Einführung in die Syntax, WiSe 2021/22 Universität Potsdam

Homework 4 Deadline: 24 January 2022, 09:00

topics: case, agreement, CP, movement

1. Indicate for every NP (underlined constituents) in (1) which head assigns case to it.
[3pt]
Hint: even tough you cannot always see it, every NP in English bears case, like
every NP in German.

(1) a. She met him in the library.

b. Call me back soon!

2. Like Khanty (see slides week 10), Swahili has object agreement for the feature
number, illustrated in (2).

(2) Swahili (Bantu, East Africa)

a. Juma a-li-mw-ona m-toto.
Juma 3 SG.SUBJ-PST-3 SG.OBJ-see SG-child
‘Juma saw the child.’
b. Juma a-li-wa-ona wa-toto.
Juma 3 SG.SUBJ-PST-3 PL.OBJ-see PL-child
‘Juma saw the children.’

A ditransitive verb like pa ‘to give’, which selects two objects, agrees only with
the indirect object (goal argument) (3-a). Agreement with the direct object (patient
argument) is ungrammatical (3-b).

(3) a. Juma a-li-m-pa m-kewe wa-toto.

Juma 3 SG.SUBJ-PST-3 SG.OBJ-give SG-wife PL-child
‘Juma gave the wife the children.’
b. *Juma a-li-wa-pa m-kewe wa-toto.
Juma 3 SG.SUBJ-PST-3 PL.OBJ-give SG-wife PL-child
‘Juma gave the wife the children.’

Assume that the structure of the double object construction is the same in English
and Swahili. Explain why object agreement is with the indirect object, and not the
direct object. [2pt]
Hint:
Think about the head that is responsible for object agreement, and the conditions
on Agree.

1
3. For both sentences in (4), indicate: [6pt]

(a) whether they contain a subject clause, object clause, or adjunct clause;
(b) the clause type of the embedded clause (declarative or interrogative);
(c) the C-selection features of every verb (V) (i.e. two verbs per example sen-
tence).
Hint: recall that V does not introduce the agent argument.

(4) a. Jonas forgot who arrived yesterday.

b. George laughed after his sister dropped her ice cream.

4. Give all the movement operations that take place in (5). [4pt]
Tip: draw the tree structure.

(5) Which book is Sarah reading?