Vicki Carstens
Biographic Data
| ID | 809912 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vicki Carstens |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vicki |
| FAMILY NAME | Carstens |
| SIGNATURE | CARSTENS V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6189-6950 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 240 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The grammar of gender: Insights from Bantu asymmetries of AGR with conjoined subjects
Nguni Bare Nouns: Licensing without Case
Nguni bare or augmentless ([−A]) nominals are licit only as strict negative dependents and wh-words. They may not appear in a preverbal subject position unless local to a negation-licensed [−A] complementizer of a subjunctive clause (Pietraszko 2021). This pattern motivates an analysis in terms of negative concord and a labeling theory approach to the Extended Projection Principle (EPP) (Chomsky 2013): [−A] nouns have uninterpretable negation fea…
Only' in Nguni: A Phrase-Final Particle Meets Antisymmetry Theory
This article investigates the syntax of the phrase-final focus particles kuphela and qha 'only' in Zulu and Xhosa (Nguni; Bantu). We show that kuphela's and qha's associations with a focused constituent respect the complex topography of information structure in Nguni and, like English only, a surface c-command requirement. However, unlike English only, the Zulu and Xhosa particles typically follow the focus associate they c-command, a fact that p…
Noun‐to‐Determiner Movement
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the hypothesis of N‐to‐D movement played a prominent role in approaches to word order within the nominal domain. In particular, where N precedes all its arguments and modifiers, N‐to‐D movement was proposed to be the cause. Over time, descriptive and explanatory limitations of such accounts were discovered, and questions arose about the theoretical plausibility and desirability of head movement in general. A…
Head-head relations in Problems of projection
argues that D of an external argument in Spec TP is in principle as close to C as T is. Assuming that “inversion depends upon locality independent of category,” T and D should therefore compete with each other as candidates for raising to C in English questions, yet only T so raises. Chomsky takes this to indicate that the external argument is in its base position, Spec, vP, when C is merged. Our paper argues that this approach cannot generalize …
Negative concord and nominal licensing in Xhosa and Zulu
Delayed Valuation: A Reanalysis of Goal Features, "Upward" Complementizer Agreement, and the Mechanics of Case
There are at least four opposing views on the directionality and configuration of Agree relations. In mainstream minimalism, Agree is strictly downward "probing" (Chomsky,; Bošković; Epstein & Seely), but some recent works argue that Agree always looks upward (Zeijlstra, Wurmbrand). A third perspective takes agreement to follow from the Spec-head configuration (Koopman), and under a fourth proposal, the directionality of Agree varies parametrical…
Radical Defectivity: Implications of Xhosa Expletive Constructions
In Xhosa VSO clauses, subject agreement exhibits default features, objects cannot be pronominalized, a subject focus reading is obligatory, and experiencer verbs with two DP arguments are precluded. We argue that impoverished versions of T and v* in VSO clauses lack the probe features involved in subject agreement, EPP, object shift, and nominative/accusative valuation within Xhosa SVO sentences. Only an unusual focus-linked strategy can Case-lic…
Agreeing How? Implications for Theories of Agreement and Locality
In Lubukusu and Lusaamia, the wh-expression 'how' agrees in φ-features with the subject of its clause. We show that agreement on 'how' is not always identical to subject agreement on the verb: the two diverge in certain locative inversion and subject extraction environments. On the basis of these facts, we argue that 'how' is a vP adjunct with downward-probing uφ independent of the uφ that underlies subject agreement. We also explore locality par…
Hyperactivity and Hyperagreement in Bantu
Agree and Epp in Bantu
Rethinking Complementizer Agreement: Agree with a Case-Checked Goal
