Behavioral Properties of Subjects 1: Imperatives

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (1)
Imperatives

• An imperative is a command.
• Close the door.
• Addressed to an agent who can carry out the
  command.
• Its hard to make an imperative with non-agentive
  verbs
• ? Be tall.
• ? Know the answer by the time I get back.

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Imperatives

• We know that the addressee of an imperative has
  to be an agent, but does it have to be a subject?
• Sentences such as passives have agents that are
  not subjects.
• English
• The clothes be washed.
• Not an imperative
• Let the clothes be washed!
• Addressee is the subject of let, not the agent of
  wash
• The cost be damned!
• A special exclamation. Not really an imperative.
  Addressee doesnt do the damning.

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Imperatives

• Malagasy (Madagascar) (Van Valin 2.39b)
• Sasao ny lamba.
• wash.passive the clothes
• The clothes be washed! (imperative)

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (2)
Reflexives(and notation for pronoun reference)

• Antecedent What a pronoun refers to.
• Who is John(i)? He(i) is my brother.
• John(i) thought that he(i/j) would go.
• John can be the antecedent of he in both
  examples.
• Reflexive Pronoun
• I(i) saw myself(i/j).
• You saw yourself.
• He saw himself.
• Etc.

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Reflexive Pronouns in English

• James(i) saw himself(i).
• Antecedent is subject.
• James(i) told Miriam(j) about himself(i).
• Antecedent is subject.
• James(i) told Miriam(j) about herself(j).
• Antecedent is direct object.
• Miriam(j) talked to/with Sam(i) about himself(i).
• Antecedent is oblique (prepositional phrase).

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Reflexive Pronouns in Norwegian

• Reflexive pronoun 1
• Jon(i) fortalte meg om seg selv(i).
• John told me about himself.
• (Antecedent is subject.)
• Vi fortalte Jon(i) om seg selv(i).
• We told John about himself.
• Antecedent must be the subject.

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Reflexive Pronouns in Norwegian

• Reflexive pronoun 2
• Jon(i) snakker om ham selv(i).
• John talks about himself.
• (Antecedent is subject.)
• Vi fortalte Jon(i) om ham selv(i).
• We told John about himself.
• Antecedent cannot be the subject.

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (3)
Wh-extraction

• Who ate my sandwich?
• Who is the subject of eat.
• Who did Pat see?
• Who is the direct object of see.
• Who did Leslie give the tickets to?
• Who is the object of a preposition.
• To whom did Leslie give the tickets.
• To whom is a prepositional phrase.
• Who is Chris taller than?
• Who is the object of a comparative.

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Wh-extraction

• Question words begin with wh in English.
• The question word is extracted from the position
  that is normal for its grammatical relation
  (subject position, object position, etc.) and is
  placed at the beginning of the sentence.
• Some languages use wh-in-situ (in place)
• You saw what?
• In English this is used only for expressing
  surprise or to indicate that you missed part of
  the previous sentence.

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Cleft Formation

• It was Pat who ate my sandwich.
• Pat is subject of eat.
• It was Pat who Chris saw.
• Pat is object of see.
• It was Pat who Leslie gave the tickets to.
• Pat is object of a preposition.
• It was Pat who Chris was taller than.
• Pat is object of comparison.

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Languages with restricted wh-extraction

• It is not common for wh-extraction to be limited
  to certain grammatical relations.
• When it is restricted, it is generally restricted
  to subjects.
• Malagasy
• Subject can be extracted.
• Object cannot be extracted.
• Recipient cannot be extracted.
• Instrument and other prepositional phrases can be
  extracted.
• Passive voice and other voices create subjects so
  that they can be extracted.

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects (4) Relative
Clauses
Relative Clause
Head
Relative Pronoun
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Components of Relative Clauses

• Head noun person
• Sentence from which something is extracted.
• Bought the house.
• Relative pronoun or complementizer
• The person who bought the house.
• The person that bought the house.

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Relative Clauses

• The whole thing is an NP and can be in any NP
  position.
• The person who bought the house is nice.
• Subject
• I met the person who bought the house.
• Object
• I talked to the person who bought the house.
• Object of a preposition.

