A regular treatment of some irregular constructions

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A regular treatment of some irregular
constructions

• Frank Van Eynde
• www.ccl.kuleuven.be/frank

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Regularity and irregularity

• Regular shapes

• Irregular shapes

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Survey

• Irregular combinations in NPs
• Lexical type constraints
• Phrasal type constraints
• Another look at the irregular NPs
• Irregular combinations in VPs
• Conclusion

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1. Irregular combinations in NPs

• The German was für (ein) construction
• The Dutch van die/van dat construction
• Pseudo-partitives in English, French and Italian

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The was für (ein) construction

• Was für einen Mann willst du eigentlich _?
• Wat voor een man wil je eigenlijk _?
• what for a man want you actually _?
• The preposition für requires an accusative
  complement
• - Das ist für dich/dir/du.
  
• - Das ist für einen/einem/ein Mann.
• Was für einem Mann hast du _ geholfen?
• Mit was für einem Mann hat sie _ gesprochen?
• Was für ein Mann ist er eigentlich _?

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The was für (ein) construction

• The interrogative was is singular
• - Was hat/haben dich so gestört?
• Was für ein Mann hat das gesagt?
• Was für Männer haben/hat das gesagt?
• The was für (ein) N construction is not a PP,
  but an NP.
• The head is neither the preposition für nor the
  pronoun was.

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The was für (ein) construction
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The was für ein construction

• Was ist das eigentlich _ für ein Mann?
• Wat is dat eigenlijk _ voor een man?
• what is that actually _ for a man?
• Was as a predeterminer
• All the boys will come.
• The boys will all come.

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The was für construction

• Was ist das denn _ für Unsinn?
• Was habt ihr doch _ für eigenartige Allergien?

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The van die/van dat construction

• Er staan van die dure glazen in de kast.
• there stand of those expensive glasses in the
  cupboard
• Er staat van dat vuile water in de sloot.
• there stands of that dirty water in the ditch
• Ze hebben van die lange staarten.
• they have of those long tails
• Een kat met van die lange haren
• a cat with of those long hairs

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The van die/van dat construction

• Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen in dat boek.
• she has the whole day sit read in that book
• Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen Duitse
  griezelverhalen.
• she has the whole day sit read German
  horrorstories
• Ze heeft de hele dag zitten lezen van die rare
  verhalen.
• she has the whole day sit read of those weird
  stories

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The van die/van dat construction

• Ze heeft gitzwart haar en van die mooie blauwe
  ogen.
• Ze heeft van die mooie blauwe ogen en gitzwart
  haar.
• Ze heeft de hele dag in die Duitse boeken en
  van die rare verhalen zitten lezen.
• Ze heeft de hele dag van die rare verhalen en
  in die Duitse boeken zitten lezen.
• Er staan/staat van die dure glazen in de kast.
• Er staat/staan van dat vuile water in de sloot.
• The van die/van dat N construction is an NP. Its
  head is not the preposition.

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The van die/van dat construction

• von dem ? vom
• di la, di gli ? della, degli
• de le, de les ? du, des
• no arbitrary gaps
• no morpho-phonological changes

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The van die/van dat construction
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Partitives

• A lot of the mice died.
• None of his mice died.
• All of those mice died.
• Some of my mice died.
• Few of the mice died.
• Five of Kims mice died.
• A lot have died of those cute little mice.

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Pseudo-partitives

• A lot of mice died.
• A number of mice died.
• A few mice died.
• No mice died.
• Some mice died.
• A lot have died of cute little mice.
• A lot of mice were killed.
• A lot of water was wasted.

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Pseudo-partitives

• Un po di macchine sono/è già vendute/o.
• Alcune macchine sono già vendute.
• Un peu de maisons seront/sera détruites.
• Tant de maisons seront/sera détruites.
• Quelques maisons seront détruites.

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Pseudo-partitives

• A whole lot of mice
• An awful lot of trouble
• A fat lot of luck
• Lots of people
• A large number of people
• Un bel po di tempo
• Un petit peu de lait
• Un tout petit peu de lait
• Peu de gens

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Pseudo-partitives
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Taking stock

• We have observed irregularities in
• the German was für (ein) N construction
• the Dutch van die/van dat N construction
• the pseudo-partitives in English, Italian and
  French
• In all 3 there is something unusual about the
  preposition.

