Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Variation
Vol. 22:2 (2022) ► pp.209–267

Optional agreement as successful/failed Agree

Evidence from Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan)

ORCID logo | University of Tromsø
| University of California, Los Angeles
We investigate optional predicate agreement in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan). Several generalizations emerge: (i) inanimate arguments base-generated as complements control agreement optionally; (ii) some animate arguments base-generated as complements control agreement optionally; (iii) all arguments base-generated as specifiers control full agreement obligatorily. We propose that two conditions must be met for the operation Agree to succeed, resulting in the exponence of all the features of the agreement controller. First, a goal must be visible (bear the right feature). Second, a goal must be accessible (be in the right structural position). If one or both conditions are not met, Agree fails, but the derivation converges and 3sg agreement is exponed. While Agree is deterministic, surface optionality arises when the operation fails. We use optional agreement to diagnose the syntactic structure of understudied constructions in Mayan (nominalizations, Agent Focus). We discuss microvariation, highlighting methodological considerations that arise when assuming an I-language approach.
Keywords: Agree , agreement, optionality, microvariation, specifier, complement, Agent Focus, Tz’utujil, Mayan, syntax
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Santiago Tz’utujil
    • 2.1Previous work on optional agreement in Tz’utujil
    • 2.2Properties of STz’
  • 3.Optional agreement in STz’: Establishing a specifier vs. completement generalization
    • 3.1Agreement controlled by base-generated specifier
      • 3.1.1Subject of transitives
      • 3.1.2Subject of antipassives
      • 3.1.3Possessor
      • 3.1.4Subject of nominal and adjectival predicates
      • 3.1.5Interim summary
    • 3.2Agreement controlled by base-generated complement
      • 3.2.1Object of transitives
      • 3.2.2Subject of passives
      • 3.2.3Argument in an existential construction
    • 3.3A generalization regarding inanimate controllers
  • 4.Optional agreement as a diagnostic of underlying structure
    • 4.1Intransitives
    • 4.2Sole argument of stative predicates (revisited)
    • 4.3Agent Focus (subjects and objects)
    • 4.4The progressive construction
  • 5.Animate controllers: Construction-specific pattern
  • 6.Analysis
    • 6.1Inanimate controllers: Visibility (structural size)
    • 6.2Animate arguments: Construction-specific accessibility
      • 6.2.1Accessibility and Set B agreement
      • 6.2.2Accessibility and Set A agreement
      • 6.2.3Pronouns revisited
    • 6.3Summary of visibility and accessibility
  • 7.Microvariation
    • 7.1Microvariation across Mayan
    • 7.2Microvariation in STz’ and a methodological note
  • 8.Conclusions and future work
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations used in the paper
  • References
Published online: 26 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.20013.lys
References
Abney, S.
1987 The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.
Aissen, Judith
1999 External Possessor and Logical Subject in Tz’utujil. In I. Barshi & D. Payne (eds.), External Possession, 451–485. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 On the syntax of agent focus in K’ichee’. (Ed.) Kirill Shklovsky, Pedro Mateo Pedro & Jessica Coon. Proceedings of FAMLi. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar
2017a Correlates of ergativity in Mayan. In Jessica Coon, Diane Massam & Lisa Travis (eds.), Oxford handbook of ergativity, 737–758. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2017b Complement clauses. In Judith Aissen, Nora C. England & Zavala Maldonado (eds.), The Mayan Languages, 259–292. New York, NY: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aissen, Judith, Nora C. England & Roberto Zavala Maldonado
(eds.) 2017a The Mayan Languages. New York, NY: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017b Introduction. In Judith Aissen, Nora C. England & Roberto Zavala Maldonado (eds.), The Mayan Languages. New York, NY: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aissen, Judith L.
1992 Topic and focus in Mayan. Language 68(1). 43–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aldridge, Edith Catherine
2004 Ergativity and word order in Austronesian languages. Cornell University Doctoral dissertation.
Assmann, A., D. Georgi, F. Heck, G. Müller & P. Weisser
2015 Ergatives move too early: On an instance of opacity in syntax. Syntax 18(4). 343–387. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mark C.
