LEC II A curs 2

7/28/2019 LEC II A curs 2

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LEC II A The Syntax of Complement Clauses

Spring semester 2012-2013Mihaela Tanase-Dogaru

COORDINATION

a) syndetic coordination - that type of structure where a coordinator is overtly

expressed; there are explicit indicators that there are two more elements linked by

coordination.He looked at them sadly and reproachfully.

b) asyndetic coordination, where there is no indication other than a comma, that

elements are coordinated.He looked at them sadly, reproachfully.

By definition, coordination (or conjoining) is a syntactic operation that puts together

constituents of thesame rank. Conversely, subordination (or Embedding) is a syntactic

operation that involves rank-shifting, namely one constituent is subordinated to a higher-

rank constituent.

From a logical & semantic point of view, a major difference between coordination and

subordination is that the information in subordinate clauses is not asserted, but

presupposed.

Compare:

(1) John came back and gave her a piece of his mind.

(2) John gave her a piece of his mind after he came back.

Unlike in the case of (1) where we are dealing with assertion, the subordinate adverbial

clause of time contains a presupposition: We presuppose that the event of Johns coming

back happened.

Sentence vs. Phrase Coordination

Is phrasal coordination derived from sentence coordination?

Can phrasal coordinated constituents be derived from coordinated sentences? For

example, is example (3) derived from (4)?


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(3) Copilul i cinele mncau n tcere.

Child-the and dog-the were eating in silence.

The child and the dog were eating in silence

(4) [Copilul mnca] i[cinele mnca] n tcere

[Child-the was eating] and [dog-the was eating] in silence.

The child was eating and the dog was eating in silence.

Several hypotheses have been proposed:

a) phrasal coordination always results from reductions of coordinated sentences.

Syntactically similar conjuncts are grouped together under one compound node followed

by elimination of certain nodes.

The assumption that coordinated DPs semantically belong to the class of semantic

non-singularity, along with plural countables and collective nouns, runs into difficulties

when confronted with the fact that sometimes, there is no conjoined sentence paraphrase

for a certain coordinate NP. This position is too strong since the rules it stipulates lead to

overgeneration.

(5) a. Ion i Maria sunt o pereche fericit

Ion and Maria are a happy couple.

*Ion e o pereche fericit i Maria e o pereche fericit.

*Ion is a happy couple and Maria is a happy couple.

b. Studenii i Petru s-au ntlnit n parc.

Students-the and Peterrefl

met in park.

*Studenii s-au ntlnit i Petru s-a ntlnit.

*Students-therefl

met and Peterrefl

met.

b) both sentence and phrasal coordination are basic. Coordinate phrases of any

size are base-generated directly by phrase structure rules

This hypothesis itself is too strong since it cannot account for the fact that

sometimes, compound nodes are generated only after several other rules have applied

before Spell-Out.

(6) Mesajul fusese ambiguu i prost descifrat coordination after Passive


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c) both sentence and phrasal coordination are basic but phrasal coordination may

also result from reduction of compound sentences.

Compare the following sentences:

(7) I saw him yesterday and I had seen him the day before yesterday. sentence

coordination

(8) I saw him yesterday and the day before yesterday.phrase coordination

Example (7) is an instance of sentence coordination, the result of which is a

COMPOUND SENTENCE. A compound sentence is to be placed in opposition to a

COMPLEX SENTENCE, where there is a main clause and one or more subordinate

clauses.

Example (8) exhibits an instance of Phrasal Coordination, where we are dealing with a

compound constituent, yesterday and the day before yesterday. this constituent can be

considered to be the result of compressing the longer and much less economical

compoundsentence from example (7). This phenomenon of compression and reduction is

called ellipsis.

Ellipsis can be of two types:

a) the so called forward ellipsis, when it operates on the second conjunct in thestructure: RIGHT-NODE-RAISING

(9) John writes poetry and Bill writes prose.

John writes poetry and Bill prose.

b) backward ellipsiswhen it operates on the first conjunct in the structure:(10) a. John loves cigars and Bill hates cigars.

b. John loves and Bill hates cigars.