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2. Lexical type constraints

• A lexical type hierarchy
• Type constraints
• Multiple inheritance

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A lexical type hierarchy - 1
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Multiple inheritance - 1

• noarg-lx ? ARG-ST lt gt
• argsel-lx ? ARGST nelist
• n-lx noarg-lx proper nouns, pronouns
• det-lx noarg-lx every, which
• adv-lx noarg-lx yes, no
• adj-lx noarg-lx wooden, former
• p-lx noarg-lx particles
• Ze stellen de vergadering uit.
• they put the meeting out
• Er ruft sie jeden Tag an.
• he calls her every day on

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A lexical type hierarchy - 2
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Multiple inheritance - 2

• hdsel-lx ? SS LOC CAT HEAD SELECT
  synsem
• adj-lx hdsel-lx black horses, very long
  journeys, the person responsible for this mess
• v-lx hdsel-lx people speaking five languages,
  people who speak five languages
• adv-lx hdsel-lx never say anything, hardly
  ever speak, speak (very) quickly
• p-lx hdsel-lx the horses in the stable, speak
  with difficulty, arrive after midnight
• det-lx hdsel-lx every black horse, almost
  every horse

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Multiple inheritance - 2

• nonhdsel-lx ? SS LOC CAT HEAD SELECT
  none
• adj-lx nonhdsel-lx that horse is black, the
  journey is very long, who is responsible for this
  mess
• v-lx nonhdsel-lx he was cleaning the stable,
  they say (that) they speak five languages
• p-lx nonhdsel-lx put the horses in the stable,
  believe in miracles, look after the children,
  ruft sie an,stellen de vergadering uit

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A lexical type hierarchy - 3
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Multiple inheritance - 3

• SS LOC CAT HEAD SELECT synsem
• ARG-ST lt gt
  
• adj-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx former governor,
  wooden tables
• det-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx which horse, every
  door
• adv-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx not knowing the
  answer, he decided to keep silent
• p-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx ??

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3. Phrasal type constraints

• A phrasal type hierarchy
• The head-functor phrase type

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A phrasal type hierarchy
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Head-functor phrases

• phrase SS LOC CAT COMPS lt gt
• hd-ph SS LOC CAT HEAD 1
  part-of-speech
• HD-DTR SS LOC CAT HEAD 1
• hd-subj-ph SS LOC CAT SUBJ lt gt
• SUBJ-DTR SS 1 synsem
• HD-DTR SS LOC CAT SUBJ
  lt1gt
• hd-fun-ph FUN-DTR SS LOC CAT HEAD
  SELECT 1
• HD-DTR SS 1 synsem

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Head-functor phrases
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Head-functor phrases

• hd-fun-ph SS LOC CAT MARKING 2
  marking
• FUN-DTR SS LOC CAT
  MARKING 2
• hd-arg-ph SS LOC CAT MARKING 2
  marking
• HD-DTR SS LOC CAT MARKING
  2
• Partition of marking marked, unmarked (bare,
  incomplete).

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Prenominal functors

• HEAD noun
• MARKING unmarked
• HEAD SEL HEAD noun
• MARKING 1
• MARKING 1 unmarked
• HEAD SEL HEAD noun
• MARK unmarked
• MARKING marked
• marking FORM form
• Partition of form determinate, indefinite,

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Partitives

• HEAD noun
• MARKING marked
• HEAD prep
• COMPS lt NPdeterminate gt
• MARKING unmarked
• HEAD SEL HEAD noun
• MARK unmarked
• MARKING FORM determinate
• Partition of form determinate (demonstrative,
  possessive, relative, interrogative, ),
  indefinite,

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4. Another look at the irregular NPs

• The Dutch van die/van dat construction
• The German was für (ein) construction
• Pseudo-partitives in English, French and Italian

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The van die/van dat construction

• p-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx van
• HD SEL HEAD noun
• MARKING unmarked
• MARKING FORM demonstrative
• HDSEL HEAD noun
• MARK FORM demo
• MARKING FORM indefinite
• The result is an indefinite NP, and not a PP.

