Notes on Chapter 1: Workbook Section
Class: We started working through exercise 1.1 and 1.2 as a group.
(1) Seawater shalt thou drink.
Head
drink
shalt
Complement
Seawater
drink Seawater
Two things in the surface form of this sentence obscure the Head-First parameter setting of Early Modern English (EModE):
(1) The complement of the verb drink, Seawater, precedes and is not adjacent to its head due to movement of the complement to the front of the clause.
(2) The complement of the auxiliary shalt, drink Seawater, is not adjacent to its head (besides being itself discontinuous) due to subject-auxiliary inversion.
(2) That letter hath she delivered.
This sentence has exactly the same structural properties as (1) that obscure the Head-First setting of EModE:
(1) The complement of the verb delivered, That letter, precedes and is not adjacent to its head due to movement of the complement to the front of the clause.
(2) The complement of the auxiliary hath, delivered That letter, is not adjacent to its head (besides being itself discontinuous) due to subject-auxiliary inversion.
(3) Friend thou hast none.
Head
hast
no(ne)
Complement
no(ne) Friend
Friend
This sentence is slightly different. In this case, part of the complement of hast follows it immediately, but the complement of the quantifier no(ne), Friend is preposed to the beginning of the sentence, resulting in the complement being before the head and discontinuous from it.
(4) True it is that we have seen better days.
In this sentence, a number of constructions are head first: that immediately precedes the clause that is its complement;have immediately precedes the verb phrase that is its complement; seen immediately precedes its complement, better days.
(1) True precedes its complement, that we have seen better days, but is not adjacent to it.
(2) Part of the complement of is is topicalized to the beginning of the sentence, and so is not adjacent to its head and precedes its head.
(5) She may more suitors have.
Two of the three head-complement structures in this sentence are clearly Head-First: may immediately precedes its complement, many suitors have; and more immediately precedes its complement, suitors. But a movement rule appears to have moved the complement of the verb have immediately before that verb.
For Thursday's discussion, prepare to discuss sentences 6-10 of 1.1.
1.2 We worked through the data.
We concluded that Lucy had the Wh-Parameter set correctly for English on the basis of (1), (5), (11) (14), (15), and (16). In all of these sentences the wh- word is moved to the front in questions.
On the basis of (2), (3), (4), (6), (7), (12), (13), (18), (19) and (20), we concluded that Lucy had the Head Parameter set correctly. In all of these sentences the head precedes its complements: Verbs preceded their objects.
Note that there is no head-complement relationship between the subject and predicate.
Note also that the questions discussed above make the Head-Complement order opaque since by moving the complement of the verb to the front because it is a wh-word, the underlying order is obscured.
For Thursday's discussion, prepare to discuss the Null Subject Parameter as reflected in Lucy's utterances.