Grete Dalmi | University of Hamburg (original) (raw)
Papers by Grete Dalmi
Journal of Slavic Linguistics
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2020
De Gruyter eBooks, Jan 19, 2022
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2020
Linguistik aktuell, Nov 2, 2005
This comparative syntactic study claims that agreement is the most central functional category re... more This comparative syntactic study claims that agreement is the most central functional category responsible for licensing predication in finite, non-finite and small clauses alike. Intriguing syntactic phenomena like Icelandic infinitival predicates taking non-nominative (quirky) subjects; psych-impersonal and modal predicates in Italian, Hungarian and Russian; meteorological predicates, existential clauses, post-verbal and null subjects in the so-called null-subject VSO languages can all be better analyzed through a concept of predication that is closely related to AGRP, manifesting subject-verb agreement. The overt agreement marking in Hungarian and Portuguese infinitival clauses further strengthens this view. Obviation and control subjunctive clauses in the Balkan languages, Welsh finite and non-finite infinitival clauses as well as case-marked secondary predicates in Icelandic, Slovak, Hungarian, Russian and Finnish also lend support to an analysis where the [+pred] feature is checked in AGRP.
Argumentum, 2021
The present study deals with inclusory plural pronominal constructions, in which the referent of ... more The present study deals with inclusory plural pronominal constructions, in which the referent of the comitative phrase is included in the reference set of the plural pronoun. This is only possible if the comitative phrase is the complement of the pronoun. The comitative phrase can also be used as a verb modifying adjunct, when it is excluded form the reference set of the pronoun. These two uses can be tested by the binding relations of reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, as well as by topicalisation and focusing. The paper also dicussses the similarities and differences of inclusory pronominal consturctions and associative plurals. Both constructions denote [+animate] [+human] groups and obey similar lexical-semantic restrictions. At the same time, inclusory plural pronominal constructions are most often speaker-inclusive, while associative plurals denote 3PL groups.
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, Jun 15, 2021
The central concern of this volume is to show how the different types of Negative Concord manifes... more The central concern of this volume is to show how the different types of Negative Concord manifest themselves in Creole languages. Creoles offer an unprecedented field of study not only for Creolists but also for theoretical, historical, socio-, and psycholinguistic research. The kind of simplification of syntactic forms that characterizes Creoles reflects the creative power of the human brain, bringing about structures that can be acquired by Creole children more easily than can be the structures of the lexifier language (see Holm 2002). Negative Concord (NC) is a straightforward example of this creative power. The term itself refers to contructions wherein multiple negative items co-occur without rendering the clause positive. The rich selection of papers in this volume provides a faithful picture of Strict Negative Concord, Asymmetric Negative Concord, Expletive Negative Concord, Anti-Negative Concord, and negative polarity items (NPIs) in French-based, English-based, Portuguese-based, and other Creoles. The volume is divided into four parts, according to the lexifier language of the Creoles under discussion: Part I discusses French-related Creoles, like Guadeloupean, Haitian, and Mauritian. Part II deals with English-related Creoles such as Pichi, Vincentian, and Singapore English. Three Portuguese-related Creoles: Cape Verdean, Korlai Indo-Portuguese, and Guinea-Bissaou Kriyol, are discussed in Part III. Finally, Creoles based on other lexifiers, such as Palenquero, Sri Lankan Malay and Sri Lankan Portuguese, are dealt with in Part IV. Central to the syntactic phenomenon of Negative Concord are the issues of whether the multiple occurrences of negative items are intrinsically negative, and whether they have any quantificational force of their own (i.e., whether a negative item can license another negative item). In the so-called Strict Negative Concord languages (Giannakidou 2000, 2011), the abstract sentence negator (NEG) must be
LingBaW, Dec 30, 2015
This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theo... more This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theory of nonverbal predication that builds on alternative states, without making any reference to the Davidsonian spatiotemporal event variable. The existing theories of non-verbal predicates put the burden of explaining the difference between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations either solely on the non-verbal predicate, by postulating an event variable in their lexical layer (see Kratzer 1995; Adger and Ramchand 2003; Magri 2009; Roy 2013), or solely on the copular or non-copular primary predicate, which contains an aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition, responsible for such interpretive differences (
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, Nov 1, 2012
Linguistics Beyond and Within (LingBaW), 2017
While Hungarian 3SG individual reference null pronominals are in free variation with their lexica... more While Hungarian 3SG individual reference null pronominals are in free variation with their lexical counterparts, 3SG generic reference null pronominals do not show such variation. This follows from the fact that Hungarian 3SG generic null pronominals behave like bound variables, i.e. they always require a 3SG generic lexical antecedent in an adjacent clause. Both the 3SG generic lexical antecedent and the 3SG generic null pronominal must be in the scope of the GN operator, which is seated in SpeechActParticipantPhrase (SAPP), the leftmost functional projection of the left periphery in the sentence (see Alexiadou & D’Alessandro, 2003; Bianchi, 2006). GN binds all occurrences of the generic variable in accessible worlds (see Moltmann 2006 for English one/oneself). These properties distinguish Hungarian from the four major types of Null Subject Languages identified by Roberts & Holmberg (2010).
