Word Order and Prosodic-Structure Constraints in Tagalog

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4238233
AutoresJoseph Sabbagh (University of Texas, Arlington Department of Linguistics and TESOL 403 Hammond Hall Arlington TX 76019 USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen17
Número1
Páginas40-89
Fecha de publicación2014-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSyntax (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1368-0005 • E-ISSN: 1467-9612
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/synt.12012
OpenAlexW2047599971
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas41

This paper is concerned with two apparently unrelated word-order facts in Tagalog: In interrogative sentences, frontedwh-phrases follow the complementizer (Comp-WhP order), and in both interrogative and noninterrogative sentences, the subject follows the verb (verb-initial order). It is argued that neither of these word orders reflects a word order that is expected on the basis of the syntactic structure alone. Instead, a unified explanation for these word orders is proposed, according to which they arise as the result of a lowering operation that applies at Phonological Form (PF) and is prosodically driven. Specifically, lowering applies in order to satisfy a prosodic-structure constraint, Weak Start, which requires elements that are relatively high on the prosodic hierarchy to be preceded by elements that are equal to or lower than them on the prosodic hierarchy. The word orders discussed herein therefore involve a mismatch between syntax and phonology, and lowering provides a means by which syntactic principles as well as principles relating to prosodic-structure can be simultaneously upheld

Agreement · Complementizer · Constraint (computer-aided design · Hierarchy · Interrogative · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Phonology · Speech recognition · Syllable · Syntax · Tagalog · Verb · Word (group theory · Word order · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence