ENGL 107 Study Guide - Final Guide: List Of Fables Characters

Reasoning and Argumentation

2.1 Simple Sentences 

A. What DP is the antecedent of himself in (5)? Explain your reasoning. 

(5) The boy wrote a letter after embarrassing himself.

B. Why are the following sentences unacceptable? Explain your reasoning for each.

(6) *[The boy] i said that PRO i likes milkshakes.

(7) *[The boy] i said that [the girl] g wants to PRO i drink milkshakes. 

(8) *Julia j bought a coffee after feeding her j . 

2.2 English Raising v. Control 

The verb attempt can take DP complements and infinitival CP complements:

(9) The students attempted the assignment.

(10) The students attempted to complete the assignment.

Argue for one of the following hypotheses about attempt:

Hypothesis A1: attempt is a raising verb.

Hypothesis B1: attempt is a control verb.

A. Use the expletive subject test to show whether attempt is a raising or control verb.

(i) Come up with your own acceptable sentence using attempt.

(ii) Apply the expletive subject test to that sentence, give the resulting sentence.

(iii) State whether the new sentence is acceptable or not.

(iv) If attempt were a raising verb, would we predict that the sentence should be good? Explain why (2-3 sentences)

(v) If attempt were a control verb, would we predict that the sentence should be good? Explain why (2-3 sentences) 

(vi) State which hypothesis your test supports.

B. Use the idiom test to show whether attempt is a raising or control verb.

(i) Use the idiom: The cat is out of the bag.

(ii) Use the idiom above to test whether attempt is a raising/control verb. Show the resulting sentence

(iii) If attempt were a raising verb, what readings should be possible with for the sentence you came up with above? Explain why (2-3 sentences) 

(iv) If attempt were a control verb, what readings should be possible with for the sentence you came up with above? Explain why (2-3 sentences) 

(v) State which hypothesis your test supports.

2.3 Kannada Ditransitives 

Looking at data from Kannada, a Dravidian language primarily spoken in southwest India. Kannada is an SOV language. Here are two examples sentences using the ditransitive verb kalis, which is similar to the English verb ‘to send’. The words are the same, but you’ll notice that the word order is different.

(11) a.

Amit Mona-ge       pustaka-vannu        kalis-iKoTT-a.

Amit Mona-DAT     book-ACC                send-BEN-3 SM

‘Amit sent a/the book to Mona.’

b. Amit pustaka-vannu Mona-ge              kalis-iKoTT-a.

Amit book-ACC             Mona-DAT           send-BEN-3 SM

‘Amit sent a/the book to Mona.’

In this sentence, the verb takes three arguments: (i) the agent Amit (a name), (ii) the goal Mona (another name), and (iii) the theme pustaka (‘book’). The -ge that is attached to Amit is a Dative Case marker (in this case it’s similar to the English preposition ‘to’). The suffixc -vannu is the marker for Accusative Case. There are two suffixes on the verb: the first is -iKoTT, which indicates a benefactive reading (glossed BEN). The exact meaning of the morpheme doesn’t matter. The second suffix -a marks subject-verb agreement.

Your job in this section is to determine whether the goal argument in the ditransitive c-commands the theme or vice versa. DO NOT try to diagram the sentence. You need to argue for one of the two hypotheses below based on the data provided alone.

Hypothesis A2: kalis’s GOAL argument c-commands the THEME. Hypothesis B2: kalis’s THEME c-commands the GOAL.

Use the data in (12) to answer the questions below.

A. Which hypothesis is correct? A or B? 

B. Explain your reasoning. Be sure to explain the reasoning behind how you came to your conclusion. 

(12) a.
Amit x Mona m -a           pustaka-vannu aval ∗m/k -ge       kalis-iKoTT-a. 

Amit Mona-GEN              book-ACC         3f.pronoun-DAT  send-BEN-3 SM

‘Amit sent Mona’s book to her.’

b. Amit x aval ∗m/k -ge        Mona m -a      pustaka-vannu kalis-iKoTT-a.

