment and nominal coordination. The topic of this dissertation is agreement and case assignment, with particular reference to conjoined noun phrases. The initial chapters look at the different possibilities available in such contexts, including agreement with the features of each individual conjunct, agreement with the features of only one conjunct, or agreement with features computed on the basis of those of the individual conjuncts but not necessarily possessed by them. We propose a way of handling all of these patterns with a single formal mechanism, later applying the same intuitions to the assignment (or non-assignment) of case values by a head to its dependents. Attempts are also made to explore in greater depth some of the factors that might influence the choice of alternative agreement configurations, as well as to extend the scope of the model which we elaborate as we go along to non-conjoined environments where variable agreement occurs. Special emphasis is laid throughout on fluctuations in agreement, either because the controller has mismatched attributes or because the syntactic structure and/or the semantic interpretation allow variation. The final conclusion is that a modular approach to grammar is best placed to deal with
agreement case assignment nominal coordination topic agreement case assignment particular_reference conjoin noun_phrase initial look different possibility available context include agreement_feature individual agreement_feature agreement_feature compute basis individual necessarily possess them propose way handle pattern single formal mechanism later apply intuition assignment non assignment case value head dependent attempts also_make explore great_depth factor_might influence choice alternative agreement configuration well extend scope model elaborate along non environment variable agreement occur special_emphasis lay throughout fluctuation agreement either mismatch attribute syntactic_structure and semantic_interpretation allow variation final conclusion modular grammar best place deal