Papers by Hana Gruet-Skrabalova
Beyond Philology An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching
This paper deals with structures where Czech modal verbs (muset ‘must’, moci ‘can’, smět ‘be allo... more This paper deals with structures where Czech modal verbs (muset ‘must’, moci ‘can’, smět ‘be allowed’) combine, at surface, with an adverbial complement and which involve an event of movement to the place denoted by this complement. Since modal verbs normally select a VP complement, the question arises whether these structures contain an elided or a null verb GO, or whether modal verbs here directly select a directional adverbial, whose motion interpretation supplies a ‘missing’ verb of movement. We show in this paper that there is not enough evidence to posit a null lexical verb GO in the structures under discussion. We then argue that these structures are licensed by modality like non-finite or non-sentential whclauses that may also contain a directional adverbial without an overt verb of movement. However, in declarative clauses, which require a verbal head to bear tense and agreement feature and to support the negative prefix ne- expressing sentential negation, the modality must...
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université Paris Descartes, Jun 21, 2013
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université de Nantes, 2021
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This paper deals with modal complement ellipsis in Czech from a comparative per-<br> specti... more This paper deals with modal complement ellipsis in Czech from a comparative per-<br> spective. I show that Czech modal complement ellipsis displays a mixed behaviour<br> in comparison with languages like English, Dutch and French. Like English, it<br> allows for various extractions from the ellipsis site and for different subjects in<br> antecedent-contained deletion constructions. Like French and Dutch, it does not<br> allow for intervening elements between the modal verb and the ellipsis site and it<br> requires voice identity of the elided VP and its antecedent. Adopting a deletion approach to ellipsis, I propose to account for this behaviour by parametrizing the syntactic properties of a presumably universal ellipsis feature [E], initially proposed by<br> Lobeck (1995). In my proposal, the syntax of [E] includes the head-licensing ellipsis<br> and the ellipsis site. I argue that the type of licensing head (T, V or Mod) and the<b...
Slavic Grammar from a Formal Perspective
Are the parents at home?' 'Yes (they are).' 'No (they are not).' The verb in the answer must be f... more Are the parents at home?' 'Yes (they are).' 'No (they are not).' The verb in the answer must be finite and bear the same tense feature as the verb in the question, see (2). In case of complex verbal forms with the auxiliary verb být ('be'), past and conditional clitic auxiliaries cannot constitute felicitous answers. This follows if we assume that clitic auxiliaries only bear agreement features and the lexical participle the interpretable tense feature, as proposed by Veselovská (1995). Consequently, the participle may combine with negation and constitute a felicitous answer to polar questions in (3). The future forms of the auxiliary verb být are expected to appear in minimal answers for they bear both tense and agreement features and combine with negation, see (4) 3. (2) Pozveš Marii na tu oslavu?-(Ne)pozvu. / *(Ne)pozval. invite.2sg Mary.acc to that party (neg)invite.1sg (neg)invited.sg.m 'Will you invite Mary to the party?' 'I will (not).' (3) Koupil jsi / bys mu to?-*(Ne)jsem. / *(Ne)bych / (Ne)koupil. bought.sg.m aux/cond.2sg him it (neg)aux.1sg / (neg)cond.1sg /(neg)bought 'Did / Would you buy it for him?' 'I did (not). / 'I would (not).' (4) Budou pracovat i v neděli?-(Ne)budou. fut.3pl work also on Sunday (neg)fut.1pl 'Will they work on Sunday too?' 'They will (not).'
In this paper, we deal with minimal answers to polar questions in Czech and Spanish, ie. answers ... more In this paper, we deal with minimal answers to polar questions in Czech and Spanish, ie. answers involving polarity particles and/or finite verbs. We show that polarity particles in these languages may express two types two of answers (polarity-based answers and truth-based answers, cf. Pope 1972) and are thus ambiguous. We propose an analysis of both types of answers in terms of clausal ellipsis (IP or TopP) and by distinguishing absolute (positive vs. negative) vs. relative (same vs. reverse) polarity features (cf. Farkas 2010). We claim that the preference for the polarity-based system in both Czech and Spanish comes from the surface identity between polarity and truth-based answers to positive questions, that makes the polarity interpretation prevailing.
