This article points out that any reformulation of Pair-MERGE as Set-MERGE based on Zermelo-Fraenkel Set-Theory with the Axiom of Choices (ZFC) (Omune 2018; Nakashima 2022) faces both conceptual and empirical problems. First, we show that it inevitably violates the Principle of Determinacy (Chomsky 2019a, 2019b). Second, we demonstrate that the ZFC-based reformulation of Pair-MERGE as Set-MERGE does not explain the observation that a raised NEG in English licenses an NPI in its c-commanding domain. We conclude that the reformulation of Pair-MERGE based on ZFC is untenable and the current minimalist model which adopts the system of MERGE (Chomsky 2019a, 2019b; a.o.) must assume Pair-MERGE, or possibly Form Sequence (Chomsky 2021) as an independent operation apart from Set-MERGE.

Cette étude porte sur le changement linguistique en lien avec la référence temporelle au futur en français québécois du 21e siècle dans les données du Corpus de français parlé au Québec (CFPQ), qui couvrent la période 2006–2019. Trois variantes sont analysées: le présent du futur (PDF), le futur fléchi (FF) et le futur périphrastique (FP). Bien que plusieurs contraintes identifiées précédemment jouent un rôle semblable dans la variation (p. ex. la polarité, la présence de locutions adverbiales temporelles), la présente étude montre les taux les plus élevés de PDF en français québécois parmi les études antérieures consultées. Selon une interprétation en temps apparent, il y a une augmentation du PDF en contexte affirmatif et négatif qui n’est pas attribuable à un effet lexical. Ce résultat suggère que le PDF jouerait un rôle important dans le changement en cours par rapport à la référence temporelle au futur en français québécois.

I investigate the interaction of Ā-movement, long-distance agreement (LDA), and clause type in Passamaquoddy (Eastern Algonquian) as a lens into the structure of the left periphery. I observe that we must distinguish three LDA patterns in the language: (i) LDA into complements of verbs like ’kocicihtun ‘know’ (“epistemic complements”), which is generally free (i.e. not A-local), but is restricted to the wh-DP under long-distance wh-movement; (ii) LDA into direct perception complements, which is always free, even when long-distance wh-moving a DP; and (iii) LDA into complements of verbs like ’pawatomon ‘want’ (“subordinative complements”, featuring verbs inflected in the subordinative verbal paradigm), which is always subject to A-locality, even when long-distance wh-moving a DP. I propose that these three patterns arise from independently-diagnosable differences in clause size: epistemic complements are full, phasal CPs, direct perception complements are reduced, nonphasal CPs, and subordinative complements are (nonphasal) bare TPs.

Cette contribution examine la production des voyelles nasales du français chez les apprenants néerlandophones belges. Elle innove en ce qu’elle allie l'« intelligibilité » des voyelles non natives, évaluée par des auditeurs représentant Paris et Liège, à une analyse acoustique centrée sur la « nativité phonétique ». Les stimuli sont des mots monosyllabiques de haute fréquence produits par 20 apprenants néerlandophones. Les résultats indiquent que l’intelligibilité des nasales non natives est plutôt élevée, exception faite de /ɑ̃/. En outre, les deux groupes d’auditeurs ne diffèrent pas dans leur compréhension des voyelles, à l’exception de /ε̃/, que les Liégeois identifient plus souvent. Cette différence peut être liée à l’impact de (i) la variation en L1 ou (ii) la familiarité des auditeurs belges avec la parole néerlandaise. Enfin, l’étude montre que ce n’est pas tant la nasalité même qui pose des difficultés de production aux apprenants néerlandophones, mais l’interaction avec le timbre vocalique.

Van der Auwera and Plungian’s map of possibility and necessity paths, the main topic of the workshop from which this special issue emerged, offers a rearrangement of Bybee et al.’s data on grammaticalization paths in the domain of modality along three dimensions: necessity vs. possibility, pre-modal vs. modal vs. post-modal, and participant-internal vs. participant-external. In this article, I will argue for a different interpretation of ‘post-modality’ and a different model for dealing with the data. With respect to the pre-modal/modal/post-modal distinction, I will point out that most of the ‘post-modal’ functions are in fact still modal. Furthermore, I will point out that the overall direction of change is not towards ‘non-modal’ but rather an increase in discourse orientation. At the late stages in the development of modal meaning, dubbed as ‘post-modal’ in van der Auwera and Plungian, it signifies a shift toward meanings and functions that contribute to the construction of discourse. Additionally, in various hierarchical models of grammar, modal expressions unidirectionally shift into higher positions that correspond to a higher degree of discourse orientation, thus providing independent confirmation for the model of change proposed here.