Agree(X, Subj) accounts for all agreement in West Germanic: complementizer agreement (CA) results from an Agree relation between uninterpretable φ-features of Fin0 (Rizzi 1997) and φ-features of the subject; subject-verb agreement (SA) spells out uninterpretable φ-features of T0 on V0 raised to T0, even in OV clauses (Haegeman 2000). Although DPs need Case to participate in Agree relations (Chomsky 2000), deletion-marked Case remains syntacticall…
Antisymmetry and Word Order in Serial Constructions
Strict head-final surface order derives from underlying left-headedness in , a Niger-Congo language of Nigeria. A word order anomaly in serial verb constructions (SVCs) strongly suggests this, and left-to-right asymmetric c-command among internal arguments of SVCs confirms it. The anomaly is universal among surface right-headed languages with SVCs, indicating that deep left-headedness is universal, as antisymmetry theory predicts (Kayne 1994). As…
Multiple Agreement and Case Deletion: Against φ-incompleteness
I argue against Chomsky's (1999, 2000) proposal that Case deletion correlates with the φ-completeness of probes, based on (i) the omission of gender in subject agreement in, for example, Romance languages; and (ii) the inclusion of full φ-features in subject agreement in Bantu, repeated on all verbal heads within a clause. I propose instead a return to the traditional view that certain categories are Case "assigners," such that Agree deletes the …
Concord in Minimalist Theory
Concord within DP argues that movement is driven by uninterpretable features of either the target or the moved item, contra Chomsky 1995. The uninterpretable f-features of which concord consists must be eliminated by LF, to satisfy Full Interpretation. But raising of inflected APs and KPs into checking relations with N0 cannot be motivated, in Chomsky's system, since N0 has no uninterpretable features that these items can check. Assuming Kayne's …
Empty nouns in Bantu locatives
This paper presents an analysis of Chichewa locatives and their theoretical implications. Locative phrases exhibit contradictory properties, distributing with DPs but seeming to have preposition-like heads (ku, pa, and mu). I argue that they are DPs whose head nouns are silent. ku, pa, and mu are Case-markers, projecting KP complements to the null nouns and agreeing with them in gender. Word order shows that each KP loc raises to Spec of its cont…
Agree and Epp in Bantu
Concord in Minimalist Theory
Concord within DP argues that movement is driven by uninterpretable features of either the target or the moved item, contra Chomsky 1995. The uninterpretable f-features of which concord consists must be eliminated by LF, to satisfy Full Interpretation. But raising of inflected APs and KPs into checking relations with N0 cannot be motivated, in Chomsky's system, since N0 has no uninterpretable features that these items can check. Assuming Kayne's …
Hyperactivity and Hyperagreement in Bantu
Multiple Agreement and Case Deletion: Against φ-incompleteness
I argue against Chomsky's (1999, 2000) proposal that Case deletion correlates with the φ-completeness of probes, based on (i) the omission of gender in subject agreement in, for example, Romance languages; and (ii) the inclusion of full φ-features in subject agreement in Bantu, repeated on all verbal heads within a clause. I propose instead a return to the traditional view that certain categories are Case "assigners," such that Agree deletes the …
Rethinking Complementizer Agreement: Agree with a Case-Checked Goal
Agree(X, Subj) accounts for all agreement in West Germanic: complementizer agreement (CA) results from an Agree relation between uninterpretable φ-features of Fin0 (Rizzi 1997) and φ-features of the subject; subject-verb agreement (SA) spells out uninterpretable φ-features of T0 on V0 raised to T0, even in OV clauses (Haegeman 2000). Although DPs need Case to participate in Agree relations (Chomsky 2000), deletion-marked Case remains syntacticall…
Delayed Valuation: A Reanalysis of Goal Features, "Upward" Complementizer Agreement, and the Mechanics of Case
There are at least four opposing views on the directionality and configuration of Agree relations. In mainstream minimalism, Agree is strictly downward "probing" (Chomsky,; Bošković; Epstein & Seely), but some recent works argue that Agree always looks upward (Zeijlstra, Wurmbrand). A third perspective takes agreement to follow from the Spec-head configuration (Koopman), and under a fourth proposal, the directionality of Agree varies parametrical…