This paper deals with complements of modal verbs in Czech. We analyse constructions in which moda... more This paper deals with complements of modal verbs in Czech. We analyse constructions in which modal verbs appear without their verbal complement, or accompanied by a non-verbal element. Such constructions seem elliptical because they have a sentential interpretation and can be reconstructed into full sentences with an overt VP. However, we show that they differ in three ways: (i) how their interpretation is reached, (ii) the elements that may combine with the modal verb (remnant elements), and (iii) the properties of the modal verbs themselves. We argue that constructions whose interpretation is based on a linguistic antecedent involve VP-ellipsis or TP-ellipsis, depending on the remnant elements they contain. Ellipsis may apply to all modal verbs without restrictions. By contrast, constructions interpreted without an antecedent involve direct selection of a non-verbal element by a specific modal verb. This is possible because the modal verb has been lexicalized (the case of nemuset)...
This paper describes properties of gapping and VP ellipsis in Czech. It is shown that these const... more This paper describes properties of gapping and VP ellipsis in Czech. It is shown that these constructions share most of the properties which have been already observed for verbal ellipsis in English or French, but that they also have some different properties, which can be related to particular properties of Czech language.
Le volume "Morphologie, syntaxe et semantique des subordonnants" rassemble vingt-huit a... more Le volume "Morphologie, syntaxe et semantique des subordonnants" rassemble vingt-huit articles presentant des regards croises sur cette categorie grammaticale. Les langues etudiees sont tres diverses, avec des representants de plusieurs des grandes familles mondiales : semitique, basque, malgache, japonais, et, dans la famille indo-europeenne, des langues des classes hellenique, italique, germanique et slave. Les approches proposees varient sur l'axe temporel, avec des etudes en synchronie sur des langues modernes ou anciennes, et des etudes se concentrant sur des aspects diachroniques ; elles varient aussi sur l'axe des methodes, avec des etudes " qualitatives " ou " quantitatives ", sur des corpus construits ou releves. Enfin, la diversite des questions posees, non seulement dans les dimensions morphologique, syntaxique et semantique qui donnent son titre au volume, mais aussi dans les dimensions pragmatique et stylistique, contribue a dresser...
This paper examines the syntactic and semantic behaviour of the morpheme že 'that' in sub... more This paper examines the syntactic and semantic behaviour of the morpheme že 'that' in subordinate and independent clauses in Czech. I show that že does not have the same properties in these two contexts. In embedded contexts, že combines with a declarative clause (proposition) and obligatorily marks its syntactic dependence. In independent contexts, že appears in interrogative clauses or in declarative clauses associated with exclamation, and it triggers a particular (echo or tag) interpretation. However, in all contexts, že seems to indicate a discrepancy between the speaker's and someone else commitment to a same proposition.
This article deals with elliptical sequences of multiple wh-words in Czech. It it argued that suc... more This article deals with elliptical sequences of multiple wh-words in Czech. It it argued that such sequences involve two different constructions, elliptical multiple questions and elliptical assertions. Wh-words in elliptical multiple questions share the properties of wh-words in non-elliptical questions; they have the same syntactic distribution and semantic interpretation, they do not show superiority effects, and their combinability depends on their reading. Moreover, elliptical questions can be reconstructed into syntactically complete questions. In contrast, elliptical assertions differ from elliptical questions in several aspects. They always contain the word jak in initial position, they don't have question interpretation and cannot be reconstructed into full clauses. I propose that elliptical multiple questions result from TP-deletion after movement of the wh-words into CP domain (so-called multiple sluicing) and the TP-ellipsis is driven by the Focus feature. This expla...
Koordinace, koordinační spojka, konjunkce, disjunkce, adverzativnost, komitativni konstrukce [Coordination, coordinator, conjunction, disjunction, adversativity, comitative constructions These six chapters focus on coordination phenomena, properties of conjunctions and relations betw... more These six chapters focus on coordination phenomena, properties of conjunctions and relations between conjuncts. One chapter is dedicated to comitative constructions, in particular to comitative coordination.
This paper deals with two types of answers to polar questions: polarity-based and truth based que... more This paper deals with two types of answers to polar questions: polarity-based and truth based questions (see Pope 1972). I show that languages that typically behave as polarity-based languages, like e.g. Spanish and Czech, also possess truth-based answers. This can be in particular seen in answers to negative questions. I argue that this is due to the fact that there are two types of negative questions: negative questions with pleonastic negation that behave as positive questions, and "true" negative questions that convey a negative presupposed assertion. Only the latter receive a truth-based answer. I then propose that particles in polarity-based answers express absolute polarity, while particles in truth-based answers express relative polarity to the extent that they (dis)confirm the presupposed assertion conveyed by the question. Truth-based answers to positive questions are also possible, but they are identical at surface to polarity-based answers.
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Papers by Hana Gruet-Skrabalova