This thesis investigates aspects of phi-features in non-standard and minority West Germanic languages. Phi-features play a role in several parts of the grammar, and the West Germanic languages... Show moreThis thesis investigates aspects of phi-features in non-standard and minority West Germanic languages. Phi-features play a role in several parts of the grammar, and the West Germanic languages display a wealth of variation related to phi-features. Investigating phi-features in West Germanic therefore gives us a unique view on the relationship between the different components of the grammar, in particular syntax and morphology.Based on new empirical data and generalisations, this thesis presents a novel analysis of three empirical phenomena. First, it analyses position dependent agreement in Dutch dialects as the result of a phi-defective agreement head. Second, it argues that complementiser agreement in Frisian and Limburgian is clitic doubling. Finally, it shows that word order variation in Dutch and German imperatives is the result of morphological variation of verb stems. The analyses provide insight into the representation of phi-features in syntax and morphology, the syntactic and morphological requirements on clitic doubling, and the syntactic consequences of the distribution of phi-features on lexical items. Show less
This thesis provides a novel analysis of the word order variation in three-verb clusters reported in the Syntactic Atlas of the Dutch Dialects (SAND). On the basis of distributional correlations... Show moreThis thesis provides a novel analysis of the word order variation in three-verb clusters reported in the Syntactic Atlas of the Dutch Dialects (SAND). On the basis of distributional correlations between order variation in verb clusters and interruption of the verb cluster by non-verbal constituents, it is argued that only 1-2-3 and its mirror image 3-2-1 are truly verbal clusters. All other orders attested in SAND are argued to involve non-verbal elements: adjectival participles and nominal infinitives. This analysis dispenses with movement in the derivation of verb clusters, an improvement over many previous accounts, as movement in this domain is unmotivated and, in certain cases, makes wrong predictions. It is argued that speakers possess knowledge of word orders that do not occur in their own language varieties. This is shown to follow from properties of human grammar. Neither familiarity nor properties of language processing can account for these results. Verb clusters are base-generated in a low structural position in the clause. There is a cut-off point for cluster interruption, which is parameterized. In West-Flemish, it lies at vP, only elements that are merged below vP can interrupt the verb cluster. Show less
In Dutch dialects, verbs and complementizers can bear different morphological affixes depending on which nominal element they agree with in their local syntactic domain. For instance, in a dialect... Show moreIn Dutch dialects, verbs and complementizers can bear different morphological affixes depending on which nominal element they agree with in their local syntactic domain. For instance, in a dialect such as tegelen Dutch, the complementizer agrees with the first conjunct of a coordinated subject, while in Lapscheure Dutch, the complementizer agrees with the coordinated subject as a whole. Using a vast array of new data on complementizer agreement, first conjunct agreement, agreement with pronouns, verbal agreement and subject doubling in Dutch dialects, this study argues that the interplay between syntax and morphology is more intricate than has hitherto been assumed. More precisely, it is shown that the syntactic component determines which local nominal elements qualify for agreement with the verb or complementizer, depending on the specificity of the affix. The analysis is extended to similar syntactic contexts in typologically different languages such as Irish, Hebrew, Finnish, Tsez and Arabic. Show less
