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Renewal in the Left Periphery and the Linguistic Cycle

Elly van Gelderenellyvangelderen@asu.edu

21 May 2007, University of Venicewww.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/Venice07.ppt

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AimsTo present a description of some recurring

linguistic changesTo understand some of these cycles within a

Minimalist Program

OutlineExamples of CyclesEconomy Principles:

CI and SM EconomyRecycling in the left periphery

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CyclesNegative (neg):1. neg adverb > neg particle > (neg particle) neg

indefinite/adverb > neg particle2. verb > aspect > negClausal1. pronoun > complementizer2. PP/Adv > Topic > CDefinitenessdemonstrative > definite article > Case/non-generic > class

markerAgreementdemonstrative/emphatic > pronoun > agreementAuxiliaryA/P > M > T > C

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Background on the Cycle/Spiral

• de Condillac, Tooke, A.W. von Schlegel, von Humboldt, Bopp

• more recently: Tauli 1958 and Hodge 1970

• Grammaticalization literature:word > clitic > affix > 0 (from Hopper & Traugott 2003)

• formal approaches

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Part of the Cycle: Grammaticalization, e.g.:

On, from P to ASPLike, from P > C (like I said)Modals: v > ASP > TTo: P > ASP > M > CPP > C (for him to do that ...) VP Adv > TP/CP Adv

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Formal Approaches, e.g. Economy Principles, van Gelderen 2004

Head Preference Principle (HPP):Be a head, rather than a phrase.Late Merge Principle (LMP): Merge as late as possible.Specifier Incorporation (SIP)Be incorporated if you are a phrase.Null hypothesis of language acquisitionA string is a word with lexical content.

UG Principles: guidance to the child (in acquisition) and the adult (in the derivation)

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The Linguistic Cycle, e.g. the Negative Cycle

HPPXP

Spec X'na wiht X YP

not > n’t …

Late Merge

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Negative Cycle

(1)a. no/ne eOEb. ne (na wiht/not) OE, especially Southernc. (ne) not ME, especially Southernd. not LME-not/-n’t LME

Old English – South:(2)Næron 3e noht æmetti3e, ðeah ge wel ne dyden

not-were you not unoccupied. though you well not did`You were not unoccupied, though you did not do well'. (Pastoral Care, Cotton, Sweet, 206).

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DP Cyclea. DP b. DPdem D' D' (=HPP)

D NP D NPart N

c. DP

D'D NP^ N

renewal

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Subject CycleTP TP (=HPP)

DP T’ DP T’pron T VP pron pron-T VP

Urdu/Hindi, Japanese Coll French, CVC

TP[DP] T’ (=LMP)[pron] pron-T VP

Navajo, Spanish, Arabic

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Aspect Cyclea. ASPP b. ASPP

ASP‘ ASP' ASP VP ASP

VPup V AP up ...

up

c. ASPP

ASP'ASP VP

V APup

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Late Merge?

• Chomsky (1995: 348): Late Merge accounts for the presence of expletive subjects over raising; the principle is used by Fox (2002) to account for Antecedent Contained Deletion and by Bhatt & Pancheva (2004) for the scope of degree clauses. Both Roberts & Roussou (2003) and van Gelderen (2004) use it to account for grammaticalization.

• Chomsky post 1995: IM = EM, no difference• It still seems salvageable but is it better to see

things in terms of features?

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Late Minimalism and Features• Architecture

– Syntax is inert– All is variation in the lexicon– Approaching UG from below– Computational Efficiency: SM and CI interface

• Features– uninterpretable = unvalued in the lexicon

(Chomsky 2006: 12)

– probes value them; removed before CI transfer

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Feature Economy: uF as SM perfection; iF as CI perfection

Economy of Features (at Sensory Motor interface):Minimize the interpretable features in the derivation

Spec > Head > zerosemantic> interpretable > uninterpretable

(phi on N) (uphi on T)

Cycle goes from (a) to (b) to (a) …a) Movement links two positions and is thereby economical

(synthetic) = uninterpretable/EPP = PHON Economyb) Avoid syncretism; Iconicity is economical (analytic) =

semantic and interpretable features = SEM Economy

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From V > AUX; and Pronoun > Agr

VP TPV DP > T VPwolde [uCASE] would V DP[ACC] [phi] [uphi][uphi]

emphatic > personal > agreement[i-phi] [i-phi] [u-phi][i-Case] [uCase]

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From P > C

PP CPP DP > CTPafter after[u-phi] [3S] (u-phi)[ACC] [uACC]

In English, no phi, but Germanic C-agreement.

