LingLunch: Elisabeth J. Kerr (Ghent University/CNRS-LLACAN)

Elisabeth J. Kerr (Ghent University/CNRS-LLACAN): The successive roll-up account under-generates FOFC-compliant disharmonic word orders

The Final-Over-Final Condition (FOFC) is an influential empirical generalisation that claims that there is an asymmetry in the distribution of word order patterns, with harmonically head-initial (type I) and harmonically head-final (type II) patterns possible, disharmonic head-initial over head-final (type III) patterns possible, but disharmonic head-final over head-initial (type IV) patterns impossible. This empirical generalisation is typically modelled via a successive roll-up account working from Antisymmetric assumptions (Biberauer et al. 2014 et seq.). Critics of FOFC have argued that FOFC is too strong in ruling out disharmonic word orders of the head-final over head-initial type (type IV). In this talk I argue that there is another under-generation problem, in that the successive roll-up account is overly restrictive in the predictions it makes regarding the nature of head-initial over head-final orders (type III). I illustrate this with examples taken from my work on disharmonic clausal word order in languages of West and Central Africa, discussing multiple specifiers, word formation, adjunct attachment, and extraposition.

Biberauer, Theresa, Anders Holmberg, and Ian Roberts. (2014). A Syntactic Universal and Its Consequences. Linguistic Inquiry, 45, pp. 169–225.