Agreeing How? Implications for Theories of Agreement and Locality
In Lubukusu and Lusaamia, the wh-expression 'how' agrees in φ-features with the subject of its clause. We show that agreement on 'how' is not always identical to subject agreement on the verb: the two diverge in certain locative inversion and subject extraction environments. On the basis of these facts, we argue that 'how' is a vP adjunct with downward-probing uφ independent of the uφ that underlies subject agreement. We also explore locality par…
Radical Defectivity: Implications of Xhosa Expletive Constructions
In Xhosa VSO clauses, subject agreement exhibits default features, objects cannot be pronominalized, a subject focus reading is obligatory, and experiencer verbs with two DP arguments are precluded. We argue that impoverished versions of T and v* in VSO clauses lack the probe features involved in subject agreement, EPP, object shift, and nominative/accusative valuation within Xhosa SVO sentences. Only an unusual focus-linked strategy can Case-lic…
Negative concord and nominal licensing in Xhosa and Zulu
Antisymmetry and Word Order in Serial Constructions
Strict head-final surface order derives from underlying left-headedness in , a Niger-Congo language of Nigeria. A word order anomaly in serial verb constructions (SVCs) strongly suggests this, and left-to-right asymmetric c-command among internal arguments of SVCs confirms it. The anomaly is universal among surface right-headed languages with SVCs, indicating that deep left-headedness is universal, as antisymmetry theory predicts (Kayne 1994). As…
Only' in Nguni: A Phrase-Final Particle Meets Antisymmetry Theory
This article investigates the syntax of the phrase-final focus particles kuphela and qha 'only' in Zulu and Xhosa (Nguni; Bantu). We show that kuphela's and qha's associations with a focused constituent respect the complex topography of information structure in Nguni and, like English only, a surface c-command requirement. However, unlike English only, the Zulu and Xhosa particles typically follow the focus associate they c-command, a fact that p…
Empty nouns in Bantu locatives
This paper presents an analysis of Chichewa locatives and their theoretical implications. Locative phrases exhibit contradictory properties, distributing with DPs but seeming to have preposition-like heads (ku, pa, and mu). I argue that they are DPs whose head nouns are silent. ku, pa, and mu are Case-markers, projecting KP complements to the null nouns and agreeing with them in gender. Word order shows that each KP loc raises to Spec of its cont…
Concord in Minimalist Theory
Concord within DP argues that movement is driven by uninterpretable features of either the target or the moved item, contra Chomsky 1995. The uninterpretable f-features of which concord consists must be eliminated by LF, to satisfy Full Interpretation. But raising of inflected APs and KPs into checking relations with N0 cannot be motivated, in Chomsky's system, since N0 has no uninterpretable features that these items can check. Assuming Kayne's …
Multiple Agreement and Case Deletion: Against φ-incompleteness
I argue against Chomsky's (1999, 2000) proposal that Case deletion correlates with the φ-completeness of probes, based on (i) the omission of gender in subject agreement in, for example, Romance languages; and (ii) the inclusion of full φ-features in subject agreement in Bantu, repeated on all verbal heads within a clause. I propose instead a return to the traditional view that certain categories are Case "assigners," such that Agree deletes the …
Antisymmetry and Word Order in Serial Constructions
Strict head-final surface order derives from underlying left-headedness in , a Niger-Congo language of Nigeria. A word order anomaly in serial verb constructions (SVCs) strongly suggests this, and left-to-right asymmetric c-command among internal arguments of SVCs confirms it. The anomaly is universal among surface right-headed languages with SVCs, indicating that deep left-headedness is universal, as antisymmetry theory predicts (Kayne 1994). As…
Rethinking Complementizer Agreement: Agree with a Case-Checked Goal
