Landau (2024): Empirical challenges to the Form-Copy Theory of Control

Landau assesses the Form Copy theory of obligatory control of Chomsky and colleagues, on which the controlled subject is a silent copy of the controller: the two are merged separately as structurally identical inscriptions, and Form Copy relates them as copies under c-command (Minimalist.SyntacticObject.copyRel) within a phase. Two of his challenges follow from that definition. Form Copy relates only structurally identical inscriptions, so it never relates a lexical controller to a pronoun, yet in Gã, Bùlì and San Martín Peras Mixtec the controlled subject must be an overt pronoun (pronoun_not_mem_copyRel). And Form Copy interprets copies alike, which makes its dependency exhaustive, so the partial reading of a controlled subject is not one Form Copy assigns (not_isExhaustive_pcReading): the theory must derive partial control from the deletion of a for-subject instead, which Landau argues undergenerates.

Implementation notes

The controlled subject of (46c) is the feminine clitic of the San Martín Peras Mixtec fragment. The semantic clause of Form Copy, copies interpreted in exactly the same way, is exhaustive control over the copy relation (Control.IsExhaustive).

TODO

The challenges from reconstruction (§3), from the optionality of Form Copy (§4), from control into phases (§5) and from control across the passive (§6.1).

References

• [Lan24b]
• [CSB+23]

def Landau2024b.tok (c : Minimalist.Cat) (sel : Minimalist.SelStack) (pf : String) (i : ℕ) : Minimalist.LexicalItem.Token

A token of the simple lexical item of category c selecting sel, pronounced pf.

Equations

• Landau2024b.tok c sel pf i = { item := Minimalist.LexicalItem.of c sel pf, id := i }

Controlled pronouns (46)

noncomputable def Landau2024b.naJuana : Minimalist.SyntacticObject

ña Juana, the controller of (46c).

Equations

• Landau2024b.naJuana = (↑(Landau2024b.tok Minimalist.Cat.D [Minimalist.Cat.N] "ña" 0)).merge ↑(Landau2024b.tok Minimalist.Cat.N [] "Juana" 1)

def Landau2024b.nya : Minimalist.SyntacticObject

The controlled subject of (46c), the feminine clitic =ñá.

Equations

• Landau2024b.nya = ↑(Landau2024b.tok Minimalist.Cat.D [] (Mixtec.SMPM.cl3 Mixtec.SMPM.Gender.Value.feminine).form 2)

theorem Landau2024b.pronoun_not_mem_copyRel (s : Minimalist.SyntacticObject) : (naJuana, nya) ∉ s.copyRel

Form Copy never makes the controlled pronoun of (46c) a copy of its lexical controller, in any object: the two are not structurally identical.

Partial control (§7)

def Landau2024b.john : Minimalist.SyntacticObject

John, the controller of (48a).

Equations

• Landau2024b.john = ↑(Landau2024b.tok Minimalist.Cat.N [] "John" 0)

def Landau2024b.john' : Minimalist.SyntacticObject

John again, from a fresh token: the controlled subject of (48a) on the Form Copy theory.

Equations

• Landau2024b.john' = ↑(Landau2024b.tok Minimalist.Cat.N [] "John" 3)

noncomputable def Landau2024b.arrangedToMeet : Minimalist.SyntacticObject

(48a) John arranged to meet at noon, the controller and the controlled subject merged separately into the theta positions of arranged and meet.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

theorem Landau2024b.john_mem_copyRel : (john, john') ∈ arrangedToMeet.copyRel

Form Copy relates the controller of (48a) to its controlled subject.

def Landau2024b.pcReading (x : Minimalist.SyntacticObject) : Set ℕ

The partial reading of (48a): the controlled subject denotes a group of John, 0, and an associate, 1.

Equations

• Landau2024b.pcReading x = if x = Landau2024b.john' then {0, 1} else {0}

theorem Landau2024b.isPartial_pcReading : Control.IsPartial pcReading arrangedToMeet.copyRel

The partial reading is partial on the copy relation: the controlled subject's group strictly contains John.

theorem Landau2024b.not_isExhaustive_pcReading : ¬Control.IsExhaustive pcReading arrangedToMeet.copyRel

So it is no interpretation Form Copy assigns, which gives copies one value: partial control needs a source other than Form Copy (§7).