Jablonska - Word Order And Nominalizations

Word order and nominalizations 07.05.2009 • Strict vs free word order Languages display various degrees of word order flexibility. English is more strict than Polish: (1)

a. b. c. d. e.

John kissed the frog. (SVO) *Kissed John the frog. (VSO) *The frog kissed John. (OVS) *John the frog kissed. (SOV) *The frog John kissed. (OSV)

(2)

a. Janek pocałował z˙ ab˛e. (SVO) b. ?Pocałował Janek z˙ ab˛e (a Marysia kota, a Jola psa) (VSO) ˙ e pocałował Janek. (a kota kto´s inny) (OVS) c. Zab˛ d. Janek z˙ ab˛e pocałował. (a specific frog) (SOV) ˙ e Janek pocałował. (a kota pogłaskał) (OSV) e. Zab˛

However, there is only one unmarked word order and it’s the same in both Polish and English: (3)

Co si˛e stało?/ What happened?

(4)

a. Janek pocałował z˙ ab˛e./ John kissed the frog. (SVO) b. *VSO, *OVS, *SOV, *OSV

Any unmarked word order in Polish is accompanied by semnatic differences related to focusing, old vs new information in discourse, etc. English has other means to focus on particular constituents: (5)

a. b. c.

The frog, John kissed it. ← Topicalization What John did was kiss the frog. ← Pseudocleft It was John who kissed the frog. ← Cleft

In Topicalization the resumptive pronoun is obligatorily required in addition to the fronting of the topicalized phrase. Word order can depend on: (i) sentence polarity (i.e. affirmative vs question) (6)

a. b.

John has stolen the car. Has John stolen the car?

(ii) semantics of a particular verb: (7)

a. There arrived three messengers from London. b. *There telephoned three messengers from London.

(iv) root vs embedded contexts (cf. Swedish (8)) 1

(8)

a.

b.

Jag vill inte prata med dig. I want not talk with you ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ Han sade att han inte vill prata med mig. He said that he not want talk with me ‘He said he didn’t want to talk to me.’

(v) the relative ‘heaviness’ of a particular phrase: ‘heavy’ phrases tend to move to the right. (9)

a. b.

(10)

I gave the books which my uncle left to me as part of his inheritance to Bill. I gave to Bill the books which my uncle left to me as part of his inheritance. ← Heavy NP-shift

a. I gave the books to Bill. b. *I gave to Bill the books.

(9-b) is an example of Heavy NP-shift resulting in inversion of the canonical order of direct and indirect object (NP PP). In (10-b) the direct object is too light to be shifted. (11)

a. b. c. d.

I talk to my uncle who left me an enormous inheritance all the time. I talk all the time to my uncle who left me an enormous inheritance. ← Heavy NP-shift I understand the mathematical model of ideal gasses presented by Prof. Nesset perfectly. I understand perfectly the mathematical model of ideal gasses presented by Prof. Nesset.

In (11) the position of an object and an adjunct is inverted. (vi) certain stylistic or emphatic reasons: (12)

a. b. c. d.

Down the hill rolled the baby-cariage. ← Locative Inversion On the folds of his spotless clothing, above his left breast, glittered an enormous jewel. With talent comes responsibility. (Salzmann’s examples) Never have I seen such a beautiful actress! ← Negative Inversion

Exercises in Gethin on Negative Inversion. All modifiers of nouns generally precede them in English and Polish: (13)

a. bardzo zdolny student/ a very talented student (Adj-N) b. *student bardzo zdolny/ *a student very talented (*N-Adj)

But, if the modifier has a complement, it has to be postnominal: (14)

a. [The woman eager to start the show] waved us into the room. b. *The eager to start the show woman waved us into the room. 2

c. [The teams with good records] will meet in the second round. d. *The with good records teams will meet in the second round. e. An idea of mine/ yours/ hers. (cf. my/your/her idea) f. [several people staying in the hotel] g. *several staying in the hotel people Now compare (14) with their Polish equivalents. Classifying adjectives (i.e. those that assign a Noun to a particular class/category) in Polish must be postnominal: (15)

a. b. c.

oprogramowanie antywirusowe/ *antywirusowe oprogramowanie mecz piłkarski/ *piłkarski mecz papier toaletowy/ *toaletowy papier

All of the modifiers in (15) have equivalent N-N compounds in English: (16)

a. b. c.

antivirus software football match toilet paper

• Word order and adverbs/adverbials VP-modifying adverbs: (i) aderbs of frequency: always, ever, frequently, never, rarely, seldom, usually, etc. (ii) adverbs of manner: carefully, eagerly, fast, loudly, patiently, well, etc. (iii) adverbs of location: ahead, back, forward, here, low, near, outside, etc. (iv) adverbs of time: again, early, now, sometime, then, tonight, etc. (v) connecting adverbs: consequently, furthermore, however, otherwise, thus, etc. (i): can occupy a sentence initial, middle or sentence-final position: (17)

a. b. c. d.

Often the wind blows less strongly at night. The wind often blows less strongly at night. He speaks seldom. He visits her frequently.

In the middle position: (i) the adverb follows the verb to be; (ii) the adverb precedes all other verbs; (iii) the adverb follows the first auxiliary of a complex verb group; (iv) the adverb precedes the first auxiliary or the verb to be in short answers; (v) the adverb follows the negation particle (in questions only if not abbreviated). (18)

a. b. c. d.

We are always on time. He rarely makes mistakes. I have often wondered about that. have you seen this movie before? No, I never have. 3

e. f.

He doesn’t often go to the movies. Does he not usually know the answers? (cf. Doesn’t he usually ...?)

(ii): is usually put at the end, e.g. He ran quickly. In English it cannot separate the verb from its object. Other adverbs follow it, e.g. He read the whole book quickly at home yesterday. One word manner adverb can be put between the subject and the verb for emphasis: She distinctly pronounced all difficult English words. (iii): usually in the final position, follows adverb of manner (except for verbs of movement: He went home very quickly); obligatory location specification is always sentencefinal (e.g. He lived in Canada vs In Canada, he studied law). (iv): usually at the end, for emphasis at the beginning (Yesterday, he delivered a speech in the House of Commons; in a series of time adverbs the more specific information comes first. (v) depending on the adverb: (19)

a. b. c.

However, the results were relatively inconclusive. The results, however, were relatively inconclusive. The results were relatively inconclusive, however.

(20)

a. Furthermore, I will discuss the implications of the relevant model. b. I will furthermore discuss the implications of the relevant model. c. *I will discuss the implications of the relevant model, furthermore.

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