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On the role of person in the mapping of syntactic features onto their interpretable counterparts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Ivona Kučerová
Ivona Kučerová*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
*
ivona@alum.mit.edu
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Abstract

Person features play a role in narrow-syntax processes. However, a person feature is often characterized as [±participant], a characterization that suggests pragmatic or semantic features. Relatedly, person has been the subject of an ongoing debate in the literature: one family of approaches argues that 3rd person is an elsewhere case, while another argues that it is a valued interpretable feature. This article provides a programatic argument that this disagreement has a principled basis. I argue that the representation of the features we identify as person changes between narrow syntax and the syntax-semantics interface. The tests and empirical descriptions are incongruent because they target different modules of the grammar and in turn different grammatical objects. The article thus contributes to our understanding of the division of labour among the modules, with a special focus on the autonomous status of narrow syntax.

Résume

Les traits de personne jouent un rôle dans les processus purement syntaxiques. Pourtant, un trait de personne est souvent caractérisée par [±participant], ce qui suggère des propriétés pragmatiques ou sémantiques. De même, la personne a fait l'objet d'un débat persistant dans la littérature: une famille d'approches affirme que la troisième personne est un cas défaut et l'autre fait valoir qu'il s'agit d'un trait interprétable spécifié. Cet article fournit un argument programmatique selon lequel ce désaccord repose sur des principes. Je soutiens que la représentation des traits de personne varie entre la syntaxe étroite et l'interface syntaxe-sémantique. Si les diagnostics et les descriptions empiriques semblent incohérents, c'est qu'ils ciblent différents modules de la grammaire, et donc différents objets grammaticaux. L'article contribue donc à notre compréhension de la division du travail entre modules, en mettant l'accent sur le statut autonome de la syntaxe étroite.

Keywords

personsyntax-semantics interfaceφ-featureslocalityagreementautonomous syntaxpersonneinterface syntaxe-sémantiquetraits φlocalitéaccordsyntaxe autonome
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 649 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2019 

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Footnotes

This work would have not been possible without the financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Insight Grant 435-2016-1034). Thanks to Diogo Almeida, Susana Béjar, Željko Bošković, Suzi Lima, Gereon Müller, Betsy Ritter, Jon Sprouse, Adam Szczegielniak, Nicholas Welch, audiences at the Brussels Linguistics Colloquium 9, University of Connecticut and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro for their helpful questions, comments and feedback. Remaining errors are mine.

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