Rees, E;
(1994)
Functional categories and Spec-head agreement.
Masters thesis , University of London.
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Abstract
In this work, we show that "doubling phenomena" in Romance reduce to Spec-head agreement relation within the phrase. Spec-head agreement is a licensing mechanism, part of UG, under which the doubled elements must be in a Spec-head configuration with each other. The discussion revolves around Romance languages primarily, although examples from other language families (eg Germanic) will be brought in. This study will concentrate on SPEC-head agreement which takes place within the maximal projection of functional categories, such as CP, AGRP-s, DP, NegP and AGRP-o. This presupposes the view proposed in recent GB literature that IP splits into further functional categories, such as subject and object agreement phrase and a Negation phrase. We also refer to the determiner as a functional category, heading its own projection, DP. The range of doubled structures we survey include: subject clitic doubling in some Northern Italian dialects, negative doubling in French and Portuguese Creoles, and object clitic doubling in River Plate Spanish. A doubly-filled Comp is attested in some French varieties as well as in some Germanic dialects. Agreement of the complementizer with the head NP of the relative clause in French ("que-qui rule") can also be reduced to Spec-head agreement. A solution to clitic doubled object NPs in terms of an AGRP-o allows us to abandon previous base generation analyses proposed for this construction. The clitic is considered not an argument but an affix-like head which can attach to a higher head, base-generated in Agr-o. The clitic, which shares phi-features with the object phrase, can double the latter because they stand in a SPEC-head configuration.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Functional categories and Spec-head agreement |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Linguistics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1508046 |
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