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The was für (ein) construction

• HD SEL HD noun
• MARK unmarked
• MARK marked FORM indef
• HD SEL HD noun
• MARK FORM indef
• MARK incomplete FORM für
• Bare nominals are indefinite.
• (was) für Männer, für Unsinn

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The was für (ein) construction

• HD SEL HD noun
• MARK FORM für
• MARK marked FORM interrog
• The result is an interrogative NP which is headed
  by a common noun. Its case is independent of the
  requirements of für and its number is supplied by
  the common noun, not by the pronoun.

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Pseudo-partitives

• p-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx of
• HD SEL HEAD noun
• MARK unmarked
• MARK incomplete FORM of
• HDSEL HEAD noun
• MARK FORM of
• MARK marked FORM indef

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Pseudo-partitives

• n-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx of
• HDSEL HEAD noun
• MARK FORM of
• MARKING unmarked
• The result is a marked indefinite plural NP.

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Pseudo-partitives

• HD SEL HEAD noun
• MARK unmarked
• MARK marked FORM poss

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Summing up

• Making use of a lexical type which inherits from
  the independently needed p-lx, noarg-lx and
  headsel-lx, and of a phrasal type which subsumes
  the phrases of type head-adjunct, head-specifier
  and head-marker, we can account for the irregular
  NPs without any further stipulations.

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5. Irregular combinations in VPs

• The English infinitival to
• The English for-to clauses

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The English infinitival to

• Why not P? Pullum 1982
• 2
• One can relate it to his lack of vision.
• One can relate it to see better.
• 4
• He went right to the captain
• I wish (right) to see the captain
• 7
• To the transporter room with him!
• To get out of my sight with him!
• 10
• Mudd, who did you give it TO?
• Proceed I intend TO, Mr. Sulu.

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The English infinitival to

• 3
• I want to go home
• I want to my home planet
• 5
• I agree to boldly go where no man has gone
  before.
• I agree to boldly transportation to strange new
  worlds.
• 6
• To survive an ion storm will be tough even for
  the Enterprise.
• To within a thousand miles of a black hole will
  be tough.

• 9
• Im gonna explore strange new worlds.
• Im gonna Epsilon Delta IV.
• 1
• No other prepositions take uninflected VP
  complements.
• 8
• Problem with for-to clauses
• S ? NP PP or S ? PP PP

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The English infinitival to

• I cant come, but he can _.
• He didnt come, but she did _.
• I cant come but Id like _.
• I couldnt come, but I wanted _.
• I cant come but I would like to _.
• Why infinitival?
• toes, toing, toed, to to

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The English infinitival to

• No verbal morphology toes, tid, tont,
  toesnt, tidnt,
• tone, toing, to to
• Special VFORM value which only applies to to. In
  this way every morphologically invariant word can
  be argued to be a verb (with a defective
  paradigm).
• No conjunction with other (subject raising)
  verbs
• She is and remains our best goalkeeper.
• We will invade and conquer the valley.
• They were all eating and drinking.
• It may seem and to to amuse her.

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The English infinitival to

• 'Only auxiliaries and to license VP ellipsis'
• BUT not all of them
• He shouldnt be punished for a trifle like
  that, but he is being _.
• ? They havent (got) to leave, but Ive had
  _.
• AND they are not the only ones
• John is more reliable than Kim _.
• Pete has more sheep than all of us together
  _.
• Nobody is as fast as my friend from Illinois
  _.

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The English infinitival to

• p-lx noarg-lx hdsel-lx to
• HDSELHEAD verb VF inf
• SUBJ ltNPgt
• COMPS lt gt
• MARKING unmarked
• MARKING marked FORM to
• Why Pullums arguments against P status do not
  apply.

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The English infinitival to

• Partition of synsem canonical-synsem,
  noncanonical-synsem (pro-synsem, gap-synsem).
• The prepositions can require their head to have a
  canonical synsem value (German was für, Dutch van
  die/van dat, French de, Italian di, English of ),
  but they can also allow it to be of a
  noncanonical type.
• LOCCATHEADSELECT gap-synsem LOC 1
• SLASH 1
• ... and proceed I intend to _, Mr. Sulu.

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The English for-to clause
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6. Conclusion

• Exploiting the possibilities of HPSGs
  constraint-based lexicalism it is possible to
  provide a regular treatment of a number of
  irregular constructions