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Relative Clauses in English

• The extracted (relativized) can have any
  grammatical relation in English.
• I met the person who saw you.
• Subject is relativized.
• I met the person who you saw.
• Direct object is relativized.
• I met the person who you talked to.
• Object of a preposition is relativized.
• I met the person who you are taller than.
• Object of comparison is relativized.

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Relative Clauses in English

• If something other than the subject is
  relativized in English, the relative pronoun or
  complementizer can be omitted
• The person I met.
• The person I talked to.
• The person you are taller than.
• The person bought the house.
• Not a relative clause.

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Participial clauses in English

• These are not relative clauses
• NP The person buying the house is rich.
• NP The person tormented by nightmares couldnt
  sleep.
• Cant have relative pronouns or complementizers
  (although that is not a criterion for being a
  relative clause in other languages)
• the person who/that buying the house is rich
• the person who/that tormented by nightmares is
  rich

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Relative Clauses in English

• These are relative clauses
• The person who is buying the house
• The person who is tormented by nightmares

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Relative clauses in your language

• Your language here.

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Relative clauses in Malagasy

• Subject can be relativized.
• Direct object cannot be relativized.
• Instrument cannot be relativized.
• Passive and other voices create new subjects so
  that they can be relativized.
• Compare to participial clauses in English.
• NP The person s washing the clothes
• NP The clothes s the person washing
• Intendent to mean the clothes that the person is
  washing.
• NP The clothes s being washed by the person

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects matrix coding
as subject
Matrix Clause
Embedded Clause
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Behavioral Properties of Subjects matrix coding
as subject
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Behavioral Properties of Subject Matrix Coding
as Subject

• Seem takes one semantic argument.
• Two syntactic subcategorization frames
• Dummy subject and tensed clause
• Subject and infinitive clause missing a subject
• Subject of embedded clause is coded as subject of
  matrix clause
• Occurs before the matrix verb in English
• Matrix verb agrees with it

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Behavioral Properties of Subject Matrix Coding
as Subject

• What does this have to do with subjects?
• Only the subject of the embedded clause can be
  removed from the lower clause and coded as the
  matrix clause subject.
• They seem I to have seen ____.
• The knife seems I to have cut the bread with.

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What is the subject of these sentences?

• There is a problem.
• There are problems.
• In this village lives a wise man.
• In this village live many people.

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Matrix coding as subject more commonly known as
Raising-to-Subject
Lower clause subject is raised to be the subject
of the matrix clause.
S
NP VP
V VP-bar
VP
COMP
They seem to have left.
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Behavioral Properties of Subjects Matrix Coding
as Object a.k.a. Raising-to-Object or
Exceptional Case Marking

• Believe takes to semantic arguments.
• Two syntactic subcategorization frames
• Subject and tensed embedded clause.
• Subject, object, and infinitive VP
• I believe that they have left.
• I believe them to have left.

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S
Matrix Clause
NP VP
V S-bar
COMP S
Embedded Clause
NP VP
I believe that they have left
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Raising-to-Object We will use this one in this
class.
S
NP VP
Exceptional Case Marking we will not use this
one.
S
V NP VP-bar
COMP VP
I believe them to have left
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Evidence that them is direct object of the matrix
clause

• It is in the accusative case.
• It can be the subject of the passive of the
  matrix verb.
• They are believed to have left.
• Tests for constituency
• Class participation
• Coordination
• Movement
• Pronoun substitution

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Behavioral property of subjects only

• Only the subject of the lower (embedded) clause
  can be raised up to be the object of the matrix
  clause.
• Leslie believes that the police have arrested
  Chris.
• Leslie believes the police to have arrested
  Chris.
• Leslie believes Chris the police to have
  arrested.

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Test with raising to object

• There are some problems.
• In the village live many people.

