A Cyclic Agree account of the Romance faire-infinitive: new evidence from Catalan
Anna Pineda, Michelle Sheehan
November 2021
 

Abstract: Despite certain complications stemming from the availability of both (i) optional Differential Object Marking and (ii) (for some speakers) Exceptional Case Marking, Catalan like Italian and French, displays a transitivity-sensitive pattern in causatives under FACERE whereby the causee can be realised as dative only where its complement is ‘transitive’. We propose an analysis of this pattern based on Cyclic Agree (building on Bobaljik & Branigan 2006, Béjar & Rezac 2009). On our approach, transitivity-sensitive dative arises where a probe agrees with a DP which requires case licensing, having previously probed (potentially defectively) a closer XP of any kind. Downward Cyclic Agree is possible, in this context, because neither goal c-commands the other, making them both visible to a single higher probe. This model captures the basic transitivity-sensitive pattern and the strict Person Case Constraint (PCC) effects observed in this domain as well as the fact that dative is triggered not only by DPs requiring structural/dependent case but also by ‘defective interveners’ (PPs, CPs, case-marked DPs/clitics). We show that this Agree-based account has potential advantages over competing dependent-case approaches because of its ability to handle: (i) c-command patterns between the causee and other arguments, (ii) the behaviour of PP complements and (iii) the strict PCC effects observed under FACERE in Catalan (and across Romance).
Format: [ pdf ]
Reference: lingbuzz/006320
(please use that when you cite this article)
Published in: To appear in Syntax
keywords: case, agreement, dependent case, pcc, case competitor, causative, dative, transitivity, morphology, syntax
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