Linguistische Berichte Heft 233

Fijian and Kiribati seem to represent “rich pronominal languages” (cf. Jelinek 1984, Baker 1995, 2001, 2003) with typical properties of non-configurational headmarking languages, such as free word order and pro-drop. I will argue, however, that these languages are configurational and that pre- and post-verbal pronominal-like subject and object morphemes are best analyzed as agreement markers. Evidence is provided from extraction and agreement asymmetries with arguments and from restrictions on the linear order of adjuncts. In addition, object markers that show up in long dependencies are best analyzed as agreement reflexes of successive cyclic A'-movement. These morphological reflexes can be interpreted as evidence of feature splitting in the sense of Chomsky (2008) and of the fact that successive-cyclic movement targets phase-edges. For the most part, the discussion is based on examples from Kiribati but similar phenomena are illustrated for Fijian.

The aim of this study is to assess the role of functional heads in German self-repairs. The analysis, embedded into the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Program, is based upon 814 empirically collected pieces of data consisting of self-repairs in utterances of monolingual adult speakers (n = 403) and monolingual children in the process of language acquisition (n = 411). As the survey shows, functional heads play a problematic role in the analysis of self-repairs. This results from the functional head being in itself a constant cause for self-reparation. Hence, the status of functional heads needs appropriate reconsideration. The common concept of attributed assistant characteristics is challenged hereby. Two constraints have to be established for maintaining these characteristics which are postulated in related literature. Furthermore, the process of lexical access to the mental lexicon and the operation of self-monitoring in speech production suggest to be discussed in connection with the results of this study.

This paper investigates the lexical distinctness of factive vs. non-factive predicates. It is shown that besides semi-factives, all factive classes have a non-factive reading which arises for pragmatic reasons when the factive reading is excluded due to a presupposition failure. A study which tested the acceptability of test samples containing presupposition failure under factives provides evidence that there is a lexical re-interpretation available for all factives which puts them close to attitude predicates. Using a satisfaction approach for the interpretation of factives as in Heim (1992), which examines the definedness conditions for presuppositions at local contexts, it is shown that this lexical re-interpretation changes the context necessary to satisfy the presupposition from a local context to the set of a holder's beliefs.

In this investigation I consider primarily coordinate structures in English, German and Dutch for determining what coordinate symmetries the semantic interface requires in them, and what these symmetry requirements suggest about the design of a generative grammar. Of particular interest is the fact that they, like many binding relations, extend across phase boundaries and thus challenge the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC), even without the assumption that all conjuncts are phases. I argue that if we assume that the interfaces determine conditions on the derivation, then it follows that the semantic interface must also be present at Selection so that all the semantic features required at Spell-Out are part of the numeration. The need for invasive interfaces of this sort is created by the limitations of Narrow Syntax and Selection, in particular that operations do not extend across phase boundaries and that semantic symmetry requirements are not checked in Narrow Syntax. To overcome this design limitation, I propose that many semantic symmetries are established at Selection with features chosen by an invasive semantic interface (Logical Form, LF), and that LF is also active in Narrow Syntax with feature valuation. In this way an invasive LF-interface prevents crashes at Spell-Out due to unacceptable semantic asymmetry in coordinate structures.