DP Splits: A Challenge for the Left Periphery

Transkript

1 DP Splits: A Challenge for the Left Periphery Lorenz Dietmar Geiger & Andreas Konietzko Universität Tübingen Workshop on Word Order in the Left Periphery Oslo, October 2017

2 The phenomenon: DP splits (1) Über Syntax hat er sich ein Buch ausgeliehen. about syntax has he himself a book borrowed He borrowed a book about syntax. (De Kuthy 2002) (2) Von Kundera hat sie alle Bücher gelesen. by Kundera has she all books read She has read all of Kundera s books. (Pafel 1995) 2

3 The phenomenon: DP splits (3) [Über wen] 1 hat [den Fritz] 2 [ein Buch t 1 ] t 2 beeindruckt. about whom has the Fritz a book impressed A book about who impressed Fritz? (Müller 2010) 3

4 Structure of the talk Information structure of DP splits The QUD model QUD analysis of corpus example IS syntax mapping Conclusion 4

5 Information structure of DP splits De Kuthy (2002: 149) proposes that: a sentence with an NP-PP split construction can only be a felicitous utterance if the NP and the PP are not both part of the same focus projection and if they are not both part of the background. 5

6 Information structure of DP splits Examples with fronted PP as contrastive topic are in line with this generalization: (4) Aus welcher Sammlung steht was in der Vitrine? What from which collection is in the display? [Aus der ROTHSCHILD-Sammlung/] F steht [eine PORZELLANFIGUR\] F in der Vitrine. From the Rothschild collection is a porcelain figurine in the display (De Kuthy 2002, cf. De Kuthy & Konietzko (under revision), Schmellentin, C. 2006) 6

7 Information structure of DP splits In principle, De Kuthy s observation allows for several information-structural partitions, e.g.: Contrastive case Fronted PP: Contrastive Topic remnant DP: Focus Topic case Fronted PP: Topic Focus Case Fronted PP: Contrastive Focus remnant DP: Focus remnant DP: Topic 7

8 Information structure of DP splits Topic case a corpus example: (5a) Context: Die palästinensische Autonomiebehörde hat ihren Kampf gegen Hamas verstärkt und angeblich die beiden Führer des militärischen Hamas-Flügels festgenommen. The Palestinian National Authority has reinforced its fight against Hamas and apparently arrested the two leaders of the military Hamas wing. 8

9 Information structure of DP splits (5b) [ PP Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas] i ist es innerhalb der about the measures against Hamas is it within the palästinensischen Geheimdienste zu [ DP einem tiefen Zwist t i ] Palestinian intelligence to a deep dispute gekommen. come Topicalized PP expresses d-linked, discourse given material. 9

10 Research questions What are the factors that motivate the split structure? Is the movement obligatory, and under what circumstances? How does the information structure of DP splits relate to syntax? What positions can a topical PP occupy? 10

11 The QUD model (6) (Q 1 : Alice: How was the concert? (Q 2 : Alice: Was the sound good? (A 2 : Bob: No, it was [awful.] F )) (Q 3 : How was the band? (Q 4 : How was the drummer? (A 4 : Bob: [Just fantastic.] F )) (Q 5 : Alice: And the singer? (A 5 : Bob: [Better than ever.] F )))) (Büring 2003: 515, Velleman & Beaver 2016:89) 11

12 The QUD model and discourse trees (7) How was the concert? Was the sound good? How was the band? It was awful How was the drummer? Just fantastic (How was) the singer? Better than ever (from Velleman & Beaver 2016, cf. also Büring 2003) 12

13 Explicit and implicit QUDs (8) Bob: The [SOUND] CT was [AWFUL,] F but the [DRUMMER] CT was [FANTASTIC,] F and the [SINGER] CT was [BETTER than EVER.] F (9) (Q 1 : How was the concert? (Q 2 : Was the sound good? (A 2 : Bob: The [sound] CT was [awful.] F )) (Q 3 : How was the band? (Q 4 : How was the drummer? (A 4 : Bob: but the [drummer] CT was [fantastic,] F )) (Q 5 : How was the singer? (A 5 : Bob: and the [singer] CT was [better than ever.] F )))) (Velleman & Beaver 2016) 13

14 Properties of the QUD model Discourse: QUDs represent discourse strategies. A QUD corresponds to a discourse move. Focus: QUD determines F-marking (question answer congruence) Topic: The current QUD also encodes the topic under discussion (van Kuppevelt 1995, Roberts 2012) 14

15 Analyzing corpus data with QUDs (10) Q1: Was gibt es neues zum Thema Hamas? What s new about Hamas? A1: Die palest. Autonomiebehörde hat ihren Kampf gegen Hamas verstärkt the Palestin. National Authority has its fight against Hamas reinforced Q2: Welche Maßnahmen hat die palest. Autonomiebehörde ergriffen? What measures has the Palestinian National Authority taken? A2: und angeblich die beiden Führer des mili. Hamas-Flügels festgenommen. and apparently the two leaders of_the military Hamas_wing arrested Q3: Wozu kam es aufgrund des Vorgehens gegen Hamas? What consequences did the measures against Hamas have? A3: [ PP Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas] i ist es innerhalb der paläst. about the measures against Hamas is it within the palestinian Geheimdienste zu [ DP einem tiefen Zwist t i ] gekommen. intelligence to a deep dispute come 15