    Amit     3f.pronoun-DAT    Mona-GEN book-ACC            send-BEN-3 SM

‘Amit sent Mona’s book to her.’

Your task is to use the data below to answer questions about how relative clauses (RCs) are formed in Bangla. Bangla is an SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language. The basic structure of a simple clause in Bangla is given in (7). (8) is also relevant (note that Bangla, unlike English, does not use a copula like ’is/are’ in such sentences).

(7) oi bacca-ra film-gulo dheke.

those kid-plural movie-plural watch

‘Those kids watch films.’

(8) film-gulo bhalo.

film-plural good

‘The films are good.’

Now consider the following sentences. (9) is a grammatical sentence that contains an RC. (10) is an ungrammatical sentence that cannot be used in Bangla.

(9) film-gulo je-gulo oi bacca-ra dekhe bhalo.

‘The films that the kids watch are good.’

(10) *film-gulo je-gulo oi bacca-ra film-gulo dekhe bhalo.

Based on the sentences above, answer this question:

A. Which words make up the RC in (9)? 

B. Does the RC contain a relative pronoun? If so, what is it? 

It is argued that in order to build a relative clauses in English, one has to move a relative pronoun/operator from a base position inside TP to the specifier of CP. Is a similar analysis required for Bangla? Consider the two following hypotheses about relative clauses in Bangla (only one of which is correct):

• Hypothesis A: RCs in Bangla require movement of an operator/relative pronoun.

• Hypothesis B: RCs in Bangla DO NOT require movement of an operator/relative pronoun.

Now answer these questions. Your answers should be complete, but succinct. Your answers should also be precise and use terminology correctly. Remember: your answers should discuss the Bangla examples (Bangla words, Bangla morphemes, Bangla word order), NOT their English translations!

C. Does Hypothesis A predict that Bangla RCs should contain a gap? Why or why not? 

D. Does Hypothesis B predict that Bangla RCs should contain a gap? Why or why not? 

E. Is there a gap in (9)? Describe what evidence you think that there IS for a gap, or why you think there IS NOT a gap. That is, which sentences above give evidence for a gap? What part of the sentence(s) are evidence for the gap? (HINT: You will want to consider word order in (7)). 

F. (10) is ungrammatical. Does Hypothesis A predict that? Explain why or why not.

G. (10) is ungrammatical. Does Hypothesis B predict that? Explain why or why not.

H. Based on your answers above, state which hypothesis you think is correct. 

The sentences below give you more information about relative clauses and sentence structure in Bangla. The following sentence is ungrammatical in Bangla:

(11) *film-gulo oi bacca-ra dekhe bhalo.

Answer this question:

I.  We saw that English has zero-relatives. Does Bangla? State how the sentence in (11) tells you one way or another.

Finally, consider the sentences below. (b) gives you one extra piece of information that you didn’t know from above: Instead of prepositions, Bangla has post-positions. This means that the Bangla equivalent of words like for, with, from ... come after their complements. (13) shows you an acceptable RC. Note that instead of je, we see the word jar. (14) is an unacceptable RC. Careful: Do not rely on the English translations to figure out the structure of the Bangla sentences!

(12) a.      maa-er shaathe

                  mom with

                  ‘With mom.’

b. oi bacca-ra shobshomoy maa-er shaathe film dekhe.

those kid-plural always        mom with            film watch

‘Those kids always watch movies with mom.

(13) mohila jar sathe oi bacca-ra shobshomoy film dekhe khub shundor.

woman REL with those kids            always          film watch very beautiful

‘The woman that the kids always watch films with is very beautiful.’

(14) *mohila jar oi bacca-ra shobshomoy sathe film dekhe khub shundor.

woman REL those kids          always            with film watch very beautiful

Answer these questions with the sentences above in mind:

J. Is jar a relative pronoun (like who/which in English) or a complementizer (like that in English)? How can you tell? 

K. Does Bangla allow post-position-stranding? How can you tell?