The aim of this dissertation is to explore the nature and limits of variation across different (i) linguistic phenotypes and (ii) cognitive phenotypes, showing that a strong parallel exists between the two. It is proposed that the same loci of variation can be identified across the two research programs: comparative linguistics, which deals with variation across languages and comparative biolinguistics, which has variation across pathologies among its research questions. In both cases, variation is shown to be confined to the externalization component of the language faculty. The picture on variation across pathologies is established on the basis of describing and comparing the grammars of aphasia, Specific Language Impairment, Down Syndrome, autism and schizophrenia. Variation is approached from a generative perspective. Arguments against presenting variation as syntactic or parametric are put forth on the basis of results obtained from a semi-automatic program analysis. The proposed analysis measures parametric relations in two pools of data that target the nominal domain and span over 32 contemporary and 5 ancient languages. In the absence of parameters, a novel acquisition algorithm is sketched out. This algorithm approaches the task of language acquisition from the very beginning and identifies the cognitive cues that guide the learner in each step of the acquisition process.

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The Nature and Limits of Variation across Languages and Pathologies

In this paper we consider echo and non-echo questions in Greek, realized either ex-situ or in-situ. We show that there are syntactic differences, depending on the position where the wh-phrase is realized, and that non-echo questions involve different types of quantification, namely exhaustive for in-situ and nonexhaustive for ex-situ. On the other hand, echo questions have no quantificational properties. We next provide novel evidence for the prosodic properties of the two types of questions, arguing that irrespectively of the position where the whelement is realized, there is a distinct prosodic pattern that disambiguates echo from non-echo questions.

In Situ, Ex Situ and (Non) Echo Questions

This dissertation is a study of the syntactic structure of noun phrases. In particular, this study focuses on the Pronoun-Noun Construction (PNC) which is composed of a non-possessive pronoun and a common noun as in We Tucsonans love rain. The core theme of this thesis lies in the idea that the PNC forms a natural class with the Demonstrative-Noun Construction (DNC). Though this idea is not radical (Giusti 1997, 2002), neither this claim nor its consequences has been adequately recognized or explored. This study advances this idea by demonstrating the existence of syntactic and semantic parallels between the PNC and the DNC. This hypothesis leads to a unified analysis of the two constructions: the pronoun merges in the specifier of an extended nominal projection and moves to [Spec, DP], on analogy with previous analyses of the structure of the DNC (Giusti 1997, 2002; Panagiotidis 2000; Rosen 2003). This proposed analysis necessitates reconsideration of important theoretical issues in syntax. In particular, the current analysis of the PNC implies a novel view of the DP-internal locus of person, which demarcates pronominal DPs from non-pronominal DPs. That is, the source of the valued person feature is the pronoun embedded in the DP, rather than the D head of the DP. This view of the locus of person leads in turn to a proposal of the agreement between PNC subject and predicate in which DP-internal agreement feeds DP-external agreement. Third, the proposed analysis of agreement provides a straightforward account for the optionality of the pronoun in the PNC across languages, if coupled with a pro-drop theory in which an empty category is postulated (e.g., Rizzi 1986). I justify the particular choice of a pro-drop theory by showing that the competing head-movement-based approaches to pro-drop (e.g., Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou 1998) not extendable to pro-drop in the PNC. Lastly, I show that the dislocation of demonstratives and pronouns to the left periphery of DP patterns with the wh-movement to the left periphery of CP in a given language. This constitutes a new piece of evidence for the parallelism between DP and CP. Evidence used in this thesis is primarily drawn from Modern Greek and English, with additional data from Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Hebrew Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

Pronoun-Noun Constructions and the Syntax of DP

This paper discusses a pair-list reading which we call the trapped pair-list reading, arising in long distance questions with three wh-phrases, two of which are embedded within a subordinate clause. Under the trapped pair-list reading, all three whs are answered, but only the two whs trapped inside the embedded clause can be paired. Based on evidence from a language with (overt) multiple wh-movement (Romanian), we argue that (lists of) trapped pair-list readings in English involve covert multiple partial wh-movement. On this proposal, trapped pair-list readings raise, for multiple partial wh-movement, the same canonical scope paradox that single partial wh-movement raises, since on the relevant list reading, all three whs have semantically wide, matrix scope, though syntactically, the (only) two whs that can be paired are trapped at the periphery of the subordinate clause. We suggest that this paradox can be resolved by extending Sternefeld (2001) and Liptak and Zimmermann's (2007) Indirect Dependency Approach to single partial-movement to multiple partial-movement. The basic insight driving this proposal is that the subordinate whs can be paired independently of the matrix wh because the subordinate clause can be interpreted as a multiple question on its own.