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Using passive to make patients raisable

• It seems that Chris ate a sandwich.
• It seems that a sandwich was eaten by Chris.
• A sandwich seems to have been eaten by Chris.
• I believe that Chris ate a sandwich.
• I believe that a sandwich was eaten by Chris.
• I believe a sandwich to have been eaten by Chris.

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Raising in Malagasy

• See handout

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Behavioral Properties of Subjects Control by
Matrix Subject

• Pat is the agent of try and the agent of open.
• Pat is also the subject of both verbs.

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Control by matrix subject a.k.a. Equi NP Deletion

• Pat tried Pat to open the window.
• Pat tried __ to open the window.

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Control as a properties of subjects.

• Pat tried ___ to open the window.

controllee
controller
Only the subject of the lower (embedded) clause
can be the controllee Pat tried Kim to see ___
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Seem and Try(more about this later in the
semester)

• The cat seems to be out of the bag.
• There seems to be a problem.
• That seems to be my husband.
• The doctor seemed to examine Sam.
• Sam seemed to be examined by the doctor.

• The cat tried to be out of the bag.
• There tried to be a problem.
• That tried to be my husband.
• The doctor tried to examine Sam.
• Sam tried to be examined by the doctor.

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Control by Matrix Object
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Control by Matrix Object

• Pat is the direct object of persuade and the
  subject of leave.
• The matrix object (controller) and embedded
  subject (controllee) are the same.
• Only the embedded subject can be the controllee.
• Pat persuaded Sam the doctor to examine.

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Believe and Persuade

• I believe the cat to be out of the bag.
• I believe there to be a problem.
• I believe that to be my husband.
• I believe Pat to have opened the window.
• I believe the window to have been opened by Pat.

• I persuaded the cat to be out of the bag.
• I persuaded there to be a problem.
• I persuaded that to be my husband.
• I persuaded Pat to have opened the window.
• ? I persuaded the window to have been opened by
  Pat.

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Using passive to make patients controllable

• I believe that Sam opened the window.
• I believe the window to have been opened by Sam.
• I believe the window to have been opened by Sam.
• I perusaded the doctor to examine Sam.
• I persuaded Sam to be examined by the doctor.

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Control in Malagasy

• See handout.

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Control of Adjunct Clauses

• Having just arrived in town, Sam called his
  mother.
• Having just hurt herself, Sam called his mother.
• What can be the controller?
• Matrix subject?
• Matrix object?
• What can be the controllee?
• Embedded subject?
• Embedded object?

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Conjunction Reduction

• Bill saw Sam and left.
• Who left?
• Bill saw Sam and greeted him.
• Who greeted someone?
• Bill(i) saw Sam(j) and he(i) greeted ___(j).
• What can be the controller of conjunction
  reduction?
• What can be the controllee of conjunction
  reduction?

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See handout

• Conjunction reduction in Malagasy.
• Conjunction reduction and control in Tindi.

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Three kinds of empty arguments

• Pro-drop The empty argument is understood with
  a definite reference he, she, it, they, etc.
• Optional argument with indefinite reference.
• Semantic valency change.

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Pro-drop

• English sentences almost always have a subject
  noun phrase
• She studied.
• Dummy or pleonastic subjects
• It is raining
• There is a problem.
• Apparent exceptions due to ellipsis
• Does he like chocolate? Seems to.
• What are you going to do? Study real hard.

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Pro-drop languages

• The subject noun phrase can be missing, but is
  understood as a pronoun referring to something
  specific
• Your language here.
• The direct object noun phrase (or other noun
  phrases) can also be dropped in some languages.
• Your language here.

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Optional arguments in English

• The children ate chocolate.
• The children ate.
• What does this mean?
• What happened to the cake?
• The children ate it.
• The children ate.

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Optional argument vs. semantic valency change

• The pirates sank the boat.
• The boat was sunk by the pirates.
• The boat was sunk.
• The boat sank.
• The boat was sunk to destroy the enemy.
• Presence of a purpose clause indicates that there
  is an unspecified agent. Two semantic roles
  agent and theme.
• The boat sank to destroy the enemy.
• Inability to take a purpose clause indicates that
  the sentence contains only one semantic role
  theme.