On embedded interrogatives and related constructions in Northern Basque

All Basque dialects have four distinct morphemes which can be affixed to the finite verb form, the choice between which depends on the internal structure of the embedded clause and its type of insertion in the matrix clause. 1 The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 introduces the four complementiser-like affixes and illustrates some of their main uses. Section 3 provides direct evidence drawn from embedded interrogatives for the necessity of postulating several layers in the left-peripheral or CP domain. Finally, in section 4, examples will be discussed which show that in some contexts, the otherwise well-established distinction between '[Semi] free relatives' and embedded wh- "semi-questions" (which both translate sentences like ...what they've done) is apparently neutralised, although some semantic and pragmatic differences subsist

On embedded interrogatives and related constructions in Northern Basque

All Basque dialects have four distinct morphemes which can be affixed to the finite verb form, the choice between which depends on the internal structure of the embedded clause and its type of insertion in the matrix clause. 1 The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 introduces the four complementiser-like affixes and illustrates some of their main uses. Section 3 provides direct evidence drawn from embedded interrogatives for the necessity of postulating several layers in the left-peripheral or CP domain. Finally, in section 4, examples will be discussed which show that in some contexts, the otherwise well-established distinction between '[Semi] free relatives' and embedded wh- "semi-questions" (which both translate sentences like ...what they've done) is apparently neutralised, although some semantic and pragmatic differences subsist

A propos de l'évolution des pronoms génitifs en basque du nord

National audienceN/

Basque Semi Free Relative Clauses and the Structure of DPs

N/

On the polysemy of the suffix -ke in the history of Northern Basque

The various semantic values of the suffix -ke in Northern Basque are shown to depend, in the analytic conjugations, (a) on the type of verbal complex - aspectually marked participles plus the auxiliariesizan/°edun vs. aspectually unmarked radicals plus the auxiliaries°edin/°ezan (the synthetic conjugation is ambiguous, since it neutralizes this opposition), and (b) on the 'tense' of the inflected auxiliaries (present/past/hypothetical). Depending on the context, three epistemic values can thus be computed: equi-possibility, probability, and prediction ' hence a specialized interpretation as an ulteriority marker, i.e. a future tense marker when used with a verb in the present tense. This future value is shown not to have been limited to the Souletin dialect, and to have enabled 16th century Basque to have an analytical 'future in the future'. Finally, a pragmatic value, the strong commitment of the speaker, will also be identified

A New look at Northern Basque Wh-Free Relative Clauses

Ordinary Wh-Free Relative clauses are typically correlative protases, resumed by a pronoun in the apodosis to their right. They sit in the spec. of a Topic head in the left periphery or CP domain of the complex sentence. Their internal structure is shown not be always the same: when they contain a single wh- word, that item occupies another Spec,TopP position, but when there are two of them, they sit in the Spec. of two contiguous QuantifierPs. A lesser known structure is next described, in which a non-topical Wh-FR occurs within an “exotic” phrase which consists of that clause, the conjunction eta and a demonstrative pronoun: those structures are shown not to be the “source” DP of complex correlative sentences, but rather to be CPs with a predicate gap. Thus, Northern Basque standard correlative FRs are always base-generated, whereas the second type suggests a situation which is the mirror image of Bhatt's (2003) derivation of Hindi correlatives

Towards a Theoretical Treatment of Left-dislocated Subordinate Clauses

N/

Compétence(s), performance et déviance(s): questions générales et exemples basques

Ce travail commence par une présentation de la position méthodologique de la linguistique chomskyenne en général (§1) et des types de règles et déviances ou écarts usuellement recensés par les linguistes (§2). Ensuite, l'opposition bien connue entre compétence et performance linguistiques, due à Noam Chomsky, est illustrée avec un exemple très standard (ce qu'on pourrait construire mais ne peut être compris), puis approfondie avec le cas de figure de ce qui ne peut simplement pas être construit (§3). Deux modèles cognitivistes de performance sont alors présentés, qui ne sont pas en concurrence mais fonctionneraient de manière complémentaire selon les situations de production et d'interprétation (§4). Enfin, en §5, suite à l'examen d'un "monstre linguistique " dû à un grand linguiste basque qui l'a produit spontanément, quoique par écrit, on avancera l'hypothèse que les locuteurs ont en fait deux types de compétence à leur disposition, la compétence chomskyenne n'étant qu'un système en arrière-plan qui n'intervient pas nécessairement dans la production spontanée

Notes sur les phrases complexes à protase corrélative du basque

N/

On older Northern Basque exclamatives in "ala"

Xabier ARTIAGOITIA & Joseba A. LAKARRA (eds.), "Gramatika Jaietan. Patxi Goenagaren omenez"(Donostia–Saint-Sébastien & Bilbao–Bilbao : Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia-EHU—Diputación Foral deGipúzcoa & Universidad del País Vasco, Supplements of ASJU 51, 2008.International audienceMost recent studies devoted to exclamatory sentences concentrate on those that display([+wh] element. But Older Northern Basque had a special type of exclamative sentences in which theoperator ala, which sat in the left periphery of the sentence, took usually one, but sometimes several,implicitely quantified item(s) in its scope