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 2013
This paper explores how weak erotetic vajon ‘whether, if…at all’ interacts with the interrogative... more This paper explores how weak erotetic vajon ‘whether, if…at all’ interacts with the interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’ in polarity questions and with wh -words in non-polarity and multiple wh -questions in Hungarian. Vajon ‘if…at all’, sitting in ForceP, forms an expletive–associate chain with FINP, which hosts the polarity interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’. Whenever the INT operator forms an OP-variable chain with the interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’, this chain blocks Long wh- movement out of subordinate clauses. Weak erotetic vajon ‘if…at all’ signals such OP-variable chains. The same holds for subordinate multiple wh -questions, where the INT…. wh- word chain blocks the extraction of another wh -word.
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 2014
1. List of contributors 2. List of abbreviations 3. List of figures 4. Editors' note 5. Prefa... more 1. List of contributors 2. List of abbreviations 3. List of figures 4. Editors' note 5. Preface 6. Introduction (by Grosu, Alexander) 7. The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian (by Franks, Steven L.) 8. Polish equatives as symmetrical structures (by Bondaruk, Anna) 9. Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement (by Danon, Gabi) 10. A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian (by Horvath, Julia) 11. The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions (by Krzek, Malgorzata) 12. The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian (by Dalmi, Grete) 13. Possessives within and beyond NP: Two ezafe- constructions in Tatar (by Pereltsvaig, Asya) 14. On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish (by Cetnarowska, Bozena) 15. Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish (by Bartnik, Artur) 16. Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs (by Katzir, Roni) 17. Transparent free relatives: two challenges for the grafting approach (by Grosu, Alexander) 18. Index
The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique, 2012
The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction ... more The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction established for German and Spanish by Maienborn is of wider crosslinguistic relevance. Stage-level and individual-level secondary predicates are both viewed here as K-states as they contain only a Kimian temporal variable but no Davidsonian event variable. Secondary predicates expressing a K-state may acquire the temporary/actual property interpretation when an alternative state entailment is added to them. In such cases the functional layer of the BE-predicate contains a syntactic operator (OPalt) that can bind the Kimian temporal variable in accessible worlds. If no such entailment is added, the same temporal variable is bound by the T0functional head of the BE-predicate in the actual world. The auxiliarytá/bhí‘be’ in Irish imposes the semantic restriction that its secondary predicate must contain the alternative state entailment. The copulais/ba‘be’, on the other hand, is used in the absence of such an entailment. Case obviation on the secondary predicate head in Russian copular sentences signals alternative state entailment, while case agreement on the secondary predicate appears in the absence of this entailment.
The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique, 2012
In conclusion, this book provides students and scholars of diachronic linguistics with a comprehe... more In conclusion, this book provides students and scholars of diachronic linguistics with a comprehensive introduction to the field of formal approaches to cyclic change. While staying focused on the general topic, it casts a wide net in terms of syntactic domains, languages, and formal approaches (though predominantly generative) and can thus prove useful as a textbook for a graduate seminar. It is important to stress, especially for those linguists who assume little value in historical linguistics with respect to formal linguistics, that this volume contains many compelling arguments for the use of dynamic aspects of language to shed light on the nature of the formal grammar itself.