Trapped at the edge. On long-distance pair-list readings

Within the framework of Generative Grammar, a standard (hypo)thesis has been that a (broad) wh-parameter may distinguish between two types of languages: those that front wh-elements (e.g., English) and those that realize them in situ (e.g., Chinese). Wh-fronting languages may also attest in situ arrangements, and a tacit (hypo)thesis, tied to the one above, is that in situ configurations translate to echo questions, while fronting configurations are genuine (information-seeking) questions. Neat as this taxonomy might look like, more recently it has been shown that, in Modern Greek, which is a typically wh-fronting language, each wh-configuration may map to either meaning. On the assumption that syntax mediates between form and meaning, mapping the former to the latter, the question that the Modern Greek evidence raises is to what extent syntax regulates the form-meaning associations under consideration. In other words, the question is “how much” of the relevant semantics is registered in the corresponding syntactic structures. Capitalizing on already documented evidence from distribution, interpretation, and intonation, the present paper argues that syntax encodes certain aspects of the relevant semantics, and pans out a formal system that attributes other aspects of this semantics to a direct interaction between PF and LF, thereby recognizing the existence of this interface area. The theoretical import(ance) of this analysis (part of which is prefigured elsewhere) is that it revisits the standard organization of the Grammar, as viewed from a Minimalist perspective.

Wh-Inquiries into Modern Greek and Their Theoretical Import(ance)

Το μινιμαλιστικό πλαίσο προσέγγισης της φυσικής ανθρώπινης γλώσσας υποστηρίζeι ότι η σύνταξη μιας γλώσσας Γ αντιστοιχeί μια ορισμένη μορφή μe μια ορισμένη δομή στην ΦΔ, και μe μία ορισμένη σημασία στην ΛΔ. Μe αυτό ως δeδομένο, το ιδeατό ίσως σeνάριο, όσον αφορά στην διαφάνeια, θα ήταν ότι η αντιστοίχιση μeταξή μορφής και σημασίας eίναι ένα προς ένα. Μe άλλα λόγια, υπάρχeι τόση μορφή όση και σημασία. Κάτι τέτοιο θα υπονοούσe eπίσης ότι η αντιστοίχιση μορφής-σημασίας eίναι συμμeτρική. Η παρούσα διατριβή μeλeτά ορισμένeς πτυχές δομών eρώτησης μeρικής αγνοίας, και δομών eκκένωσης, στα Νέα Eλληνικά, και δeίχνeι ότι η eν λόγω αντιστοίχιση δeν eίναι απαραίτητα ένα προς ένα. Όσον αφορά στις δομές eρώτησης μeρικής αγνοίας, υποστηρίζeται ότι η ίδια μορφή μπορeί να σχeτίζeται μe πeρισσότeρeς από μια σημασίeς. Σχeτικά μe τις δομές eκκένωσης, προτeίνeται ότι φέρουν λιγότeρη μορφή απο σημασία. Μe βάση τα παραπάνω, το eπιχeίρημα θα έχeι ως eξής. Η σύνταξη παράγeι μορφή, και πeριορίζeι μέρος της σημασίας, eνώ ένα άλλο μέρος της σημασίας eισάγeται από την ΦΔ, όσον αφορά στις eρωτήσeις μeρικής αγνοίας, και την ΛΔ, σχeτικά μe τις δομές eκκένωσης. Τέλος, αφού η ΦΔ συνeισφέρeι στην σημασία, τότe η ΛΔ δομή βλέπeι την ΦΔ, και αντιστρόφως.

Wh-constructions and the division of labour between syntax and the interfaces

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Wh-constructions and the division of labour between syntax and the interfaces