1996 The Polysynthesis Parameter. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2003 Lexical categories: Verbs, nouns and adjectives. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The syntax of agreement and concord. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bohnemeyer, Jürgen
2009 Temporal anaphora in a tenseless language. In Wolfgang Klein & Ping Li (eds.), The expression of time in language, 83–128. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burukina, Irine
2020 Structure of event nominals revealed. Manuscript. Budapest, ms.Google Scholar
Carstens, Vicki
2020 Concord and labeling. In Peter W. Smith (ed.), Agreement in the Minimalist Program (Language Sciences Press Open Generative Syntax Series).Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1965 Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
1970 Remarks on nominalization. In R. A. Jacobs & P. S. Rosenbaum (eds.), Readings in English transformational grammar, 184–221. Waltham, MA.Google Scholar
1986 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
1995 The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
2001 Derivation by phase. In Michael Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language, 1–52. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Citko, Barbara
2014 Phase Theory: An introduction. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clemens, Lauren & Jessica Coon
2018 Deriving verb-initial word order in Mayan. Language 94(2). 237–280. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coon, Jessica
2012 Split ergativity and transitivity in Chol. Lingua 1221. 241–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Aspects of split ergativity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Mayan morphosyntax. Language and linguistics compass 10(10). 515–550. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 Building verbs in Chuj: Consequences for the nature of roots. Journal of Linguistics 551. 35–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coon, Jessica, Nico Baier & Theodore Levin
2021 Mayan Agent Focus and the ergative extraction constraint: Facts and fictions revisited. Language 97(2). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coon, Jessica & E. Carolan
2017 Nominalizations and the structure of progressives in Chuj Mayan. Glossa: A journal of general linguistics 2(1). 1–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coon, Jessica, Pedro Mateo Pedro & Omer Preminger
2014 The role of case in A-bar extraction asymmetries: Evidence from Mayan. Linguistic Variation 14(2). 179–242. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coon, Jessica & Omer Preminger
2009 Positional roots and case absorption. New perspectives in Mayan linguistics 35–58.Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville G.
2006 Agreement. New Yotk, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Craig, C. G.
1977 The structure of Jacaltec. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Dayley, Jon Philip
1978 Voice in Tzututjil. Journal of Mayan Linguistics 1(1). 20–52.Google Scholar
1985 Tzutujil grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Deal, Amy Rose
2009 The origin and content of expletives: Evidence from “selection.” Syntax 12(4). 285–323. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Déchaine, R. M. & Martina Wiltschko
2002 Decomposing pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 33(3). 409–442. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Douglas, J., Rodrigo Ranero & M. Sheehan
2017 Two kinds of syntactic ergativity in Mayan. In Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine (ed.), Proceedings of GLOW in Asia XI, vol. 21, 41–56. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar
Eberhard, D. M., G. F. Simons & C. D. Fenning
(eds.) 2019 Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 22nd edn. Dallas, TX: SIL International.Google Scholar
Elbourne, Paul
2001 E-type anaphora as NP-deletion. Natural Language Semantics 9(3). 241–288. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
England, Nora C.
1991 Changes in basic word order in Mayan languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 57(4). 466–486. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 Introducción a la gramática de los idiomas mayas. Guatemala City: Editorial Cholsamaj.Google Scholar
2011 Plurality Agreement in Some Eastern Mayan Languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 77(3). 397–412. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka
2016 Anti-locality and optimality in Kaqchikel Agent Focus. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 34(2). 429–479. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freeze, Ray
1992 Existentials and other locatives. Language 681. 553–595. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fried, Marisa, Paulina Lyskawa & Rodrigo Ranero
2020 Agreement in K’iche’ (Mayan): Reflections on microvariation and acquisition. In To appear in Proceedings of the 44th Penn Linguistics Conference.Google Scholar
García Ixmatá, Pablo (Ajpub’)
1997 Gramática Tz’utujiil. Guatemala: Editorial Cholsamaj.Google Scholar
1998 Jotaytziij Tz’utujiil: Derivación de Palabras Tz’utujiil. Guatemala: Editorial Cholsamaj.Google Scholar
Hale, Kenneth
2002 Eccentric agreement. In B. Fernández & Pablo Albizu (eds.), Kasu eta Komunztaduraren gainean [On Case and Agreement], 15–48. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Euskal Herriko Unibetsitatea.Google Scholar
Harley, Heidi
2017 The “bundling” hypothesis and the disparate functions of little v. In Roberta D’Alessandro, Irene Franco & Ángel J. Gallego (eds.), The verbal domain, 3–28. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harley, Heidi & Elizabeth Ritter
2002 Person and number in pronouns: A feature-geometric analysis. Language 78(3). 482–526. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haviland, John B.