Besides ellipsis, substitution is another reduction operation that can be applied to

compound sentences.


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(11) I was advised to buy a pair of shoes and I bought a pair of shoes.

The common element, i.e. the predication buy a pair of shoes, can be reduced by

substitution, as can be seen in (12):

(12) I was advised to buy a pair of shoes and I did so/it.

Coordinating Conjunctions

We can distinguish between three classes of coordinators:

a) Copulative: and / both and /at once and / neither nor / as well as / no lessthan / not only but also, etc. We should also mention here rarer copulative

coordinators, such as: alike and / nor nor / nor or:

There are semantic restrictions on the types of clauses that can be coordinated. For

instance, one cannot couple two sentences with completely different semantic content, as

in:

(13) a. *Lions are mammals and Tom bought a car.

b. *I hate plumbers and you learn syntax.

In fact, the expressive function of coordination is, more often than not, to emphasize

(semantic) parallelism or contrast, which is the case with

b) adversative coordinators: but, and

(14) I gave her the money but I didnt feel happy about it.

c) disjunctive coordinators: or, either or

(15) She can either have the money or she can have the clothes.

Some of the coordinating conjunctions have correlatives (either or,both and , etc);

some of them allow ellipsis of the subject (and, or ; sometimes but, too):

(16) I may see you tomorrow or (I) may phone later in the day.


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(17) I gave her the money but (I) didnt feel happy about it.

In certain cases, the ellipsis of the subject is even required.

(18) He went to the safe and (he) took out the money.

If the coordinating conjunction links two subordinate clauses, where the subordinator is

repeated, ellipsis of the subject is no longer accepted:

(19) * I didnt object to his proposal since it was very appropriate and since appealed to

me.

Another property some of the coordinators above share is the fact that they can link more

than two clauses:

(20) They both liked Susan and respected her, and cherished her.

Sometimes, coordinating conjunctions can impose a subordinating shade of meaning

upon the conjunctions, like in (21),:

(21) Hit my wife, and youll die / *Youll die, and hit my wife. = conditional meaning

Whenever the coordinating conjunction adds a subordinating tinge of meaning to the

conjuncts, the order of these conjuncts is fixed.

From this point of view, one can differentiate between

a) asymmetric use of coordinatorswhere the order of the conjuncts is reversible:(22) a. I like and admire her.

b. I admire and like her.

b) an asymmetric use of coordinatorswhere the order of the conjuncts is irreversible:(23) a. I washed and ironed my pants.

b.* I ironed and washed my pants.

Asymmetric uses some conjunctions may have:


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1. asymmetric AND can impose different shades of subordinative meaning within thecompound sentence:

- chronological sequence (temporal implications)(24) He sliced and fried the potatoes. (First he sliced them and then he fried them)

- cause-effect relation(25) He heard an explosion and (therefore) phoned the police.

(26) He didnt pay the rent and he was evicted from their apartment. (


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(34) If you have enough money you can eat lobster, or you can have caviar or both.

Verb Agreement with Compound Subjects

We shall discuss verb-agreement with compound subjects depending on the conjunction

that is used:

ANDthe compound subjects correlated by andare generally used with plural verbs:

(35) a. Semantics and syntax are interrelated.

b. Both your fairness and your kind nature have been appreciated.

When the verb appears before the subject, both plural and singular forms are generally

accepted. The singular form is however restricted to informal speech:

(36) There was/were a man and a woman in the room.

There are cases when the compound subject is not made up of the two semantically

distinct conjunctions any more:

(37) a. The hammer and the sickle was flying from the flagpole.

b.Fish and chips is my favorite food.

OR, EITHER OR, NOT (ONLY) BUT ALSO compound subjects are subject to the

rule of agreement by proximity: the verb agrees with the nearest conjunct:

(38) a. Not John, but his two brothers are to blame.

b. Not Johns brother but he is to blame.

NEITHER NOR compound subjects accept both the singular and the plural form of

the verb since from a syntactical point of viewNeither norresembles eitheror, but

semantically it is the negative counterpart ofboth and:

(39) Neither he nor his wife have/has arrived.

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LEC II A curs 2