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Linglib.Studies.Corbett1998

Corbett 1998: Morphology and Agreement #

[Cor98]

The Handbook of Morphology chapter. §1 defines agreement via systematic covariance and fixes the controller/target/domain/features vocabulary, including anaphoric pronouns in the wider sense. §2: "There are three indisputable agreement features, gender, number and person." §2.4 classifies the remaining covariant dimensions by the asymmetry criterion: case "is imposed on the noun phrase by government ... This is not agreement, if we take seriously the question of asymmetry"; definiteness (Arabic) is likewise "imposed on the noun phrase as a whole". The chapter's claim is thus a partition of covariance facts, not a denial of them — adjective-noun case covariance is conceded ("both do indeed stand in the same form").

We encode §2.4's classification (imposedDims) and derive §2's three (agreementFeatures), then check the partition against the Russian agreement profile instantiated by the chapter's examples (1)-(5). The mechanism question remains open in the current literature; the rival reading of the same facts is Studies/AlexeyenkoZeijlstra2025.lean, which carries case through the nominal projection alongside φ.

source
def Corbett1998.imposedDims :
Finset Agreement.Dimension

§2.4's classification: dimensions whose value is imposed on the noun phrase from outside (by government, or as phrase-level marking) rather than determined by an asymmetric controller — case (5) and definiteness (Arabic).

Equations
Instances For
    source
    theorem Corbett1998.mem_allDims (d : Agreement.Dimension) :
    d ∈ Corbett1998.allDims✝

    allDims enumerates every dimension (guards against enum growth).

    source
    def Corbett1998.agreementFeatures :
    Finset Agreement.Dimension

    The agreement features: covariant dimensions NOT imposed on the NP — derived from the §2.4 classification, not stipulated.

    Equations
    Instances For
      source
      theorem Corbett1998.indisputable_three :
      agreementFeatures = {Agreement.Dimension.person, Agreement.Dimension.number, Agreement.Dimension.gender}

      §2: "There are three indisputable agreement features, gender, number and person" — as derived from §2.4's classification.

      source
      theorem Corbett1998.russian_attr_case_covariant_but_imposed :
      Agreement.Dimension.case ∈ Russian.Agreement.profile Agreement.Target.attributive ∧ Agreement.Dimension.case ∈ imposedDims

      Russian attributive adjectives covary in case ((5) v nov-om avtomobil'-e 'in a new car'), yet §2.4 classifies case as imposed: the covariance fact and the agreement classification come apart exactly here.

      source
      theorem Corbett1998.russian_attr_agreement :
      Russian.Agreement.profile Agreement.Target.attributive ∩ agreementFeatures = {Agreement.Dimension.number, Agreement.Dimension.gender}

      What Russian attributive adjectives AGREE in on the chapter's classification — the covariance profile restricted to agreement features: gender and number ((1)-(4)).

      source
      theorem Corbett1998.pronoun_target_covaries :
      Russian.Agreement.profile Agreement.Target.personalPronoun ≠ ∅

      §1: pronouns are agreement targets in the wider sense — the Russian personal pronoun covaries (in gender and number) with its antecedent.