Andrew Radford - Linguistics An Introduction [Second Edition]

Vernacular English (AAVE) and how they differ from their

Contemporary Standard English counterparts:

(a) He don’t mess with no cops

(b) Don’t nobody mess with the cops

(c) Everybody know [don’t nobody mess with the cops]

(d) *Everybody know [that don’t nobody mess with the cops]

For the purposes of this exercise, assume that the bracketed structures

in (c, d) are CPs which serve as the complement of the verb know. Can you suggest a structural reason why (d) is ungrammatical?

In addition, discuss the syntax of the following yes–no question in

Jamaican Vernacular English (JVE):

(e) Yu

en si eniting?

You did see anything

‘Did you see anything?’

How can we account for the use of the polarity item eniting in (e)?

Model answer for (1a) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sentence (1a) is derived as follows. The determiner (negative operator) no merges with the noun cops to form the DP no cops. The

preposition with merges with this DP to form the PP with no cops.

The verb mess merges with this PP to form the VP mess with no cops.

The resulting VP is merged with the negative T-auxiliary don’t to form

the T0 don’t mess with no cops. This T0 is in turn merged with the

D-pronoun he to form the TP he don’t mess with no cops. The resulting

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senten ces

TP is subsequently merged with a null complementiser (marking the

sentence as declarative in force), so forming the CP below:

( i ) CP

C

TP

ϕ

D

T'

he

T

VP

don’t

V

PP

mess

P

DP

with

D

N

no

cops

AAVE is a variety of English which shows negative concord. This

means that a negative determiner like no and a negative D-pronoun

like nobody are negative polarity items which must be used after a

preceding negative auxiliary. Since no in (i) is preceded by the negative T-auxiliary don’t, this requirement is met in (i), without the need to move the negative auxiliary don’t from T to C: hence, the Economy

Principle requires don’t to remain in situ in T.

2.

Draw tree diagrams showing the derivation of the following Early

Modern English sentences, giving arguments in support of your ana-

lysis. In what ways is EME similar to German?

(a) Who overcame he? (Boyet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, IV. i)

(b) Came you from the church? (Tranio, Taming of the Shrew, III. ii)

(c) What, canst not rule her? (Leontes, Winter’s Tale, II. iii)

(d) Knows he not thy voice? (Second Lord, All’s Well That Ends

Well, IV. i)

(e) And that letter hath she delivered (Speed, Two Gentlemen of

Verona, II. i)

(f) Fear you not him (Tranio, Taming of the Shrew, IV. iv)

(g) Of her society be not afraid (Iris, The Tempest IV. i)

(h) What a head have I! (Nurse, Romeo and Juliet, II. v)

Hints -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ignore what in (c) and And in (e). Assume that all the clauses in (a)–(h) are CPs, that thy voice in (d), her society in (g) and what a head in (h) are DPs (though do not concern yourself with their internal structure). As

noted in section 18, sentences like (f, g), which are used to issue an order, are imperatives, while sentences like (h), which are used to exclaim

Syntactic variation

327

surprise or delight, are exclamatives. In relation to (g), assume that afraid is an adjective, and the prepositional phrase of her society originates as its complement.

If all the sentences in (a)–(h) are CPs, it might be suggested that all finite clauses in Shakespearean English are CPs, and that they require

the head and specifier positions within CP to be filled. What implica-

tions would this have for the analysis of sentences such as the

following:

(i) She lov’d not the savour of tar (Stephano, The Tempest, II. ii)

What would then be the difference(s) between sentences like (a)–(i) in EME and their CSE counterparts? (In relation to (i), take the savour of tar to be a DP, but don’t concern yourself with the internal structure of

this DP.)

Model answer for (2a) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The verb overcame merges with the D-pronoun who to form the VP

overcame who. This VP is merged with a null T constituent which

(being strong in EME) attracts the verb overcame to move from V to

T. The resulting T0 is merged with the D-pronoun he to form a TP. This

TP is in turn merged with a null C constituent which (like C in main

clause questions in present-day English) is strong and so attracts the

verb overcame to move from T to C. C also attracts the wh-pronoun to

move to spec-CP, so that the sentence has the derivation shown

below:

(i)

CP

D

C'

Who

C

TP

overcame

D

T'

he

T VP

overcame

V

D

overcame

who

Movement of the verb overcame from V to T and subsequently from T

to C are two instances of head movement, and both satisfy the Head

Movement Constraint (requiring a head to move to the next highest head

position in a structure). Movement of who to the specifier position within

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senten ces

CP is an instance of a movement operation which can variously be

referred to as A-bar movement, operator movement or wh-movement.

3.

Discuss the derivation of the following German sentences, comment-

ing on points of interest (italics mark emphasis):

(a) Er ist nach Berlin gefahren

He is to

Berlin gone

‘He has gone to Berlin’

(b) Nach Berlin ist er gefahren

To

Berlin is he gone

‘He has gone to Berlin’

(c) Er fährt nicht nach Berlin

He goes not to

Berlin

‘He’s not going to Berlin’

(d) Nach Berlin fährt er nicht

To

Berlin goes he not

‘He isn’t going to Berlin’

(e) Fährt er nicht nach Berlin?

Goes he not

to

Berlin

‘Isn’t he going to Berlin?’

Hints -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that with many verbs of motion, German uses the counterpart of

be as a perfect auxiliary, rather than the counterpart of have. Recall

from the discussion in the main text that T and C are strong in finite

clauses in German, and that German shows head-final word order in

VP and TP, but head-initial order in other types of structure. Assume

that nicht (like not in English) is a VP-specifier.

Model answer for (3a) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The verb gefahren ‘gone’ merges with its prepositional phrase com-

plement nach Berlin ‘to Berlin’ (whose internal structure need not

concern us) to form the VP nach Berlin gefahren ‘to Berlin gone’, VPs

being verb-final in German. This VP is then merged with the

T-auxiliary ist ‘is’ to form the T0 nach Berlin gefahren ist ‘to Berlin

gone is’, with T (like V) being head-final in German. The resulting T0

is merged with the D-pronoun er ‘he’ to form the TP er nach Berlin

gefahren ist ‘he to Berlin gone is’. This TP is subsequently merged

with a null C constituent which (being strong) attracts the auxiliary ist