16 Analyzing corpus data with QUDs (11a) Q 2 : Welche Maßnahmen hat die palest. Autonomiebehörde ergriffen? A 2 : Die palästinensische Autonomiebehörde hat [die beiden Führer des militärischen Hamas-Flügels festgenommen.] F possible discourse moves Q 3 : Wozu kam es aufgrund des Vorgehens gegen Hamas? A 3 : Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas ist es innerhalb der palest. Geheimdienste zu [einem tiefen Zwist] F gekommen. Q 4 :Wozu kam es innerhalb der palest. Geheimdienste? A 4 :Innerhalb der palest. Geheimdienste ist es zu [einem tiefen Zwist] F über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas gekommen. 16

17 (11b) Analyzing corpus data with QUDs/English version Q2: What measures has the Palestinian National Authority taken? A2: Palestinian National Authority has [arrested the two leaders of the military Hamas wing.] F possible discourse moves Q3: What consequences did the Q4: What were the consequences measures against Hamas have? within the Palestinian intelligence? A3: [ PP Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas] A4: Innerhalb der palest. Geheimdienste ist es innerhalb der palest. Geheim- ist es zu [einem tiefen Zwist] F über das dienste zu [einem tiefen Vorgehen gegen Hamas gekommen. Zwist t PP ] F gekommen. About the measures against Hamas is it within the Palest. intelligence to [a deep dispute] F come. Within the Palest. intelligence is it to [a deep dispute] F about the measures against Hamas come. 17

18 Analyzing corpus data with QUDs Mismatch conditions: (12) Q3: Wozu kam es aufgrund des Vorgehens gegen Hamas? What consequences did the measures against Hamas have? #A4: Innerhalb der palästinensischen Geheimdienste ist es zu within the Palestinian intelligence is it to [ DP einem tiefen Zwist [ PP über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas]] gekommen. a deep dispute about the measures against Hamas come (13) Q4: Wozu kam es innerhalb der palästinensischen Geheimdienste? What were the consequences within the Palestinian intelligence? #A3: [ PP Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas] i ist es innerhalb der paläst. about the measures against Hamas is it within the palestinian Geheimdienste zu [ DP einem tiefen Zwist t i ] gekommen. Intelligence to a deep dispute come 18

19 Syntax of DP splits (14) CP Top1 C V-fin TopP Top2 IP sentence Adv. IP (Frey 2004) 19

20 Syntax of DP splits (15a) CP Top1 C V-fin TopP Über das Vorgehen Top2 IP gegen Hamas sent. Adv. IP innerhalb der pal. Geheimdienste (15b) Über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas ist es innerhalb der pal. Geheimdienste zu einem tiefen Zwist gekommen. 20

21 Syntax of DP splits (16a) CP Top1 C V-fin TopP Innerhalb der Top2 IP pal. Geheimdienste sent. Adv. IP über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas (16b) Innerhalb der pal. Geheimdienste ist es über das Vorgehen gegen Hamas zu einem tiefen Zwist gekommen. 21

22 Distribution of topics If the language allows for multiple topic position, what determines the distribution of topical elements in this case? In principle, the two word orders are semantically equivalent. In both structures the über-pp can be a topic and the innerhalb-pp can be interpreted as a frame There is a preference for frames to occur in the prefield, probably because the frame adverbial takes widest scope and widest scope can be read off directly from the surface in this case 22

23 Conclusion DP splits are determined by the following factors: PP is d-linked, encodes discourse given material, the remnant is in focus -> escape from focus strategy in addition, the PP must encode topicality Split and non-split can both follow the same context, however they are obligatory under their respective QUDs. There is optionality with respect to the choice of topic position. The frame PP in the prefield might be preferred with respect to scope marking. 23

24 Selected references Büring, D. (2003). On d-trees, beans, and b-accents. Linguistics and Philosophy, 26(5): De Kuthy, K. (2002). Discontinuous NPs in German A Case Study of the Interaction of Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics. CSLI Publications, Stanford, CA. De Kuthy, K. & Konietzko, A. (under revision). Information-structural Constraints on PP Topicalization from NPs. In Egerland, V., Molnár, V., and Winkler, S., (eds.) Architecture of Topic. Studies in Generative Grammar. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. Frey, Werner A medial topic position for German. Linguistische Berichte Müller, G. (2010). On Deriving CED Effects from the PIC. Linguistic Inquiry 41(1): Pafel, J. (1995). Kinds of extraction from noun phrases. In Lutz, U. and Pafel, J., editors, On Extraction and Extraposition in German, volume 2 of Linguistik aktuell. John Benjamins Publishing Co., Amsterdam/Philadelphia. Roberts, C. (1996). Information Structure in Discourse: Towards an Integrated Formal Theory of Pragmatics. OSU Working Papers in Linguistics 49: Roberts, C. (2012). Information Structure in Discourse: Towards an Integrated Formal Theory of Pragmatics. Semantics & Pragmatics 5, Article 6: Schmellentin, C. (2006). PP-Extraktionen: Eine Untersuchung zum Verhältnis von Grammatik und Pragmatik, volume 507 of Linguistische Arbeiten. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. Van Kuppevelt, J. (1995). Discourse structure, topicality and questioning. J. Linguistics 31: Velleman, L. & Beaver, D. (2016). Question-based models of information structure. In Féry, C. and Ishihara, S. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Information Structure, Oxford University Press. 24