1994 “Te xa setel xulem” [The buzzards were circling] – Categories of verbal roots in (Zinacantec) Tzotzil. Linguistics 321. 691–741. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heaton, R.
2017 A typology of antipassives, with special reference to Mayan. Manoa: University of Hawai’i Doctoral dissertation.
Henderson, Robert
2009 A Case-Agreement Split in Kaqchikel. Manuscript. UC Santa Cruz, ms.Google Scholar
2012 Morphological alternations at the intonational phrase edge. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 30(3). 741–787. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2019 The roots of measurement. Glossa: A journal of general linguistics 4(1). 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hornstein, Norbert
1999 Movement and control. Linguistic Inquiry. MIT Press 30(1). 69–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Imanishi
2014 Default ergative. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.
Ionin, T.
2003 Article semantics in second language acquisition. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.
2006 This is definitely specific: specificity and definiteness in article systems. Natural Language Semantics 14(2). 175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael
2013 Realize morpheme in Kaqchikel. Studies in Kaqchikel grammar 81.Google Scholar
Legate, Julie Anne
2003 Some interface properties of the phase. Linguistic Inquiry 34(3). 506–515. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Morphological and abstract case. Linguistic inquiry. MIT Press 39(1). 55–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 Split ergativity based on nominal type. Lingua 1481. 183–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levin, Theodore
2015 Licensing without Case. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.
Levin, Theodore, Paulina Lyskawa & Rodrigo Ranero
2020 Optional agreement in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan) is syntactic. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft. De Gruyter Mouton 39(3). 329–355. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Little, Carol Rose
2020a Left branch extraction, object shift, and freezing effects in Tumbalá Ch’ol. Glossa: A journal of general linguistics 5(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2020b Interdependencies of nominal and clausal syntax: A view from Ch’ol. Cornell University Doctoral dissertation.
Lyskawa, Paulina & Rodrigo Ranero
2021a Vowel Harmony in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan). Handout presented at the Meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas.
2021b Sibilant harmony in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan). In Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 61 1, vol. 61, 265–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, L.
1998 Irrealis constructions in Mocho (Mayan). Anthropological linguistics 198–213.Google Scholar
Massam, Diane
2001 Pseudo noun incorporation in Niuean. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory (19). 153–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mateo-Toledo, B’alam Eladio
2008 The family of complex predicates in Q’anjob’al (Maya): Their syntax and meaning. Austin, TX: University of Texas Doctoral dissertation.
Mithun, M.
1984 The Evolution of Noun Incorporation. Language 60(4). 847–894. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norris, Mark
2014 A theory of nominal concord. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. University of California, Santa Cruz Doctoral dissertation.
2017 Description and analyses of nominal concord (Parts I-II). Language and Linguistics Compass 11(11). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O-Brien Rothe, L.
2015 Songs that Make the Road Dance: Courtship and Fertility Music of the Tz’utujil Maya. University of Texas Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ordóñez, F.
1995 The antipassive in Jacaltec: A last resort strategy. Catalan Working Papers in Linguistics (CatWPL) 4(2). 329–343.Google Scholar
Paster, Mary
2019 Analyzing interspeaker variation in Maay. Loquens 6(2). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, Maria
2016 Deconstructing ergativity: Two types of ergative languages and their features. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Antipassive. In Jessica Coon, Diane Massam & Lisa Travis (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ergativty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Postal, Paul
1966 On so-called ‘pronouns’ in English. In F. Dinneen (ed.), 19th Monograph on Languages and Linguistics, 201–224. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Preminger, Omer
2014 Agreement and its failures (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs). Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ranero, Rodrigo
2021 Identity Conditions on Ellipsis. University of Maryland, College Park Doctoral Dissertation.
Ritter, Elizabeth
2014 Featuring animacy. Nordlyd 411. 103–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Royer, Justin
2021 Prosody as syntactic evidence: The view from Mayan. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sauerland, Uli
2003 A new semantics for number. In Proceedings of SALT 13 1, 258–275. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stiebels, B.
2006 Agent focus in Mayan languages. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 24(2). 501–570. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tada, H.
1993 A/A-bar partition in derivation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral dissertation.
Thráinsson, H.
2001 Object Shift and Scrambling. In Mark Baltin & Chris Collins (eds.), The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, 149–202. Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tummons, E. J.
2010 Positional Roots in Kaqchikel Maya. University of Kansas Masters thesis.
Woolford, E.
1997 Four-way case systems: Ergative, nominative, objective and accusative. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 15(1). 181–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar