Slovenian questions with short wh-movement and the low periphery

V prispevku je pokazano, da so večkratna k-vprašanja s kratkim k-premikom (tj. vprašanja, v katerih se ena k-zveza premakne na prvo mesto v stavku, medtem ko se preostale k-zveze premaknejo na položaj znotraj stavka za osebkom) v slovenščini samostojen tip večkratnih k-vprašanj. Vprašanja s kratkim k-premikom lahko razumemo kot dokaz za obstoj notranjega (nizkega) obrobja v slovenščini, pri čemer se kratko premaknjena k-zveza premakne v k-projekcijo nizkega obrobja. To obrobje pa lahko gosti tudi tematično in žariščno projekcijo.Kot je pokazano v razdelku 1, je slovenščina jezik, v katerem obstajajo tako vprašanja z večkratnim k-premikom kot tudi drugi tipi vprašanj, ki prejmejo enako interpretacijo. Pri tem Golden (1997) pokaže, da so lahko v vprašanjih z večkratnim k-premikom premaknjene k-zveze v slovenščini ločene z drugim gradivom (npr. z naslonkami), Mišmaš (2016) pa trdi, da so lahko ločene tudi s tematičnimi ali žariščnimi zvezami. V tem prispevku je pokazano, da v primerih s kratkim k-premikom ne gre zgolj za vprašanja z večkratnim k-premikom, v katerih so k-zveze ločene s tematiziranim ali žariščenim osebkom. Na podlagi interpretaciji prislovov je sledeč Boškoviću (1997) pokazano, da se neprve k-zveze v vprašanjih z večkratnim k-premikom in s kratkim k-premikom ne premaknejo na en položaj znotraj levega stavčnega obrobja. Kljub razlikam med vprašanji pa je v razdelku 3 ugotovljeno, da se k-zveze v obeh tipih obnašajo podobno glede na tematične in žariščne zveze, saj se te zveze lahko pojavijo v katerem koli zaporedju.Na podlagi podatkov v razdelku 2 in 3 je predlagano, da se neprva k-zveza v večkratnih k-vprašanjih s kratkim k-premikom premakne v k-projekcijo v nizkem obrobju, to pa lahko hkrati gosti tudi žariščene zveze v žariščni projekciji in tematične zveze v tematični projekciji. Te projekcije v slovenščini niso obvezne, lahko se pojavijo v katerem koli vrstnem redu in so ponovljive. Da so ponovljive, je še posebej pomembno zaradi obstoja večkratnih k-vprašanj z večkratnim k-premikom, tj. pojaviti se mora dovolj k-projekcij, da so te zmožne gostiti vse premaknjene k-zveze.Večkratna k-vprašanja s kratkim k-premikom dajejo prvi vpogled v strukturo nizkega obrobja, vendar bo treba opraviti več raziskav, da bi bolje razumeli zgradbo tega obrobja ter do katere mere je nizko obrobje podobno drugim obrobjem v slovenščini in nasploh oz. v kolikšni meri se od njih razlikuje.In this paper I establish multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement, i.e. questions in which at least one wh-phrase moves to the clause initial position while the rest move to some clause internal position, following the subject, as a separate type of multiple wh-questions in Slovenian. Crucially, questions with short whmovement can be taken as evidence for the existence of a clause internal, low periphery in Slovenian, and I argue that the short moved wh-phrase undergoes wh-movement to the Wh-projection of the low periphery. Furthermore, I show that the low periphery in Slovenian also hosts the Topic and the Focus projection.Slovenian is a language with multiple wh-fronting, but other types of multiple wh-questions also exist in Slovenian, as I show in section 1, all of which receive the same interpretation. And while it was shown by Golden (1997) that the fronted wh-phrases in questions with multiple wh-fronting can be separated by non-wh-material, such as parentheticals or clitics, and it was shown by Mišmaš (2016) that topic and focus phrases can appear between fronted wh-phrases, this paper shows that the subject that appears between the fronted wh-phrases is not necessarily a subject or a focus. Based on the interpretation of adverbs, following Bošković (1997), I show that the non-initial wh-phrase in questions with multiple wh-fronting and short wh-movement does not move to the same position in the left periphery. But despite the differences between the two types of questions, section 3 shows that the wh-phrases in both questions with multiple wh-fronting and short wh-movement display parallel behavior with respect to topic and focus phrases in that these phrases can appear in any word order possible.Based on the data in sections 2 and 3, it is proposed that the non-initial wh-phrase in multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement moves to the Wh-projection in the low periphery, which can also host focus phrases in the Focus and topic phrases in the Topic projection. These projections are not obligatory in Slovenian, they can appear in any order possible and can be repeated in the structure. The former is especially important in light of the existence of multiple wh-questions, i.e. there must exist the option of projecting enough Wh-projections to host all the fronted (non-initial) wh-phrases.Multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement offer an initial insight into the structure of the low periphery, however, more work is needed in order to better understand its structure and to establish to which extend the low periphery is similar/different from the remaining peripheries in Slovenian and in general

Slovenian questions with short wh-movement and the low periphery

In this paper I establish multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement, i.e. questions in which at least one wh-phrase moves to the clause initial position while the rest move to some clause internal position, following the subject, as a separate type of multiple wh-questions in Slovenian. Crucially, questions with short whmovement can be taken as evidence for the existence of a clause internal, low periphery in Slovenian, and I argue that the short moved wh-phrase undergoes wh-movement to the Wh-projection of the low periphery. Furthermore, I show that the low periphery in Slovenian also hosts the Topic and the Focus projection. Slovenian is a language with multiple wh-fronting, but other types of multiple wh-questions also exist in Slovenian, as I show in section 1, all of which receive the same interpretation. And while it was shown by Golden (1997) that the fronted wh-phrases in questions with multiple wh-fronting can be separated by non-wh-material, such as parentheticals or clitics, and it was shown by Mišmaš (2016) that topic and focus phrases can appear between fronted wh-phrases, this paper shows that the subject that appears between the fronted wh-phrases is not necessarily a subject or a focus. Based on the interpretation of adverbs, following Bošković (1997), I show that the non-initial wh-phrase in questions with multiple wh-fronting and short wh-movement does not move to the same position in the left periphery. But despite the differences between the two types of questions, section 3 shows that the wh-phrases in both questions with multiple wh-fronting and short wh-movement display parallel behavior with respect to topic and focus phrases in that these phrases can appear in any word order possible. Based on the data in sections 2 and 3, it is proposed that the non-initial wh-phrase in multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement moves to the Wh-projection in the low periphery, which can also host focus phrases in the Focus and topic phrases in the Topic projection. These projections are not obligatory in Slovenian, they can appear in any order possible and can be repeated in the structure. The former is especially important in light of the existence of multiple wh-questions, i.e. there must exist the option of projecting enough Wh-projections to host all the fronted (non-initial) wh-phrases. Multiple wh-questions with short wh-movement offer an initial insight into the structure of the low periphery, however, more work is needed in order to better understand its structure and to establish to which extend the low periphery is similar/different from the remaining peripheries in Slovenian and in general

√ov Is in the Air

In this paper we consider several instances of the Slovenian affix ov, which surfaces in many, apparently unrelated contexts. Here we focus on (i) ov in verbs, where it can act as an imperfectivizer or a verbalizer, (ii) ov found in possessive adjectives and kind adjectives derived from nouns, (iii) ov which precedes the adjectiviser (e)n in denominal adjectives, and (iv) ov in nominal declension (acting as a genitive case ending in dual and plural or as a dual/plural augment). Building on the observation that certain affixes function either as inflectional or as derivational (see Simonović and Arsenijević 2020), and working within a Distributed Morphology approach which postulates that derivational affixes should be analyzed as roots (e.g. Lowenstamm 2014), we argue for a single multifunctional ov. This ov is a potentially meaningless root that can take as a complement other roots (thus forming a “radical core”) or phrases, resulting in different structures and consequently different stress patterns and meanings, but can also act as an Elsewhere allomorph, whose insertion is guided by an interplay of phonological and morphological constraints

