The morphosyntax of gender

305 Pages·2015·1.65 MB·English

by  Kramer

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
The Morphosyntax of Gender
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
OXFORD STUDIES IN THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS
generaleditors
DavidAdgerandHagitBorer,QueenMary,UniversityofLondon
advisoryeditors
Stephen Anderson, Yale University; Daniel Büring, University of California, Los
Angeles;NomiErteschik-Shir,Ben-GurionUniversity;DonkaFarkas,Universityof
California, Santa Cruz; Angelika Kratzer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst;
AndrewNevins,UniversityCollegeLondon;ChristopherPotts,StanfordUniversity;
Barry Schein, University of Southern California; Peter Svenonius, University of
Tromsø;MoiraYip,UniversityCollegeLondon
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
The Morphosyntax
of Gender
RUTH KRAMER
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
Contents
Generalpreface ix
Acknowledgments x
Listoffiguresandtables xii
Listofabbreviations xiii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Majorthemes 1
1.2 Frameworks:MinimalismandDistributedMorphology 3
1.2.1 Settingthescene 3
1.2.2 AlittleMinimalism,alotofDM 4
1.2.3 Lexicaldecomposition 7
1.2.4 Summary 9
1.3 Limitations 10
1.4 Thelayoftheland:chapterpreviews 11
2 TheAmharicgendersystemandpreviousapproachestogender 14
2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 GenderinAmharic 14
2.2.1 Thefacts 15
2.2.2 Summary,typology,diachrony 20
2.3 Themorphosyntaxofgender:previousapproaches 23
2.3.1 GenPandNumP 24
2.3.2 Genderonthenoun:lexicalism 26
2.3.3 Genderonthenoun:DistributedMorphology 32
3 Ananalysisofgender 37
3.1 Introduction 37
3.2 Themorphosyntaxofgender:anewapproach 37
3.3 Furtherevidencefornasthelocusofgender 42
3.4 Licensingconditionsandinterpretability:refiningtheanalysis 49
3.4.1 Licensingconditions 50
3.4.2 Theinterpretabilityofgenderfeatures 57
3.5 Conclusion 63
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
vi Contents
4 Defininggender 65
4.1 Whatgenderis,andwhatgenderisn’t 65
4.1.1 Classifiersanddeclensionclassarenotgenders 67
4.1.2 Nounclassandpronominalgenderaregender 68
4.1.3 Genderisnotlikeotherphi-features 69
4.2 Conclusion 71
5 Casestudy1:Twogenders,threens 72
5.1 Introduction 72
5.2 Masculinedefaultorfemininedefault 73
5.2.1 Masculinedefault:Dieri 74
5.2.2 Femininedefault:ZayseandZargulla 79
5.3 Animacy-basedgendersystemsandanegativeprediction 82
5.3.1 Introduction 82
5.3.2 ThegendersystemofLealaoChinantec:description 84
5.3.3 ThegendersystemofLealaoChinantec:analysis 86
5.4 Conclusion 88
6 Casestudy2:Addinganuninterpretablegenderfeature 89
6.1 Introduction 89
6.2 Uninterpretablefemininegender:Spanish 90
6.2.1 ThegendersystemofSpanish:description 90
6.2.2 ThegendersystemofSpanish:analysis 95
6.2.3 ComparingSpanishandAmharic 98
6.3 Uninterpretablemasculinegender:Maa 99
6.3.1 ThegendersystemofMaa:description 100
6.3.2 ThegendersystemofMaa:analysis 104
6.4 Uninterpretableanimacy:Algonquian 105
6.4.1 ThegendersystemofAlgonquian:description 105
6.4.2 ThegendersystemofAlgonquian:analysis 110
6.5 Conclusion 114
7 Casestudy3:Three-genderlanguages 116
7.1 Introduction 116
7.2 Threegenders,threens:Mangarayi 116
7.2.1 ThegendersystemofMangarayi:description 117
7.2.2 ThegendersystemofMangarayi:analysis 118
7.3 Threegenders,oneuninterpretablefeature:Wari’ 121
7.3.1 ThegendersystemofWari’:description 123
7.3.2 ThegendersystemofWari’:analysis 125
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
Contents vii
7.4 Threegenders,twouninterpretablefeatures:Lavukaleve 129
7.4.1 ThegendersystemofLavukaleve:description 131
7.4.2 ThegendersystemofLavukaleve:analysis 133
7.4.3 Conclusion:Lavukaleve 138
7.5 Conclusion 139
7.6 Excursus:defaultgenderinthree-genderlanguages 140
7.6.1 DefaultgenderinMangarayi,Wari’,andLavukaleve 141
7.6.2 DefaultgenderinRussian,Icelandic,andTamil 142
7.6.3 Suggestionsforanalysisandconclusion 145
8 GenderisnotonNum:EvidencefromSomaliandRomanian 147
8.1 Introduction 147
8.2 GenderswitchinSomali:allpluralsaren 148
8.2.1 GenderinSomali:descriptionandanalysis 149
8.2.2 ThepluralsystemofSomali 151