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Renewal at the end of the cycle

• Newmeyer 2006 notes that some grammaticalizations from noun/verb to affix can take as little as 1000 years, and wonders how there can be anything left to grammaticalize if this is the right scenario.

• Late Merge (Feature Economy), however, provides an answer for what the source of the replenishments are, namely lexical elements from lower in the tree. There are also borrowings and creative inventions through SIP.

• The Economy Principles do not provide a reason why certain languages/societies are more conservative than others, e.g. why the split infinitive has encountered such opposition by prescriptivists, and has kept to from grammaticalizing more.

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Internal and External Change• Jespersen: "the correct inference can only be that the

tendency towards ease may be at work in some cases, though not in all, because there are other forces which may at times neutralize it or prove stronger than it".

• Von der Gabelentz (1891/1901: 251/256): "Deutlichkeit" ('clarity') and "Bequemlichkeit" ('comfort').

• Chomsky (2006: 9): “The conflict between computational efficiency and ease of communication appears to be resolved, universally, in favor of computational efficiency to satisfy the semantic (CI) interface, lending further support to speculations about its primacy in language design”.

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Clause markers and the Cycle

1. WH > Yes/No

2. Relative > C

3. P(P) > C

(4. VP adverb > Clausal adverb)

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CartographyForceP

Force'Force TopP

Top'Top FocP

Foc'Foc TP

(1) mekele ka ñgat na azla siñgwe ya mekeleTOP he FOC 3-took money FOC

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Whether: WH-pronoun to Yes/No and C(1)Hwæðer þara twe3ra dyde þæs fæder willan?

Who of-the two did the father’s will WS Gosp. Matt. xxi. 31

(2)Hwæðer wæs iohannes fulluht þe of heofonum þe of mannumWhether was John's baptism that of heavens or of man`Was the baptism of John done by heaven or by man' (West Saxon Gospel, Corpus, Matthew 21.25).

(3) Whither Charles Arundell dyd not steale ouer into Irland withein thes fiue yeres, wytheought leaue of her Magestie and whether [that yeare] he was ...

(4) Godrich..seyde, ‘Hweþer she sholde be Quen and leuedi ouer me?’ (Havelok 292)

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Middle English: Lots of evidence for split CP

(1) þat mon much merþe con make, For [wyn] [in his hede] þat wende.`because of the wine that went to his head' (Gawain 900).

(2) I sal yu lere þe dute of god, [his wille] þat 3e may doI shall you teach the duty of God, his will that you may do (Benet 2.5 )

but not with C whether:

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Where is whether? (1) þær se snotera bad. hwæþer him alwalda

æfre wille ... wyrpe gefremman. `There the wise one waited whether the

almighty would ever grant him change' (Beowulf 1313-5).

(2)a. ?I wonder whether [those books] they will ever read (*them).b. ??I wonder [those books] whether they will ever read (them).

(3) And it doesn't matter whether frankly you are a Republican or a Democrat or …

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Pronoun to Q

CP CP

whether C’ whether C’ =LMPC … C

Late Merge is obvious butHPP never `caught on’: external reasons

Features? whether > whether-C > whether-C[i-Q] [i-Q] [uQ]= probe[i-phi]

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Urdu, Sanskrit, and Norwegian(1) kya ram jata he Hindi/Urdu

Q Ram go-3S is`Is Ram going'?

(2) Ap kya kerũge Hindi/Urduyou what do-FUT.2P`What are you going to do'.

