North Germanic Negation - Munin

INTRODUCTION
(5) Syntactic clitic:
Syntax:
CP
ty
XP C’
ty
V fin +Neg AgrSP > PF: XP – V fin – neg – subj
ty
subject
NegP
ty
Neg’
ty
V fin +Neg
TP
5
V fin
I assume a traditional account of head movement in my models. There has been much discussion on
head movement in Minimalism (cf. Roberts 2011 for an overview of the debate). One problem with
head movement is that it violates the so-called Extension Condition (Chomsky 1995), which states
that syntactic operations apply to the root of the tree. 9 Since head movement targets a head
position, it does not extend the tree. Alternatives to head movement have been proposed in the
literature, one being Remnant Movement (for instance Müller 2002, 2004; Nilsen 2003; Bentzen
2005). I have, however, no intention of developing appropriate theories to account for head
movement; my main concern is to give a transparent explanation for the empirical observations, and
in my opinion the traditional account suffices for these purposes. I will assume the analysis of head
movement in Platzack (2010) as the theoretical foundation for my stand. 10 See chapter 5 for details.
I propose that a PF-clitic is, syntactically speaking, an XP that phonetically may undergo
metathesis with an adjacent element at the PF level. This means that the XP only irregularly appears
in a special position. The process can for instance be regulated by phonetic criteria, and is illustrated
in (6) on the next page. Thus, I assume two levels where the negative marker may be perceived as a
clitic, namely within syntax or at PF. In the syntax, a negative marker may be a head or a phrase. If
the negative marker is a head, it follows the finite verb to C; if it is an XP, it remains in situ.
I will also operate with the term PF-variant, which fully equals Zwicky and Pullum’s term simple
clitic – i.e. there is nothing special with such an item.
9 The Extension Condition: A syntactic derivation can only be continued by applying operations to the root
projection of the tree (Agder 2003: 95).
10 According to Platzack (2010) the verb establishes agree-relations with relevant heads in the structure in the
core syntax. Which head that finally spells out the verb, is determined at PF. In principle all heads may spell
out the verb, but in practice the highest head spells it out in main clauses and the lowest head in embedded
clauses in Mainland North Germanic.
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