8.2.3 PluralityisonninSomali:evidence 155
8.2.4 Somalipluralsystem:analysis 159
8.2.5 Alternativeanalysesandconclusions 164
8.3 GenderswitchinRomanian:theneuterisreal 166
8.3.1 TheRomaniangendersystem 166
8.3.2 TheanalysisofRomaniangender 169
8.3.3 Alternativeanalyses 177
8.3.4 Interimconclusion 183
8.4 Conclusion 183
9 Genderandnominalizations 185
9.1 Introduction 185
9.2 Nominalizationsaregendered:data 185
9.2.1 Theoreticalbackground 185
9.2.2 Varioustypesofnominalizationsaregendered 187
9.2.3 Allofthegender-relevantnscannominalize 190
9.3 Nominalizationsaregendered:predictions 192
9.3.1 Derivednounswithoutn 193
9.3.2 Onegender,manyexponents 196
9.3.3 Nominalizationsinananimacygendersystem 200
9.3.4 Interimsummary 204
9.4 Twoproblems(andtheirsolutions) 205
9.4.1 Genderfeaturesexponedseparately? 205
9.4.2 Samenominalization,differentgenders? 209
9.5 Conclusion 212
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
viii Contents
10 Thehighestgenderwinsandtheinteractionofgenderand
declensionclass 213
10.1 Introduction 213
10.2 Maythehighestgenderwin:genderandmultiplens 213
10.2.1 Thehighestgenderwins:data 214
10.2.2 Acyclicityexplanationforthehighestgenderhypothesis 220
10.2.3 Conclusionandimplications 226
10.3 Adiminutivedigression 227
10.4 Declensionclassandgender 233
10.4.1 Background 233
10.4.2 Spanishdeclensionclass:acasestudy 235
10.4.3 Summary,anddirectionsofcorrelations 243
10.5 Conclusion 244
11 Conclusion 245
11.1 Puttingitalltogether 245
11.1.1 QuestionA:Genderonn 245
11.1.2 QuestionB:Therelationshipbetweennaturalandarbitrary
gender 247
11.1.3 QuestionC:Genderassignment 248
11.1.4 EvidenceforDistributedMorphology 250
11.2 Areasoffutureresearch 250
11.2.1 Phonologicallydeterminedgenderassignment 250
11.2.2 Languageswithmorethanthreegenders 251
11.2.3 Theroleofsocialfactors 253
11.2.4 Languagesthatlackgender 254
11.3 Meta-conclusion 256
References 257
Indexoflanguagesandlanguagefamilies 281
Subjectindex 284
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/7/2015,SPi
General preface
Thetheoreticalfocusofthisseriesisontheinterfacesbetweensubcomponentsofthe
humangrammaticalsystemandthecloselyrelatedareaoftheinterfacesbetweenthe
differentsubdisciplinesoflinguistics.Thenotionof“interface”hasbecomecentralin
grammaticaltheory(forinstance,inChomsky’sMinimalistProgram)andinlinguis-
tic practice: work on the interfaces between syntax and semantics, syntax and
morphology, phonology and phonetics, etc. has led to a deeper understanding of
particularlinguisticphenomenaandofthearchitectureofthelinguisticcomponent
ofthemind/brain.
The series covers interfaces between core components of grammar, including
syntax/morphology, syntax/semantics, syntax/phonology, syntax/pragmatics,
morphology/phonology, phonology/phonetics, phonetics/speech processing, seman-
tics/pragmatics,andintonation/discoursestructure,aswellasissuesinthewaythatthe
systemsofgrammarinvolvingtheseinterfaceareasareacquiredanddeployedinuse
(including language acquisition, language dysfunction, and language processing). It
demonstrates, we hope, that proper understandings of particular linguistic phenom-
ena, languages, language groups, or inter-language variations all require reference to
interfaces.
Theseriesisopentoworkbylinguistsofalltheoreticalpersuasionsandschoolsof
thought.Amainrequirementisthatauthorsshouldwritesoastobeunderstoodby
colleaguesinrelatedsubfieldsoflinguisticsandbyscholarsincognatedisciplines.
Gender features stand at the intersection of syntax, semantics, and morphology,
andhowtheirroleisdividedbetweenthesethreedomainshaslongbeenapuzzle.In
thismonograph,RuthKramerdevelopsanewtheoryofthemorphosyntaxofgender,
arguingthat gender features appear not on lexical roots or on elements high in the
structureofnounphrases,butonthenominalizingheadn.Shedefendsaparticular
theoryofgenderfeaturesbasedonthenotionsofinterpretabilityandbivalence,and
showshowthistheorypredictstheattestedtypologicalvariationingendersystems,
drawingonfascinatingdatafromanumberoflesserstudiedlanguages.Overall,the
bookproposesthefirstcomprehensivetheoryofgenderasaphi-featureingenerative
linguistics.
DavidAdger
HagitBorer