(3) kim aryamno mahas pathaati kramema dudhyo?what Aryaman-GEN great-GEN road-INS

surpass- 1P inferior-P.ACC`Should we overcome the base people on the

path of the great Aryaman'(4) Kven du såg?

Who you saw, `Who did you see?' (Åfarli 1985: 6).(5) Ka for nokka sa dokker?

what for something said you

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Italian?

(1) S'a-lo fat che? Illasi (Verona)

what-has-he done what`What has he done?'

(2) Ndo e-lo ndat endoe?where is-hegone where`Where has he gone?‘(Poletto & Pollock 2004 )

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Chinese reanalyzed verbs

(1) ta chang qu buhe often go not`Does he go often?'

(2) hufei kan-wan-le nei-ben shu meiyouHufei read-finish-PERFthat-CL book not`Has Hufei finished the book?' (Cheng et al. 1996: 43; 41)

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late merge

CPC'C NegPNeg'Neg ASPPASP'ASP ta chang qu

bu

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Relatives in Old, Middle English, Yiddish, French, etc.

OE se þe > þe or þæt:

(1) scyldwiga … se þe wel þenceþshield-fighter … the that well thinks/judges`(Every sharp) shield fighter, who judges well' (Beowulf 287-9).

(2) as theo the duden with Godd al thet ha walden. `as those who did with God all that they wanted’.(Ancr. R. III 492)

(3) jene vos hobn gezen zajne kuncnthose that have seen his tricks`those who have seen his tricks' (Krogh 2001: 46)

(4) J’étais une personne que j’avais beaucoup d’amisI was a person that I had many friends

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Colloquial French, Yiddish, etc

(1) jene vos hobn gezen zajne kuncnthose thathaveseenhis tricks`those who have seen his tricks' (Krogh 2001: 46)

(2) J’étais une personne que j’avais beaucoup d’amis

I was a person that I had many friends

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Wh-cyclea. CP b. CP

þat C' (=SIP) C’ (=HPP)

se/þam C TP C TP (þe/þat) that

c. CP

wh- C'C TP

renewal that ...

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New relatives(1) a laide de Dieu notre Seigneur, Qui vous

douit bonne vie et longue.`With the help of God, our Lord, who gives us a good and long life' (Bekynton, from

Rydén, p. 131).

(2) be the grace of God, who haue yow in kepyng

`by the grace of God, who keeps you' (Paston Letters 410).

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From lexical to grammatical category

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After from P > C

VP-adverb:(1) Ercenberht rixode æfter his fæder

`E. ruled after/following his father' (Chronicle A, anno 640)

Moved, not scene-setting(2)a. [æfter him] Stephanus feng to rice.

`after him (i.e. Pope Leo), Stephanus became pope'.(Chronicle A, anno 814 [816])b. [æfter þissum gefeohte] cuom micel sumorlida. `after this fight, there came a large summer-force' (Chronicle A, anno 871)

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Preposed and with demonstrative

(1) [Æfter þysan] com Thomas to Cantwarebyri

`After this, Thomas came to Canterbury'. (Chronicle A, anno 1070)

(2) [æfter ðon] uutedlice ic eftariso ic forlioro vel iowih in galileam

`after that, surely I arise-again I come before you in Galilee'

(Lindisfarne Gospel, Matthew 26. 32).

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(1)After that the king hadde brent the volum (Wyclyf 1382, taken over in Coverdale 1535 and KJV 1611, from the OED).

(2)After that Raleigh had Intelligence that Cobham had accused him, he endeavour'd to have Intelligence from Cobham (HC, EModE2)

(3) Aftir he hadde take þe hooli Goost (c1360 Wyclif De Dot. Eccl. 22).

(4) After thei han slayn them (1366 Mandeville174).