I wish to thank the following people for their helpful comments and suggestions: Huba Bartos, Ann... more I wish to thank the following people for their helpful comments and suggestions: Huba Bartos, Anna Bondaruk, Veronika Hege Hansgorzata Krzek, Edith Moravcsik, Halldór Ármann Sigurðsson. 1 Abbreviations: ACC = accusative case; COM = comitative case (together with); COP = copula; DAT = dative case; DEF = definite; FORM = formalis case (in a given form/way); GN = generic inclusive operator/feature; INESS = inessive case (in); INF = infinitive; NOM = nominative case; POT = potentialis mood; PASS = passive voice; PAST = past tense; PFX – prefix; POSS = possessive suffix; PRES = present tense; PTCP = participle; RFL = reflexive; SBJ = subjunctive mood; SBL = sublative case (onto); TOP = topic.
Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 2021
This comparative syntactic study claims that the possessor of Russian and Hungarian BE-possessive... more This comparative syntactic study claims that the possessor of Russian and Hungarian BE-possessives neither originates nor lands in [Spec,VoiceP], the designated structural position of external arguments since Kratzer (1996). Possessive sentences universally describe a state with two eventuality participants, the possessor and the possessee (Stassen 2009). BE-possessives are built on dyadic-unaccusative existential BE. Neither of its two eventuality participants passes the agent/cause tests provided by Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou & Schäfer (2015). It is claimed here that possessive BE-sentences in Russian and Hungarian pattern with the piaceresubclass of psych-predicates, inasmuch as the possessor bears the oblique case and the theme appears in the nominative in them. In the cartographic model, the oblique experiencer of the piacere-type of psych-predicates targets a position higher than canonical, agent/cause subjects do (see Cardinaletti 1997, 2004; Rizzi 1997, 2004 for Italian). T...
Roczniki Humanistyczne, 2012
Journal of Slavic Linguistics
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2020
De Gruyter eBooks, Jan 19, 2022
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2020
Linguistik aktuell, Nov 2, 2005
This comparative syntactic study claims that agreement is the most central functional category re... more This comparative syntactic study claims that agreement is the most central functional category responsible for licensing predication in finite, non-finite and small clauses alike. Intriguing syntactic phenomena like Icelandic infinitival predicates taking non-nominative (quirky) subjects; psych-impersonal and modal predicates in Italian, Hungarian and Russian; meteorological predicates, existential clauses, post-verbal and null subjects in the so-called null-subject VSO languages can all be better analyzed through a concept of predication that is closely related to AGRP, manifesting subject-verb agreement. The overt agreement marking in Hungarian and Portuguese infinitival clauses further strengthens this view. Obviation and control subjunctive clauses in the Balkan languages, Welsh finite and non-finite infinitival clauses as well as case-marked secondary predicates in Icelandic, Slovak, Hungarian, Russian and Finnish also lend support to an analysis where the [+pred] feature is checked in AGRP.
Argumentum, 2021
The present study deals with inclusory plural pronominal constructions, in which the referent of ... more The present study deals with inclusory plural pronominal constructions, in which the referent of the comitative phrase is included in the reference set of the plural pronoun. This is only possible if the comitative phrase is the complement of the pronoun. The comitative phrase can also be used as a verb modifying adjunct, when it is excluded form the reference set of the pronoun. These two uses can be tested by the binding relations of reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, as well as by topicalisation and focusing. The paper also dicussses the similarities and differences of inclusory pronominal consturctions and associative plurals. Both constructions denote [+animate] [+human] groups and obey similar lexical-semantic restrictions. At the same time, inclusory plural pronominal constructions are most often speaker-inclusive, while associative plurals denote 3PL groups.
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, Jun 15, 2021
The central concern of this volume is to show how the different types of Negative Concord manifes... more The central concern of this volume is to show how the different types of Negative Concord manifest themselves in Creole languages. Creoles offer an unprecedented field of study not only for Creolists but also for theoretical, historical, socio-, and psycholinguistic research. The kind of simplification of syntactic forms that characterizes Creoles reflects the creative power of the human brain, bringing about structures that can be acquired by Creole children more easily than can be the structures of the lexifier language (see Holm 2002). Negative Concord (NC) is a straightforward example of this creative power. The term itself refers to contructions wherein multiple negative items co-occur without rendering the clause positive. The rich selection of papers in this volume provides a faithful picture of Strict Negative Concord, Asymmetric Negative Concord, Expletive Negative Concord, Anti-Negative Concord, and negative polarity items (NPIs) in French-based, English-based, Portuguese-based, and other Creoles. The volume is divided into four parts, according to the lexifier language of the Creoles under discussion: Part I discusses French-related Creoles, like Guadeloupean, Haitian, and Mauritian. Part II deals with English-related Creoles such as Pichi, Vincentian, and Singapore English. Three Portuguese-related Creoles: Cape Verdean, Korlai Indo-Portuguese, and Guinea-Bissaou Kriyol, are discussed in Part III. Finally, Creoles based on other lexifiers, such as Palenquero, Sri Lankan Malay and Sri Lankan Portuguese, are dealt with in Part IV. Central to the syntactic phenomenon of Negative Concord are the issues of whether the multiple occurrences of negative items are intrinsically negative, and whether they have any quantificational force of their own (i.e., whether a negative item can license another negative item). In the so-called Strict Negative Concord languages (Giannakidou 2000, 2011), the abstract sentence negator (NEG) must be
LingBaW, Dec 30, 2015
This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theo... more This paper aims to show that the four-way BE-system of Maltese can best be accommodated in a theory of nonverbal predication that builds on alternative states, without making any reference to the Davidsonian spatiotemporal event variable. The existing theories of non-verbal predicates put the burden of explaining the difference between the ad hoc vs. habitual interpretations either solely on the non-verbal predicate, by postulating an event variable in their lexical layer (see Kratzer 1995; Adger and Ramchand 2003; Magri 2009; Roy 2013), or solely on the copular or non-copular primary predicate, which contains an aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition, responsible for such interpretive differences (
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, Nov 1, 2012
Linguistics Beyond and Within (LingBaW), 2017
While Hungarian 3SG individual reference null pronominals are in free variation with their lexica... more While Hungarian 3SG individual reference null pronominals are in free variation with their lexical counterparts, 3SG generic reference null pronominals do not show such variation. This follows from the fact that Hungarian 3SG generic null pronominals behave like bound variables, i.e. they always require a 3SG generic lexical antecedent in an adjacent clause. Both the 3SG generic lexical antecedent and the 3SG generic null pronominal must be in the scope of the GN operator, which is seated in SpeechActParticipantPhrase (SAPP), the leftmost functional projection of the left periphery in the sentence (see Alexiadou & D’Alessandro, 2003; Bianchi, 2006). GN binds all occurrences of the generic variable in accessible worlds (see Moltmann 2006 for English one/oneself). These properties distinguish Hungarian from the four major types of Null Subject Languages identified by Roberts & Holmberg (2010).
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 2013
This paper explores how weak erotetic vajon ‘whether, if…at all’ interacts with the interrogative... more This paper explores how weak erotetic vajon ‘whether, if…at all’ interacts with the interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’ in polarity questions and with wh -words in non-polarity and multiple wh -questions in Hungarian. Vajon ‘if…at all’, sitting in ForceP, forms an expletive–associate chain with FINP, which hosts the polarity interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’. Whenever the INT operator forms an OP-variable chain with the interrogative clitic -e ‘QCL’, this chain blocks Long wh- movement out of subordinate clauses. Weak erotetic vajon ‘if…at all’ signals such OP-variable chains. The same holds for subordinate multiple wh -questions, where the INT…. wh- word chain blocks the extraction of another wh -word.
Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 2014
1. List of contributors 2. List of abbreviations 3. List of figures 4. Editors' note 5. Prefa... more 1. List of contributors 2. List of abbreviations 3. List of figures 4. Editors' note 5. Preface 6. Introduction (by Grosu, Alexander) 7. The overgeneration problem and the case of semipredicatives in Russian (by Franks, Steven L.) 8. Polish equatives as symmetrical structures (by Bondaruk, Anna) 9. Syntactic (dis)agreement is not semantic agreement (by Danon, Gabi) 10. A Note on Oblique Case: Evidence from Serbian / Croatian (by Horvath, Julia) 11. The structure of null subject DPs and agreement in Polish impersonal constructions (by Krzek, Malgorzata) 12. The feature geometry of generic inclusive null DPs in Hungarian (by Dalmi, Grete) 13. Possessives within and beyond NP: Two ezafe- constructions in Tatar (by Pereltsvaig, Asya) 14. On pre-nominal classifying adjectives in Polish (by Cetnarowska, Bozena) 15. Determiners and Possessives in Old English and Polish (by Bartnik, Artur) 16. Agreement and definiteness in Germanic DPs (by Katzir, Roni) 17. Transparent free relatives: two challenges for the grafting approach (by Grosu, Alexander) 18. Index
The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique, 2012
The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction ... more The central claim of this article is that the D(avidsonian)-state vs. K(imian)-state distinction established for German and Spanish by Maienborn is of wider crosslinguistic relevance. Stage-level and individual-level secondary predicates are both viewed here as K-states as they contain only a Kimian temporal variable but no Davidsonian event variable. Secondary predicates expressing a K-state may acquire the temporary/actual property interpretation when an alternative state entailment is added to them. In such cases the functional layer of the BE-predicate contains a syntactic operator (OPalt) that can bind the Kimian temporal variable in accessible worlds. If no such entailment is added, the same temporal variable is bound by the T0functional head of the BE-predicate in the actual world. The auxiliarytá/bhí‘be’ in Irish imposes the semantic restriction that its secondary predicate must contain the alternative state entailment. The copulais/ba‘be’, on the other hand, is used in the absence of such an entailment. Case obviation on the secondary predicate head in Russian copular sentences signals alternative state entailment, while case agreement on the secondary predicate appears in the absence of this entailment.
The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique, 2012
In conclusion, this book provides students and scholars of diachronic linguistics with a comprehe... more In conclusion, this book provides students and scholars of diachronic linguistics with a comprehensive introduction to the field of formal approaches to cyclic change. While staying focused on the general topic, it casts a wide net in terms of syntactic domains, languages, and formal approaches (though predominantly generative) and can thus prove useful as a textbook for a graduate seminar. It is important to stress, especially for those linguists who assume little value in historical linguistics with respect to formal linguistics, that this volume contains many compelling arguments for the use of dynamic aspects of language to shed light on the nature of the formal grammar itself.
I wish to thank the following people for their helpful comments and suggestions: Huba Bartos, Ann... more I wish to thank the following people for their helpful comments and suggestions: Huba Bartos, Anna Bondaruk, Veronika Hege Hansgorzata Krzek, Edith Moravcsik, Halldór Ármann Sigurðsson. 1 Abbreviations: ACC = accusative case; COM = comitative case (together with); COP = copula; DAT = dative case; DEF = definite; FORM = formalis case (in a given form/way); GN = generic inclusive operator/feature; INESS = inessive case (in); INF = infinitive; NOM = nominative case; POT = potentialis mood; PASS = passive voice; PAST = past tense; PFX – prefix; POSS = possessive suffix; PRES = present tense; PTCP = participle; RFL = reflexive; SBJ = subjunctive mood; SBL = sublative case (onto); TOP = topic.
Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 2021
This comparative syntactic study claims that the possessor of Russian and Hungarian BE-possessive... more This comparative syntactic study claims that the possessor of Russian and Hungarian BE-possessives neither originates nor lands in [Spec,VoiceP], the designated structural position of external arguments since Kratzer (1996). Possessive sentences universally describe a state with two eventuality participants, the possessor and the possessee (Stassen 2009). BE-possessives are built on dyadic-unaccusative existential BE. Neither of its two eventuality participants passes the agent/cause tests provided by Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou & Schäfer (2015). It is claimed here that possessive BE-sentences in Russian and Hungarian pattern with the piaceresubclass of psych-predicates, inasmuch as the possessor bears the oblique case and the theme appears in the nominative in them. In the cartographic model, the oblique experiencer of the piacere-type of psych-predicates targets a position higher than canonical, agent/cause subjects do (see Cardinaletti 1997, 2004; Rizzi 1997, 2004 for Italian). T...
Roczniki Humanistyczne, 2012