Peas and pancakes. On apparent disagreement and (null) light verbs in Swedish
(2009) In Nordic Journal of Linguistics 32(1). p.35-72- Abstract
- Two variants of what looks like disagreement between a subject and a predicative adjective are explored:
(i) Senap är gul-t.
mustard.COMMON is yellow-NEUT
‘Mustard is yellow.’
= Construction NOM(inal)
(ii) Två älskare är omoralisk-t.
[two lovers]COMMON.PL is immoral-NEUT
‘To have two lovers is immoral.’
= Construction PROP(ositional)
Having shown how Construction NOM and Construction PROP differ, I demonstrate that the subject of Construction PROP is clausal. I argue that the topmost XP of the subject phrase of both constructions contains a null neuter... (More) - Two variants of what looks like disagreement between a subject and a predicative adjective are explored:
(i) Senap är gul-t.
mustard.COMMON is yellow-NEUT
‘Mustard is yellow.’
= Construction NOM(inal)
(ii) Två älskare är omoralisk-t.
[two lovers]COMMON.PL is immoral-NEUT
‘To have two lovers is immoral.’
= Construction PROP(ositional)
Having shown how Construction NOM and Construction PROP differ, I demonstrate that the subject of Construction PROP is clausal. I argue that the topmost XP of the subject phrase of both constructions contains a null neuter element. This accounts for the neuter predicative agreement; hence the idea of default agreement or semantic agreement can be dismissed. I also argue that the subject in (ii) contains a vP , the head of which is a null light verb. Other instances of null light verbs in Swedish are identified too. Finally, I propose an analysis that accounts for the close relation between Construction PROP and the corresponding construction with a med-phrase ‘with-phrase’. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1479241
- author
- Josefsson, Gunlög LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2009
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Ärter är gott-sentences, agreement, default gender, passepartouts, semantic agreement, Pannekaker er godt-sentences, neuter, med-phrase, disagreement, light verb
- in
- Nordic Journal of Linguistics
- volume
- 32
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 35 - 72
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:73649084097
- ISSN
- 0332-5865
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Swedish (015011001)
- id
- 0dea2d23-9e89-45c2-b874-a4144605f11f (old id 1479241)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 11:01:24
- date last changed
- 2022-03-31 17:48:37
@article{0dea2d23-9e89-45c2-b874-a4144605f11f,
abstract = {{Two variants of what looks like disagreement between a subject and a predicative adjective are explored:<br/><br>
<br/><br>
(i) Senap är gul-t. <br/><br>
mustard.COMMON is yellow-NEUT<br/><br>
<br/><br>
‘Mustard is yellow.’<br/><br>
<br/><br>
= Construction NOM(inal)<br/><br>
<br/><br>
(ii) Två älskare är omoralisk-t. <br/><br>
[two lovers]COMMON.PL is immoral-NEUT <br/><br>
<br/><br>
‘To have two lovers is immoral.’<br/><br>
<br/><br>
= Construction PROP(ositional)<br/><br>
<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Having shown how Construction NOM and Construction PROP differ, I demonstrate that the subject of Construction PROP is clausal. I argue that the topmost XP of the subject phrase of both constructions contains a null neuter element. This accounts for the neuter predicative agreement; hence the idea of default agreement or semantic agreement can be dismissed. I also argue that the subject in (ii) contains a vP , the head of which is a null light verb. Other instances of null light verbs in Swedish are identified too. Finally, I propose an analysis that accounts for the close relation between Construction PROP and the corresponding construction with a med-phrase ‘with-phrase’.}},
author = {{Josefsson, Gunlög}},
issn = {{0332-5865}},
keywords = {{Ärter är gott-sentences; agreement; default gender; passepartouts; semantic agreement; Pannekaker er godt-sentences; neuter; med-phrase; disagreement; light verb}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{35--72}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Nordic Journal of Linguistics}},
title = {{Peas and pancakes. On apparent disagreement and (null) light verbs in Swedish}},
volume = {{32}},
year = {{2009}},
}