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This paper challenges the hypothesis that ideophonic sequences are syntactic structures built from lexical roots by the recursive operation Merge through the mediation of a functional head, taken to be either a coordinate (Corver 2015) or a determiner (Corver 2023). Drawing on Generative Grammar theory and new data from Brazilian Portuguese, we argue that the evidence for this hypothesis is weak at best. We first show that these sequences do not behave consistently as constituents. While they can stand alone, be coordinated, and resist intrusion, they fail to undergo movement and ellipsis. Taken together, this suggests that they are most likely linear sequences. They lack the formal features responsible for mediating grammatical interactions with the surrounding syntactic context and on which asymmetric structures are built. Moreover, the evidence on which Corver relies is mostly phonological and as such does not provide strong support for the conclusion that ideophonic sequences are asymmetric structures. Following the general tenets of Minimalism, we conclude that, in the absence of strong and uncontroversial evidence, it is best to assume that sequences formed by canonical ideophones are linear strings or symmetric structures distinct from ordinary syntactic phrases.

Vocative expressions have been neglected in linguistic inquiry until very recently. This article provides a novel approach to the study of vocatives based on correlating the syntax and discourse at the interface. Syntactically, we provide empirical evidence that vocatives are visible to syntactic computation, belong to the C-domain, and discoursally perform a performative \"at-issue\" content/meaning exactly like aboutness topics (A-topics), based on a common selective property of both constituents. They select from a set of available things/people an entity the sentence is about, and are linked to the T-domain via coreferentiality between the vocativized A-topic and the thematic subject of imperatives, i.e., pro, thus correlating both components of the grammar at the interface.

Spears 1998 discusses a use of the word ass in African American English (AAE) in sentences like They done arrested her stupid ass and I'm gonna sue her ass. We refer to DPs like her stupid ass generically as the ACC (ass camouflage construction), and we view the ACC as an instance of a universal grammatical phenomenon we call camouflage. The ACC is also attested in non AAE dialects of American English (Beavers & Koontz-Garboden 2006a). For certain syntactic properties, the possessor of the ACC behaves as if it were external to the larger DP (e.g. binding, control, selection); for others, it behaves as if it were internal to the larger DP (e.g. finite verb agreement, traditional constituent-structure tests). To account for this dual behavior, we propose that the ACC possessor DP originates in a position external to the ACC, and moves into its possessor position. We discuss the implications of our analysis for other areas of AAE syntax, including the resumptive-with construction, a previously undocumented grammatical phenomenon, and the use of self in various constructions, which we suggest are illuminated by the notion camouflage. We briefly consider arguable instances of camouflage crosslinguistically in languages such as Georgian, French, the Mayan languages K'ekchi and Tzotzil, and Yoruba. Genuine similarities between the ACC and these other constructions support our perspective on the ACC.

This chapter focuses on double object structures (or ditransitive structures) and the common alternations of the first object with prepositionally marked ones. It considers two patterns: Class A ditransitives and Class B ditransitives. It also examines an approach that treats the first object of a ditransitive as a preposition phrase (PP) with an invisible P. Ditransitive first objects have various characteristic properties including inseparability from the verb, passivizability, and incompatibility with object raising and complex determiner phrase (DP) shift. The contrasting properties of first and second objects of a ditransitive can be attributed to differences of semantic roles borne by the relevant DPs. The chapter also discusses the links between Array 2 single objects and ditransitive first objects, links between Array 1 single objects and ditransitive second objects, and problems in Spanish and German.

Previous research has reported that bilingual children sometimes produce mixed noun phrases with ‘correct’ gender agreement – as in der dog (der being a masculine determiner in German and the German word for “dog”, hund, being masculine as well). However, these could obviously be due to chance or to the indiscriminate use of a default determiner. In the current study, we established with high statistical reliability that each of three German–English bilingual children, of 2–4 years of age, produced such mixed NPs with ‘correct’ agreement at significantly greater than chance levels. Also noteworthy was the fact that all three children produced such NPs with German determiners and English nouns much more frequently than the reverse. These findings provide a solid statistical foundation for further studies into the phenomenon of mixed noun phrases with ‘correct’ gender agreement.

There are two competing views to explain imposters: the notional view and the syntactic view. According to the notional view, imposters are just regular third person determiner phrases (DPs) as far as their syntax is concerned. The syntactic view considers imposters a class of DPs with a distinctive syntax that accounts for their non-third person denotations. More precisely, imposters have first or second person denotations because their grammatical structure incorporates only first or second person forms. Imposters incorporate exactly the kind of DPs that have such denotations in non-imposter cases, that is, first or second person pronominals.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Lexical Structure Modifiers Determiners N‐Movement

This chapter focuses on the coordination between two or more determiner phrases (DPs) with different person values and considers the basic law governing the assignment of person values in conjunctive coordination. It also demonstrates how to account for the facts of person assignment in coordinate structures with imposter and camouflage conjuncts. Before considering how the person values of coordinate structures involving imposters and camouflage DPs are determined, the chapter considers the more basic case of coordinate structures involving ordinary, non-imposter/non-camouflage DPs. It then discusses secondary sources in coordinate person assignment, a modified account of key conjunct, and illegal person value assignment. It also presents examples of a coordinate structure having as a conjunct a third person pronoun anteceded by an imposter or a camouflage DP, describes an unusual constraint on pronominal fusion that arises when one of the antecedents is an imposter or a camouflage DP, and analyzes the distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plurals.