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Studies.Kenstowicz1987

Kenstowicz (1987): The Phonology and Syntax of Wh-Expressions in Tangale #

This file formalizes Kenstowicz's argument that the blocking of phrasal phonological rules reveals surface syntax "that we did not already know". Tangale elision and tonal delinking apply obligatorily between a verb and its object ((15b), (15e)) but are blocked before a wh-object ((15c), (15f)); a sandhi rule sensitive to the [wh] feature is rejected both on interface grounds and by the minimal pair (16), where a wh-possessor inside NP triggers elision (ayab noŋ 'whose banana'). The solution is syntactic: wh-subjects obligatorily postpose to a position with "the force of the English cleft" (18), the Focus position, and apparently in-situ wh-objects occupy it string-vacuously, so a constituent boundary blocks the sandhi. Elision then tracks government exactly (elision_tracks_government), and the [wh] feature does not factor it (elision_not_factor_through_wh).

References #

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inductive Kenstowicz1987.Juncture :
Type

The junctures at which the sandhi rules are tested ((4)–(5), (15)–(16)).

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    @[instance_reducible]
    instance Kenstowicz1987.instDecidableEqJuncture :
    DecidableEq Juncture
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    @[instance_reducible]
    instance Kenstowicz1987.instReprJuncture :
    Repr Juncture
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    def Kenstowicz1987.instReprJuncture.repr :
    Juncture → ℕ → Std.Format
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    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
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      def Kenstowicz1987.elides :
      Juncture → Bool

      Whether elision (and delinking) is observed to apply at the juncture ((4a, b), (5a–c), (15c, f), (16a, b)).

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        def Kenstowicz1987.secondIsWh :
        Juncture → Bool

        Whether the juncture's second element is a wh-word.

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          def Kenstowicz1987.governed :
          Juncture → Bool

          Whether the juncture is a government configuration under the Focus-position analysis. Head–complement and verb–object are, and adjuncts and subjects are not. A wh-object sits in the postverbal Focus position across a constituent boundary (string-vacuous postposing, as with the obligatorily postposed wh-subjects of (18)), and a wh-possessor has no NP-internal Focus position and stays in situ.

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.elision_not_factor_through_wh :
            ¬Function.FactorsThrough elides secondIsWh

            The rejected account makes elision a function of the [wh] feature of the second word. It is not one, since wh-objects block elision while wh-possessors trigger it ((15c, f) vs (16a, b)).

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.elision_tracks_government (j : Juncture) :
            elides j = governed j

            On Kenstowicz's solution elision tracks government exactly, once apparently in-situ wh-objects are placed in the postverbal Focus position. The blockage is a syntactic discovery made by phonology.

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.wh_object_cell_audible :
            Tangale.blockedForm ≠ Tangale.elidedForm

            In (15d–f) the verb surfaces before a wh-object in the blocked (faithful) form (dobgo noŋ) and before a plain object in the elided–repaired form (dobug Malay), audibly distinct by [Kid85]'s cascade.