On extensions of completely simple semigroups by groups

An example of an extension of a completely simple semigroup U by a group H is given which cannot be embedded into the wreath product of U by H. On the other hand, every central extension of U by H is shown to be embeddable in the wreath product of U by H, and any extension of U by H is proved to be embeddable in a semidirect product of a completely simple semigroup V by H where the maximal subgroups of V are direct powers of those of U

The nanosyntax of Hungarian postpositions

This article considers evidence for a Nanosyntactic approach to language from Hungarian PPs. Hungarian postpositions can be divided into classes: those which take a complement without morphologically visible case (dressed postpositions), and those which take an oblique complement (naked postpositions). This paper argues that in narrow syntax, both types of postpositions subcategorize for a KP complement. The difference between the two classes is captured in terms of the amount of structure they spell out. Dressed postpositions spell out both material in the P-domain and K, thus no Case is needed or possible on the complement, while naked postpositions spell out only material in the P-domain but not K, therefore their complement needs case. It is shown that from the proposed lexical representations an empirically motivated and insightful analysis of Hungarian postpositions ensues, which elegantly captures the different word-order possibilities of the two classes. 1

El + verb complex predicates in Hungarian

This paper investigates the structure of complex predicates com- prising the verbal particle el- (`away') and a verb in Hungarian. I show that el- has different meaning contributions to the predication when combined with different types of verbs. I argue that despite the three seemingly unrelated meanings of el-, two uses involve the same lexical item. In these unifiable cases I analyze el- as a mea- sure function that can measure in both the spatial and the temporal domains

Foundations of generative linguistics

This paper gives a broad overview of the ideas underlying the Chomskyan approach to linguistics. It identifies the main innovation of generative grammar in linguistics and clarifies some recurring misunderstandings about the language faculty, recursion and language universals. The paper also discusses some of the main empirical results of generative syntax

Approaches to head movement

Heads can be spelled out higher than their merge-in position. The operation that the transformationalist generative literature uses to model this is called head movement. Government and Binding posited that the operation in question involves adjunction of a lower head to a higher head in narrow syntax. It has been noted early on, however, that this approach is highly problematic because head-adjunction violates several well-motivated constraints on syntactic structures. This overview article surveys the problems raised by the adjunction approach as well as the recent alternative analyses that were suggested in its stead in the Minimalist program. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the alternatives, discusses to what extent they are able to eliminate the problems raised by the adjunction analysis, and also points out the new problems that they give rise to

The position of case markers relative to possessive agreement : Variation within Hungarian

This paper inquires into two issues of Hungarian PPs. Firstly, when Hungarian pronouns bear an oblique case, the case marker must be followed by possessive agreement. Secondly, this pronoun-case-agreement order contrasts with the order found in garden variety possessive structures: ordinary possessive DPs feature the order noun-agreement-case. The goal of this paper is to offer an account of these puzzling phenomena. I argue that a PP structure in which PPs are projected from a silent place noun and the Ground is merged as the possessor of place (Terzi 2005, 2008, 2010; Botwinik-Rotem 2008; Botwinik-Rotem and Terzi 2008; Pantcheva 2008; Cinque 2010a; Noonan 2010, and Nchare and Terzi 2014) allows an enlightening analysis of the appearance and position of the possessive agreement in PPs. I also discuss how certain surface differences between PPs and ordinary possessive constructions can be accounted for while maintaining the possessive analysis of PPs. By showing that a PP structure with a possessive core yields a natural account of the intricate Hungarian data, the paper strengthens the case for a possessive-based approach to PPs in Universal Grammar