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

Freie Relativsätze mit d-Pronomen

In the present-day Germanic languages, free relatives (FRs) share formal properties with indirect question in that both constructions are introduced by w-pronouns. However, at least in German (and historical stages of a larger set of languages, including English), there is an additional pattern which involves the use of d-pronouns such as German der/die/das ‘that.masc./fem./neut.’, which typically introduce headed relative clauses. Focusing on presentday German, this paper shows that d-FRs are set apart from w-FRs by a number of properties including syntactic distribution in the matrix clause, behavior with respect to matching effects, inventory of pronominal forms, and semantic interpretation. From these observations, it is concluded that d-FRs should not be analyzed on a par with w-FRs. More precisely, we argue that d-FRs are in fact regular headed (restrictive) relative clauses where the relative pronoun has been deleted under identity with a demonstrative antecedent. This apparent instance of syntactic haplology is then analyzed as resulting from the same mechanism that eliminates copies/traces in movement dependencies

Ordnung der Johann Wolfgang Goethe–Universität, Frankfurt am Main für die Bachelor- und Master-Prüfungen in kognitiver Linguistik : hier: Neufassung ; genehmigt mit Erlass vom 05.07.2007, Az.: III 1 - 422/10/10.010 - (0001) und mit Erlass vom 13.07.2007, Az.: III 1 – 422/10/10.010 – 0002

Aufgrund des Beschlusses des Fachbereichsrates des Fachbereichs Neuere Philologien vom 02.05.2007 wird die Ordnung für den Studiengang Kognitive Linguistik mit den Abschlüssen "Bachelor of Arts" und "Master of Arts" an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main vom 02.02.2005 wie folgt neu gefasst: ..

The asymmetry of short and long wh-extraction in German

En cas d’extraction à courte distance, le mouvement-wh ne déclenche, en allemand, ni effet de croisement faible ni effet de supériorité. Cette situation change lorsque le mouvement-wh se fait à longue distance: des effets de croisement aussi bien que de supériorité sont alors observés. Cet article propose une analyse minimaliste des constructions-wh en allemand qui a pour but d’expliquer ces propriétés. En examinant différentes constructions qui mettent en jeu la périphérie gauche, et en utilisant des traits multiples associés aux éléments-wh, nous montrons que le mouvement court et le mouvement long visent des positions différentes dans la périphérie gauche.When subject to short extraction, wh-movement in German neither triggers a Weak Crossover effect nor does it show any Superiority effect. This situation changes if wh-movement undergoes long extraction. In this case, Weak Crossover effects as well as Superiority effects can be observed. This paper proposes a minimalist analysis of German wh-constructions which is designed to explain these properties. By exploring various constructions which involve the left periphery of the clause and making use of multiple features associated with wh-elements, it is shown that short extraction and long extraction target different positions in the left periphery