Looking for cognitive foundations of functional sequences

With the multiplication of various functional projections, syntactic structures became very complex entities. Approaches like Cartography (e.g. Cinque and Rizzi 2008) went one step further than most other approaches, proposing that each sentence comprises of a number of universal, strictly ordered functional projections. In the noun phrase, the strictly ordered functional projections are said to be responsible not only for the relative order of numerals, demonstratives and nouns (cf. Cinque 2005), but also for the universal order of various types of adjectives (cf. Hetzron 1978; Sproat and Shih 1991; Cinque 1994; Scott 2002, etc.). Cinque and Rizzi (2008) discuss possible origins of the many hierarchies of functional projections and suggest that they might derive from general cognition. If cognition and its restrictions are behind the hierarchy of functional projections, then the order of projections hosting adjectives should be reflected in various non-linguistic cognitive processes. We designed several experiments to test this hypothesis. Our experiments did not confirm our hypothesis; but as we have also identified problems in the design of our experiments, our results do not warrant a clear rejection of the hypothesis either

Database of the Western South Slavic Verb HyperVerb -- Derivation

The verbal Western South Slavic database (WeSoSlaV) contains 3000 most frequent Slovenian and 5300 most frequent BCS verbs which are all coded for a number of properties related to verb derivation. The database is a table where each verb is given a row of its own. The coded properties are organized in columns. Verbs in the database are coded for the following properties: root information, whether or not the verb has prefixes and the identity of the included prefix(es), whether or not the verb has suffixes and the identity of the included suffix(es) etc. All coded properties are explained in the accompanying pdf file

Advances in formal Slavic linguistics 2017

Advances in Formal Slavic Linguistics 2017 is a collection of fifteen articles that were prepared on the basis of talks given at the conference Formal Description of Slavic Languages 12.5, which was held on December 7-9, 2017, at the University of Nova Gorica. The volume covers a wide array of topics, such as control verbs, instrumental arguments, and perduratives in Russian, comparatives, negation, n-words, negative polarity items, and complementizer ellipsis in Czech, impersonal se-constructions and complementizer doubling in Slovenian, prosody and the morphology of multi-purpose suffixes in Serbo-Croatian, and indefinite numerals and the binding properties of dative arguments in Polish. Importantly, by exploring these phenomena in individual Slavic languages, the collection of articles in this volume makes a significant contribution to both Slavic linguistics and to linguistics in general

Advances in formal Slavic linguistics 2017

Advances in Formal Slavic Linguistics 2017 is a collection of fifteen articles that were prepared on the basis of talks given at the conference Formal Description of Slavic Languages 12.5, which was held on December 7-9, 2017, at the University of Nova Gorica. The volume covers a wide array of topics, such as control verbs, instrumental arguments, and perduratives in Russian, comparatives, negation, n-words, negative polarity items, and complementizer ellipsis in Czech, impersonal se-constructions and complementizer doubling in Slovenian, prosody and the morphology of multi-purpose suffixes in Serbo-Croatian, and indefinite numerals and the binding properties of dative arguments in Polish. Importantly, by exploring these phenomena in individual Slavic languages, the collection of articles in this volume makes a significant contribution to both Slavic linguistics and to linguistics in general

Advances in formal Slavic linguistics 2017

Advances in Formal Slavic Linguistics 2017 is a collection of fifteen articles that were prepared on the basis of talks given at the conference Formal Description of Slavic Languages 12.5, which was held on December 7-9, 2017, at the University of Nova Gorica. The volume covers a wide array of topics, such as control verbs, instrumental arguments, and perduratives in Russian, comparatives, negation, n-words, negative polarity items, and complementizer ellipsis in Czech, impersonal se-constructions and complementizer doubling in Slovenian, prosody and the morphology of multi-purpose suffixes in Serbo-Croatian, and indefinite numerals and the binding properties of dative arguments in Polish. Importantly, by exploring these phenomena in individual Slavic languages, the collection of articles in this volume makes a significant contribution to both Slavic linguistics and to linguistics in general