The syntax of head movement: a study of Berber

Abstract

The thesis investigates the syntactic properties of head-movement \nprocesses as well as the structures of phrasal categories. The discussions \nare based mainly, though not exclusively, on data from Berber, in \nparticular the Tarifit dialect spoken in the northern part of Morocco. The \ntheoretical framework adopted is that of Government Binding (GB) as \noutlined by Chomsky (1981), (1982), (1986a), (1986b) and others. \nThe first chapter introduces the GB theory and its modules. The second \nchapter discusses sentential structure and the properties of head-movement \nprocesses involved in the derivation of the surface forms of sentences. The \nbasic properties of the sentential clause in Berber are investigated in \ndetail on the basis of the distribution of clitics and the order of the \nverbal affixes with respect to the verb the conclusion is reached that the \nInfl(ection) node needs to be fleshed out in such a way that each of the \nelements occupying it (AGR(eement), TENSE(TNS) and NEG(ation)) is \nattributed a full categorial status in the sense of X-bar theory. It is \ndemonstrated that the clausal structure that results from this revision \ndiffers with respect to the order of AGE and TNS according to whether the \nlanguage In question is SVO or VSO. The structures of infinitival clauses, \nboth inflected and unfinflected, as well as small clauses are also \ninvestigated in the light of the conclusion mentioned above. Finally, the \nstructural properties of nominal and copular sentences in Berber and other \nlanguages are also subjected to an analysis in terms of the same \nconclusion. \nThe third chapter investigates the structures of nominal and \nprepositional phrases, and the head-movement processes involved in their \nderivation in Berber and other languages. The structure of nominal phrases \nturns out to be strikingly similar to that of sentential clauses with the \nslight but significant difference that instead of TNS nominal phrases \ncontain a NOM(inalisation) category. Surface word order variations among \nlanguages are discussed In the light of this conclusion. The structure of \npre/postpositional phrases is found in some languages to contain an AGR \nelement. The chapter also incorporates an attempt to reclassify the existing \ncategories In terms of a binary division which recognises only two \ncategorial classes, verbal and nominal. \nThe fourth chapter investigates the processes of clitic-movement in \nBerber and Romance languages, and of preposition-movement in Berber. On \nthe basis of the properties of these movement processes and the conclusion \nreached in the second chapter with respect to the Infl node a unified \nanalysis of morphological and non-morphological causatives Is suggested. An \nanalsyis of the so-called Restructuring constructions in Italian is also \nsuggested where the process of restructuring is argued to be a movement \nprocess of the embedded verbal complex to C. With respect to clitics they \nare argued to be head categories with an affixal nature, and their \nmovement is argued to be governed by the ECP. The process of preposition \nmovement in Berber, on the other hand, is shown to share significant \nproperties with the process of clitic-movement, a fact that is shown to \nprovide significant support for the treatment of clitics as head categories.

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