Agree(X, Subj) accounts for all agreement in West Germanic: complementizer agreement (CA) results from an Agree relation between uninterpretable φ-features of Fin0 (Rizzi 1997) and φ-features of the subject; subject-verb agreement (SA) spells out uninterpretable φ-features of T0 on V0 raised to T0, even in OV clauses (Haegeman 2000). Although DPs need Case to participate in Agree relations (Chomsky 2000), deletion-marked Case remains syntacticall…
Agree and Epp in Bantu
Hyperactivity and Hyperagreement in Bantu
Agreeing How? Implications for Theories of Agreement and Locality
In Lubukusu and Lusaamia, the wh-expression 'how' agrees in φ-features with the subject of its clause. We show that agreement on 'how' is not always identical to subject agreement on the verb: the two diverge in certain locative inversion and subject extraction environments. On the basis of these facts, we argue that 'how' is a vP adjunct with downward-probing uφ independent of the uφ that underlies subject agreement. We also explore locality par…
Radical Defectivity: Implications of Xhosa Expletive Constructions
In Xhosa VSO clauses, subject agreement exhibits default features, objects cannot be pronominalized, a subject focus reading is obligatory, and experiencer verbs with two DP arguments are precluded. We argue that impoverished versions of T and v* in VSO clauses lack the probe features involved in subject agreement, EPP, object shift, and nominative/accusative valuation within Xhosa SVO sentences. Only an unusual focus-linked strategy can Case-lic…
Head-head relations in Problems of projection
argues that D of an external argument in Spec TP is in principle as close to C as T is. Assuming that “inversion depends upon locality independent of category,” T and D should therefore compete with each other as candidates for raising to C in English questions, yet only T so raises. Chomsky takes this to indicate that the external argument is in its base position, Spec, vP, when C is merged. Our paper argues that this approach cannot generalize …
Negative concord and nominal licensing in Xhosa and Zulu
Delayed Valuation: A Reanalysis of Goal Features, "Upward" Complementizer Agreement, and the Mechanics of Case
There are at least four opposing views on the directionality and configuration of Agree relations. In mainstream minimalism, Agree is strictly downward "probing" (Chomsky,; Bošković; Epstein & Seely), but some recent works argue that Agree always looks upward (Zeijlstra, Wurmbrand). A third perspective takes agreement to follow from the Spec-head configuration (Koopman), and under a fourth proposal, the directionality of Agree varies parametrical…
Noun‐to‐Determiner Movement
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the hypothesis of N‐to‐D movement played a prominent role in approaches to word order within the nominal domain. In particular, where N precedes all its arguments and modifiers, N‐to‐D movement was proposed to be the cause. Over time, descriptive and explanatory limitations of such accounts were discovered, and questions arose about the theoretical plausibility and desirability of head movement in general. A…
Only' in Nguni: A Phrase-Final Particle Meets Antisymmetry Theory
This article investigates the syntax of the phrase-final focus particles kuphela and qha 'only' in Zulu and Xhosa (Nguni; Bantu). We show that kuphela's and qha's associations with a focused constituent respect the complex topography of information structure in Nguni and, like English only, a surface c-command requirement. However, unlike English only, the Zulu and Xhosa particles typically follow the focus associate they c-command, a fact that p…
Nguni Bare Nouns: Licensing without Case
Nguni bare or augmentless ([−A]) nominals are licit only as strict negative dependents and wh-words. They may not appear in a preverbal subject position unless local to a negation-licensed [−A] complementizer of a subjunctive clause (Pietraszko 2021). This pattern motivates an analysis in terms of negative concord and a labeling theory approach to the Extended Projection Principle (EPP) (Chomsky 2013): [−A] nouns have uninterpretable negation fea…
The grammar of gender: Insights from Bantu asymmetries of AGR with conjoined subjects
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (15 works) · Linguistics (14 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Mathematics (10 works) · Agreement (8 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (8 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (7 works) · Bantu languages (6 works) · Syntax (6 works)