Four stages:PP < PP 900 (Chronicle A) – presentPP (that) 950 (Lindisfarne) - 1600 (OED 1587)P that 1220 (Lambeth) - 1600 (OED 1611)C 1360 (Wycliff) - present

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Percentages of demonstrative objects (Dem) with after and fronting

Beowulf Chronicle Chronicle A <892 >892

Dem 2/65=3% 2/26= 8% 17/22= 77%Fronting 2/65=3% 7/26= 27% 12/22= 55%

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For : P to C(1) ouþer for untrumnisse ouþer for lauerdes

neode ouþer for haueleste ouþer for hwilces cinnes oþer neod he ne muge þær cumon`either from infirmity or from his lord's need or from lack of means or from need of any other kind he cannot go there' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 675).

(2) forþam Trumbriht wæs adon of þam biscopdome`because T had been deprived of his biscopric' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 685).

Beowulf PCDem objects 16/54 =30% 67/150 =45%Fronting 18/54 =33% 80/150 =53%

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Compare this to in Chronicle A:

<892 >892Dem 0/27 =0% 0/3 =0%Fronting 2/27 =7.4% 0/3 =0%

Typical:(1) Her Cuichelm wæs gefulwad in Dorcesceastre

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From P > C

PP CPP DP > CTPafter after[u-phi] [3S] (u-phi)[ACC] [uACC]

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OE Clausal adverbs

(1)Witodlice [æfter þam þe ic of deaþe arise] ic cume to eow on galileeSurely after that that I of death arise I come to you in Galilee (West Saxon Gospels, Matthew 26.32)

(2)Ne deþ witodlice nan man niwes claðes scyp on eald reaf.Not does surely no man new cloth piece on old garment (West Saxon Gospels, Matthew 9.16)

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Decline

OE I-II OE III OE IV ME1 ME2witodlice 2 84 20 9 --

wærlice 5 10 5 5 --

soþlice 72 205 19 37 2sicerlice -- -- -- 5 6

wiselice -- 6 3 9 --

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New CP adverbs(1) You wrote so probably that hyt put me in

a feare of daungerys to come. (OED, 1535)(2) A source, from whence those waters of

bitterness..have..probably flowed (OED, 1647)

(3) for, tho very probably I shall not have occasion for them, yet it wou'd be very vexatious to want them shou'd ther be occasion. (1690, Letter by Charles Hatton, HC)

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VP adverb > Clausal adverb

(1) and he shulde goo frank and quite. (OED 1475)

(2) All other lawfull thinges..to do as liberally, frankelie, lawfully..as if they..had been naturally

borne within this realme (OED, 1541)(3) Therefore [with franke and with vncurbed

plainnesse], Tell vs the {Dolphins} minde. (Henry V)

(4) She... Can you wonder that I'm disinclined for amusement? He.Frankly, I do (OED 1888)

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Late Merge and Adverbials

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Dutch, Bulgarian, Chinese(1)Eerlijk gezegd voel ik daar niet zoveel voor

honestly spoken feel I there not so-much about`Honestly, I don't quite feel like doing that'.

(2)Chestno kazano nishto ne razbiramFrankly spoken nothing not understand-1S.PRES 'Frankly, I don't understand anything.' (Mariana Bahtchevanova p.c.)

(3)Shihua shuo zhezi shi ni zuo leHonest say this-time be you wrong LE`Honestly this time you were wrong'. (Ji 2006)

(4)nou eerlijk ik vind dit een mooi machien now honestly I think this a beautiful engine(www.motor-europe.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?t=899)

(5)Eerlijk, ik heb het nu zeer moeilijkhonestly, I have it now very difficult

huizekeytsman.telenet.be/groen%20plus%20senioren/WVDStappenAsbest.pdf

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Conclusions• Description of some changes as Cycles

– Negative, Demonstrative, (Agreement), and Perfective Cycles

– Clause marking through wh, P, Adv• Reason:

– HPP and LMP, or:– semantic features are reanalyzed as

grammatical/formal• internal (grammaticalization) vs external

(renewal)

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One Macroparameter à la Baker? a Macro-Cycle or Micro-Cycles?

Synthetic Analytic

Macro-Cycle: SM vs. CI?