Comparative Syntax of the Balkan Languages (Oxford ... - Cryptm.org

ADJECTIVAL DETERMINERS IN ALBANIAN AND GREEK 179respect to (22a) (/(42a)), in section 5, the noun, djale in (4la), moves to D tocheck its categorial N feature against the N feature hosted under this head(Chomsky 1995). When at Spec, D/PP the noun enters into a Spec-head agreementconfiguration with the adjectival determiner heading the projection, andsince in (4la) the noun is not +definite, the token of the adjectival determinerappearing in this case is the nondefinite one (cf. section 6). I assume here, asdoes Chomsky (1995), that words enter syntactic derivations already formed.Here -in is a Case and definiteness marker. In Albanian, these markers can attachto [+N] constituents; thus, -in can attach to a noun as well as to an adjectivestem, and both djalin and mirin are well-formed words. If mirin is part of the initialnumeration, the derivation in (41) will go through. If djalin is part of theinitial numeration, the derivation in (42a) will go through. A final remark is duehere with respect to the obligatory appearence of the Case and definitenessmarker on the adjective and not on the noun, when the former has a focus interpretation:strings like te mire djalin are ungrammatical. In descriptive terms, inan Albanian DP, the Case and definiteness marker, -in in the examples at hand,is borne by the first constituent on the left that can bear it (cf. (40) and (42b)). Ipropose that on its way to Spec, F(ocus)P, the D/PP constituent te mirin mustgo through Spec, DP so that it can escape the DP (cf. (41b)). Furthermore, apartfrom the categorial N feature checked by the noun that is hosted under D, anothercategorial feature, namely D, is hosted under D as well. This feature can bechecked either by a constituent at Spec, DP or by a head left-adjoined to D. ACase and definiteness marker, like -in in (40), is also a categorial D-featuremarker. If, finally, we assume that a constituent at Spec, DP must check thecategorial D feature under discussion, we can explain why the adjective mustobligatorily bear the Case and definiteness marker suffix, -in in (40), when it ispreposed due to a +Focus interpretation. If the adjective were not marked withthe Case and definiteness marker, the derivation in (41) would not go through:when at Spec, DP, the D/PP constituent would not be able to check the D categorialfeature of D. In the derivation in (22a)/(42a), the categorial D feature ischecked by the noun djalin, which independently moves to D to check its categorialN feature.In sum, then, according to the proposal in (41), the derivation of the DP in(40) involves the same basic steps as in the derivation of the DP in (42b), thatis, movement of the noun as an XP to Spec, D/PP (with subsequent movementof the noun as head to D) and movement of the adjective to the specifier of anagreement projection. These movements essentially create, in both cases, a relativizingstructure, as discussed in section 5 above. The differences between thederivations in (41) and (42a), as discussed in the present section, offer a straightforwardaccount of the differences between the examples in (42b) and (40). Inthis respect, the present analysis presents an advantage over previous proposalsfor the syntactic treatment of Albanian adjectival determiners.Giusti (1992.225) proposes that Albanian DPs like those in (42a) and (40)should be analyzed as in (43) and (44) respectively, where FP1 and FP2 arefunctional projections: