Word building and the Icelandic noun phrase

University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 22 Issue 1 Proceedings of the 39th Annual Penn Linguistics Conference 1-1-2016 Word building and the Icelandic noun phrase Gísli R. Harðarson This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss1/35 For more information, please contact . Article 35 Word building and the Icelandic noun phrase Abstract In this paper I explore the different orders of elements found within the Icelandic definite noun phrase where four main patterns are observed: i) ARTICLE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > NOUN > GENITIVE > PP; ii) NOUN- ARTICLE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > GENITIVE > PP; iii) ADJECTIVE > NOUNARTICLE > NUMERAL > GENITIVE > PP; and iv) GENITIVE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > NOUN > PP. Previous approaches, working under the assumption that the order in (ii) did not exist, focussed on the derivation of (iii) from (i), generally assuming the fronting of the adjective to be a single movement operation. In recent years, however, it has been shown that not only does the order in (ii) exist, but the choice between (i-iii) is not semantically neutral. Hence to account for the order in (ii), I propose that the fronting of the adjective and noun to be a result of two separate movement operations: head movement of N to D and phrasal movement of AP to Spec-DP. I propose that the orders in (ii-iv) are a direct result of D’s attractiveness. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/ vol22/iss1/35 Word building and the Icelandic noun phrase Gísli Rúnar Harðarson 1 Introduction In this paper, I explore the Icelandic traditional noun phrase (TNP), its structure and the order of elements therein. In short, there are four possible orders of elements in definite TNPs. These are listed below. (1) (2) (3) (4) ADJ > NOUN - DET > NUM > GEN > PP DET > NUM > ADJ > NOUN > GEN > PP NOUN - DET > NUM > ADJ > GEN > PP GEN > NUM > ADJ > NOUN > PP I propose an account couched in Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993, 1994, Harley and Noyer 2003, Embick and Noyer 2007) utilizing a word structure implied by my previous work on compounding (Harðarson to appear; see also Vangnes 1999 and Julien 2005 i.a. for proposals involving similar nodes under different labels). The structure of the complex head in (5) indicates a mirror image phrasal structure in (6) (cf. Baker 1985), from which (5) is derived via subsequent head movements. (5) (6) ω ϕ n √ ROOT ωP ω ω ϕ ϕP ϕ n n nP √ ROOT To capture the various orders in (1–4), I furthermore propose that all TNP-internal movement is contingent on D’s attracting a potential host and properties of the moved element. The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, I give a brief overview of the relevant aspects of the Icelandic TNP and the order of elements therein. In Section 3 I discuss some previous approaches to the Icelandic TNP. In Section 4 I outline my proposal and ways in which it overcomes some of the issues encountered with previous approaches and in Section 5 I provide some concluding remarks and outline some directions for further study. 2 Word order in the Icelandic NP There is only one order of elements observed in the indefinite TNP (Magnússon 1984, Sigurðsson 2006, Þráinsson 2007), where the order of prenominal elements observed is in accordance with Greenberg’s universal 20. (7) Universal 20 (Greenberg 1966:87) When any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral and descriptive adjective) precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is either the same or its exact opposite. Genitives and PPs always follow the noun in such cases. Note also that Icelandic has no indefinite article. The order of elements in the indefinite TNP is as shown below and I take this order to be the default order of elements.1 1 Note that the acceptability of the indefinite possessive construction depends on the semantic class of the noun and the possessor, e.g. the noun in (8) can refer to a particular work, but not the physical object (Þráinsson 2007:93, Sigurðsson 1993:192–3) Although there is some speaker variation in that respect. U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 22.1, 2016 324 GÍSLI RÚNAR HARÐARSON (8) NUM > ADJ > NOUN > GEN > PP þrjár frægar myndir Astridar af Dorian Gray three famous.STR pictures Astrid.GEN of Dorian Gray ‘Astrid’s three famous pictures of Dorian Gray’ In definite TNPs, there are four possible orders of elements (e.g. Magnússon 1984, Þráinsson 2007, Pfaff 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015). The genitives in (9), (10) and (12) require a proprial article (Sigurðsson 1993, 2006).2 (9) (10) (11) (12) DET > NUM > ADJ > NOUN > GEN > PP hinar þrjár frægu myndir *(hennar) Astridar af Dorian Gray the three famous.WK pictures PROP Astrid.GEN of Dorian Gray NOUN - DET > NUM > ADJ > GEN > PP myndir-nar þrjár frægu *(hennar) Astridar af Dorian Gray pictures-the three famous.WK PROP Astrid.GEN of Dorian Gray GEN > NUM > ADJ > NOUN > PP (*hennar) Astridar þrjár frægu myndir af Dorian Gray PROP Astrid.GEN three famous.WK pictures of Dorian Gray ADJ > NOUN - DET > NUM > GEN > PP af Dorian Gray frægu myndir-nar þrjár *(hennar) Astridar famous.WK pictures-the three PROP Astrid.GEN of Dorian Gray In previous approaches, examples such as (9) were usually treated as a stylistically marked variants of (12) and rarely considered in previous accounts (cf. Sigurðsson 1993, Vangsnes 1999, Julien 2005, Norris 2011, Schoorlemmer 2012) and the order shown in (10) was typically assumed not to exist. Hence most previous accounts tended to focus on (12). In recent years, however, Pfaff (Pfaff 2007 et seq.) has, not only provided proof of the existence of (10), but also showed that the choice between (9)–(12) is not semantically neutral. Finally, the order in (11) is only possible under a contrastive reading. Typically, the order ADJ > DET yields a restrictive reading, 13a, and the order DET > ADJ yields a non restrictive reading, (13b).3 (13) a. Allar góðu bækur-nar hans brunnu. all good.WK books-the he.GEN burned All of his good books burned. (Some of his bad to mediocre may have survived) b. Allar bækur-nar hans góðu brunnu. all books-the he.GEN good.WK burned All of his good books burned. (They were all good) In case of, e.g., inherently non-intersective adjectives, the order DET > ADJ is obligatory. (14) a. b. c. # svokallaða afstæðiskenning-in so-called theory.of.relativity-the the so-called theory of relativity hin svokallaða afstæðiskenning the so-called theory.of.relativity afstæðiskenningin svokallaða theory.of.relativity-the so-called (from Pfaff 2014:49) Non-intersective reading is, however, not limited to the DET > ADJ configuration. With relational nouns, the order ADJ > DET yields a a non-intersective reading, hence no contradiction in 15a but the order DET > ADJ yields an intersective reading, hence the contradiction in (15b) and (...truncated)