This paper provides the first detailed documentation of aspectual properties of motion verbs in Blackfoot (an Algonquian language) from the Kainaa dialect. In particular, the focus of the paper is to detail how a sentient subject in this language is associated with an inherent endpoint of motion events (i.e., delimitedness). I show that in Blackfoot, an event can have a delimited construal when a sentient subject is an agent (but not a theme). A language-specific requirement for event delimitedness is thus the presence of an external argument that is sentient, which I formalize as a feature [m(ental state)] on a DP, as in Ritter (2015). A major contribution of the current study is thus to show that event delimitedness can be constrained by formal features of the external argument, whereas previously only the internal argument was thought to be involved in event delimitedness.

This article addresses locality conditions on Negative Concord (NC) in Russian. We examine long-distance licensing of “negative” ni-pronouns in subject- and object-control infinitives. Existing theories of negative concord rely in one way or another on the movement of negative concord items (NCI): either as a direct licensing condition, or as a prerequisite for entering a local configuration with the licensor. Consequently, theories predict that ni-pronoun movement to the matrix clause (i.e., the local domain of the matrix licensor) would increase acceptability of ni-licensing. Using experimental data, we explore various linear positions available for ni-pronouns in the matrix clause and in embedded infinitival clauses. We show that movement is not required for long-distance licensing, and that derived positions of ni-pronouns are independent of ni-licensing. We argue that although ni-licensing and movement both obey locality constraints, they differ as to the type of locality required. This article presents evidence for recent proposals that movement and agreement have different properties with respect to locality constraints.

This article presents research into derivational properties of onomatopoeias in English and in Slovak. Onomatopoeias are defined narrowly in our approach, being restricted to the direct imitation of sounds of extra-linguistic reality. Our sample of 40 onomatopoeic words consists of two sound types: the sounds of animals and the sounds resulting from various falls, strokes, and bursts. A derivational network was produced for each such word. The evaluation parameters comprise derivational capacity, maximum derivational network, saturation value, number of derivation orders, most productive semantic categories by order of derivation, typical combinations of semantic categories, and derivational processes. An evaluation of the networks enabled us to answer the question of whether onomatopoeias are productive word-formation bases, to compare the two Sound Types, and to compare onomatopoeia-based networks to those based on non-iconic vocabulary. These results contribute to a better understanding of the word-formation systems in the compared languages and of the status of onomatopoeias with regard to non-iconic vocabulary.

Based on facts of adjectival concord in Standard Arabic, this article offers evidence that upward probing (i.e., the goal c-commands the probe) is permitted only if downward probing (i.e., where the probe c-commands the goal) does not result in valuing the probe's uninterpretable feature. Such a constraint on upward probing allows us to account for several intriguing observations in Arabic grammar, including the fact that an adjective can agree in number and gender with one nominal, but in definiteness with another nominal. Hence, on the one hand, this article lends support to Agree proposals according to which absence of a match in the c-command domain of an unvalued feature (uF) is not fatal to the derivation. On the other hand, it speaks against Agree proposals that do not license downward probing or view it as parasitic on upward probing.

This article explores semantic and syntactic properties of a set of Romance deadjectival verbs sharing comparable derivational morphology. I note: (i) asymmetries between languages where the choice of verbalizer does not become a significant variable; (ii) languages where the use of the verbalizer is associated with distinct syntactic and semantic properties. In Italian, the verbalizer defines a maximal structural contrast in a nontrivial derivation. Italian and Catalan verbs pattern as statives. Yet lack of eventivity and scalarity in Italian defines an empirically relevant distinction between stative types reflected by syntax (unergative behaviour correlated with lack of affected theme/change-of-state denotation). This differentiates Italian from Spanish or Catalan forms in not showing two key properties: (i) unaccusativity/transitivity; (ii) change-along-scale entailment. A continuum from minimally to maximally different aspectual and syntactic configurations obtains. Although the focus is set on deadjectival verbs and the unusual properties of Italian -ggiare, the results are extendable to further data.