Le présent article propose une caractérisation du phénomène linguistique de la distanciation, qui permet au locuteur de se désengager d’un premier contenu discursif, à partir de l’examen d’un certain nombre de propriétés constitutives. Nous prendrons comme témoins trois marqueurs de discours du français contemporain, formés sur le verbe dire: c’est vite dit, c’est beaucoup dire, c’est toi qui le dis. Notre conviction est que l’étude en parallèle des caractéristiques spécifiques permettant de distinguer une relation discursive, d’une part, et, de l’autre, du fonctionnement sémantico-pragmatique des marqueurs de discours, apportera un éclairage fructueux sur la question.

The fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the Survey of Canadian English presents a unique opportunity to examine change in Canadian English over five decades of real time. A partial replication of the original survey was therefore conducted in 2023-24, gathering a similar number of responses (approximately 14,000) from every province of Canada. The new survey reprised 45 of the old survey’s questions, including variables of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling, many of these contrasting British, American, and in some cases Canadian variants. A comparison of the two datasets at the aggregate level finds that the proportion of American variants has grown and continues to grow at the expense of British and Canadian variants, though not all variables show this trend and the spelling variables are generally an exception; that Canada’s provinces vary in the extent to which they display this shift; that vocabulary is more regionally variable than pronunciation, grammar or spelling; and that regional variation is declining today, compared to its prevalence in 1972.

The left periphery is commonly taken to be the locus of information-structural properties of utterances, hosting the topic and focus field, with the elements occupying left-peripheral positions being endowed with [Topic] and [Focus] features. In this article I show that not all constructions formed in the left periphery have information-structural characteristics of topics and foci, and propose that the relationship between the left periphery and the extended projection of the verb should be re-evaluated. I first explore the left periphery in two typologically distinct languages, Wolof (West Atlantic, Senegal) and Igala (Yoruboid, Nigeria), and show that constructions with topics and A'-extracted elements in the two languages share some typical properties of such structures cross-linguistically. I then turn to clauses with nominal predicates in the two languages, and show that they are formed in the left periphery, with the predicate moving to the syntactic position otherwise reserved for A'-extracted exhaustified elements, and the subject occupying the position of the topic. Crucially, clauses with nominal predicates do not exhibit the information-structural properties otherwise associated with the two left-peripheral positions, meaning that endowing those positions with features such as [Topic] and [Focus] does not yield adequate empirical coverage. However, both positions exhibit formal syntactic properties of left-peripheral elements. I do not propose a new analysis in this article, but lay out the issues which an analysis of the left periphery should capture, and propose avenues for further research.

The E(xtended) P(rojection) P(rinciple) (specifically, in its guise as a movement-triggering feature in designated syntactic heads), has been a thorn in the Minimalist side since the mid-1990s. Recently, in the context of attempts to reduce syntactic mechanisms to their minimal expression, the generative operation Merge has been defined as unordered set formation (“Simplest Merge”), and the EPP has been pronounced dead in favour of conditions over labelling which force phrasal movement in order to dissolve ‘symmetry points’. This article compares several theoretical analyses and shows that very simple cases of {XP, YP} copular constructions in Spanish satisfy all requirements for labelling without the need to resort to Internal Merge (IM). Therefore, if there is IM of a DP it must be motivated by reasons other than labelling. Once such a reason exists, the elimination of EPP on labelling grounds becomes dubious.

This article investigates the polyfunctionality of the Italian adverb pure ‘also’ and its relationship with post-modal meanings. Beside its prototypical use as an additive focus adverb, pure displays secondary uses which involve categories that fall within the post-modal domain, such as concessivity, speech act marking, and illocutionary modification. Drawing on newly extracted corpus data, this article shows (i) how the additive semantics of pure lends itself to cover different discourse-pragmatic functions, (ii) describes their features and the connections between them, and (iii) highlights patterns of semantic change. The results contribute to shed light on the internal structure of the post-modal domain and on the different development paths leading to it. Special attention has been given to illocutionary modification, both in terms of the range of functions which can be subsumed under this category and its position in a layered model of grammar.

Yào in Mandarin, typically a modal, has subjunctive-like uses in complement clauses. Such uses are textual in that they signal interclausal modal cohesion between the main verb and the complement clause in a construction known as the pivotal manipulative construction. They fall into three types, depending on the relationship between yào and the main verb. All three likely originate from complement clauses negated by prohibitives. However, despite a common origin, two of the types are diachronically later and more contentful, rather than procedural. Therefore, it is proposed that the development of uses in complement clauses out of modality proper does not necessarily involve unidirectional increases in procedural meaning, as is often hypothesized.

This article explores patterns of agreement and word order in the Central Algonquian language Border Lakes Ojibwe. This variety of Ojibwe shows alternations between VOS and VSO word orders and complex interactions between probes on Voice, Infl, and C. I show that the behaviour of lower probes feeds and bleeds the possible agreement and movement relations on each subsequent probe. These complex interactions culminate with the peripheral agreement marker on C, which shows a curious pattern that I dub reverse omnivority, where the probe agrees with lower ranked arguments over higher ranked arguments regardless of whether it is a logical subject or object. The core theoretical innovation is an extension of the syntactic operation agree to encode a relativized EPP, which captures variation and restrictions on movement and the possibility of movement and feature copying being independent. The account provides a strong case for Ojibwe as a configurational language, and is shown to capture variation in agreement and word order in various corners of Ojibwe and beyond.

This squib brings attention to a longstanding puzzle regarding the mechanism driving the strong polarity effect on future temporal reference in French. Our study presents new findings from two corpora of Parisian French, where negative contexts with n-words significantly favour the usage of synthetic future compared to contexts with the negative marker pas, in contrast to Laurentian French, where synthetic future is predominantly used in all negative contexts. We suggest that these differences pattern with another variation phenomenon, negative concord, and that the solution to the puzzles lies in the syntactic and semantic properties of negative expressions.

Cette étude se concentre sur la dissidence linguistique du français mitchif, une variété en voie de disparition du français laurentien, parlée par un nombre diminuant de Métis de l’Ouest canadien. L’analyse se focalise sur l’utilisation des marqueurs de conséquence (ça) fait (que), donc, alors et so dans un corpus comprenant une cinquantaine d’entretiens recueillis au sein de la communauté métisse de Saint-Laurent, au Manitoba, durant les années 1980. Les résultats internes soutiennent l’hypothèse d’une parenté linguistique avec d’autres variétés du français laurentien. En parallèle, les données externes indiquent une nette dominance de la variante (ça) fait (que), renforçant ainsi le caractère fortement vernaculaire du français michif en comparaison avec d’autres variétés du français laurentien. Enfin, l’analyse d’extraits d’entrevues démontre que l’utilisation soutenue des variantes vernaculaires joue un rôle crucial en tant que marqueur identitaire, permettant aux locuteurs de revendiquer leur appartenance culturelle ainsi qu’une langue qu’ils perçoivent comme distincte de celle des autres francophones.

Nado.pred že.part! ‘Ça, alors !’ est la manière dont une personne parlant russe pourrait s’exprimer lorsqu’elle est prise de court, lorsqu’elle est frappée de surprise. Cet article propose d’expliquer cet emploi si particulier du modal nado (qui, comme nous le verrons, exprime une forme de nécessité, « il faut ») qui peut, lorsqu’il est utilisé conjointement à la particule énonciative že perdre son expression modale stricte et exprimer alors un ressenti du locuteur à un instant t. Ses usages feront également l’objet d’une analyse et d’une proposition de classification à travers la description d’énoncés russes en contexte.

We present a study in model comparison and model selection to explore cartographic theoretical proposals and test their generalization ability. Specifically, we test whether an asymmetry arises between stages of French with respect to the merge nature of topicalized elements, as proposed in Wolfe (2022). We explore quantitative and simple computational methods to test the model’s predictions compared to a series of control group models. In particular, we evaluate predictions with respect to intervention locality effects. We explore seven treebanks, representing three stages of French (Old French, Middle French, and contemporary French). Our results partially confirm Wolfe’s (2022) proposal. Additionally, two key elements emerge: one concerning the type of locality involved in movement, and the other relating to a cartographic approach to the syntax of genres/registers.

For the Inuit language, it is often claimed that verbal agreement occurs in the CP-domain, as it is sensitive to clause type, and that absolutive case assignment is connected to verbal agreement, because one argument always bears this case in any verbal construction. These claims are strengthened by the fact that absolutive arguments are often assumed to move to the CP-domain, since they obligatorily take wide scope over sentence-level operators like negation, and are interpreted as sentential or aboutness topics. Yet, absolutive case is also assigned in certain nominalized clauses, which lack verbal agreement. In this article, we analyze gerund and participial constructions in Inuktitut to determine the contexts in which absolutive case is assigned. We argue that absolutive case is not assigned through verbal agreement but is nevertheless tied to the CP-domain. More precisely, we claim that absolutive case is assigned in any clause endowed with illocutionary force and hence projecting ForceP bundled with TopP, which we assume is responsible for absolutive case assignment. We conclude that the assignment of absolutive case is a root phenomenon in the language, as it requires the clausal left periphery.

Verb doubling constructions in Mandarin such as CHI, wo (shi) chi le ‘As for eating, I (did) eat’, where the first verb is stressed, are perceived as incomplete if not followed by a continuing clause, but only when the copula shi is present do these constructions require a contrastive continuation marked by the coordinator keshi or buguo ‘but’. This article addresses these two puzzles by (i) analyzing verb doubling constructions as contrastive topic constructions where the initial stressed verb is a contrastive topic triggering a set of polar questions, and (ii) taking the copula shi to be a marker associated with contrastive topic. In particular, shi in a verb doubling construction presupposes that (a) there is at least one polar question Q which is an alternative of the current question under discussion, CQ, and entails CQ, and (b) Q has a negative answer. It is shown how the proposal accounts for the puzzles, and how it can be extended to VP doubling and object preposing constructions, both of which demonstrate similar incompleteness effects.