Vacuous quantification
SEMANTICS: vacuous quantification obtains when a
°quantifier fails to bind a variable, either
because the variable is not in the °scope of that
quantifier (cf. All(x) in (i)a), or because there is another quantifier already
binding the variable (cf. All(x) in (i)b).
(i) a All(x) [ P(j) ] & Q(x)
b All(x) [ P(j) & ThereIs(x) [ Q(x) ]]
LIT.
Partee, Ter Meulen & Wall
(1990).
Vagueness
SEMANTICS: the phenomenon that the meaning of an expression is not
exactly determined, due to the impreciseness of natural language. In John is
tall, the meaning of the adjective tall is vague in the sense that
the precise degree of tallness is indeterminable. Vagueness is not to be confused
with °ambiguity, even though the two are not
always clearly distinguishable.
LIT.
Chierchia & McConnell-Ginet
(1990).
Valency
MORPHOLOGY/SYNTAX: propensity of verbs to take (or not take) particular
kinds of arguments.
EXAMPLE: the verb open is associated with the semantic roles
Agent, Theme, and Instrument (e.g. John [AGENT] opened the door
[THEME] with his key [INSTRUMENT]), while the verbs ran and
arrive are only associated with the Agent role (Bill ran) or
Theme role (John arrived), respectively.
Valency-changing operation
MORPHOLOGY/SYNTAX: a syntactic and/or morphological operation due to
which the relationship between a verb and its arguments is changed.
EXAMPLE: due to the operation of passive formation, the internal
argument of transitive verbs in the active voice gets externalized, while the
external argument becomes an (optional) adjunct: John killed his mother
vs. His mother was killed (by John)).
Variable
SYNTAX: an empty element, such as a
°wh-trace, or a trace of
°QR, which must be
°A'-bound by an
°operator. A variable counts as an
R-expression with respect to
°Binding principle C.
LIT.
Chomsky (1981).
SEMANTICS: a basic expression of a logical language which is used as a
place-holder in a formula. It does not have a specific reference but stands for
an unspecified value. In first order
°predicate logic
°individual variables ranging over
individuals are the only variables used, but in higher order logic and type logic
variables can also range over sets, relations and functions of diverse complexity.
LIT.
Gamut (1991).
Variety
SEMANTICS: a constraint that excludes the 'uninteresting' determiners
which either always or never yield a true sentence. A determiner has the property
of variety if and only if in a domain of entities E condition (i) holds.
(i) for some V,W,X,Y subset E: D(V,W) & Neg D(X,Y)Assuming that at least n N, for instance, is not defined in a model where the cardinality of N is lower than n, all °simple determiners show variety; in every model boolean combinations of certain determiners, such as one or no and at least three and at most two, do not.
Velar
PHONOLOGY: a velar sound is produced with a constriction formed by raising
the back of the tongue (=dorsum) towards the soft palate (=velum).
EXAMPLE: in articulating English and Dutch [k] the dorsum touches the soft
palate.
Velarization
PHONOLOGY: an °assimilation
process in which a sound is adjusted to a neighboring
°velar by raising the back of the tongue towards
the soft palate.
EXAMPLE: English postvocalic /l/ is velarized before velar sounds in
milk [mI l k].
Vendler classes
°Aspectual classes.
Verb movement
SYNTAX: movement of a verb to a c-commanding head position, e.g.
°I(NFL) and °C(OMP).
In many languages the verb moves to I to pick up morphological inflection
(°tense and/or
°agreement).
EXAMPLE: in Dutch (i) the uninflected verb kus is moved to I,
and °adjoined to it, to pick up the affix
-t, and the resulting complex subsequently moves to COMP.
(i) a [CP [C' e [IP Jan [I' [VP Margriet kus ] [I -t] ] ] ] ]
b [CP [C' [I [V kus]k [I -t]]j [IP Jan
[I' [VP Margriet tk] tj ] ] ] ]
An alternative to (i) is the movement of a fully inflected verb to (and possibly
substituting for) an empty I position in order to 'check' the tense and/or agreement
features. Verb movement is sometimes called 'verb raising' in distinction to the
lowering of the I to the V-position (e.g. in English). Verb movement is an instance
of °head movement. A special case of verb
movement is °Verb raising.
Verb Raising
SYNTAX: Verb movement to V, which has been posited for infinitival verbs
in German and Dutch. The hypothesis is that the verb of an infinitival complement,
if the complement is not °extraposed, is
moved and adjoined to its governing verb, thereby creating a verb-cluster.
EXAMPLE: Dutch Verb Raising creates the structure in (i)b (assuming the
SOV d-structure in (i)a).
(i) a dat Jan [VP [VP hard werken1] willen2] heeft
that Jan hard work want-to has
b dat Jan [VP [VP hard t1] t2] heeft willen2 werken1
'that Jan has wanted to work hard'
As shown, the linear order of verbs in d-structure is reversed in s-structure
(or °PF) (in Dutch but not in German). A
characteristic anomaly of the resulting verb cluster in (i)b is the
°IPP phenomenon: we find
what looks like the infinitival willen instead of the participle
gewild. It is a point of ongoing debate whether verb raising is actual
movement or that verb clusters are base-generated.
Verb second
SYNTAX: name for the phenomenon that, or the process by which, the verb
in °declarative
°root sentences ends up in second
position. If a language has verb second as a characteristic property it is
called a verb second language.
EXAMPLE: the contrast between the Dutch (i)a and the English (i)b
shows that Dutch, but not English, is a verb second language.
(i) a Jan sla ik
J hit I
b John I hit
Verb second is no longer considered a process, but is rather taken to be an
epiphenomenon, the effect of the interaction of as yet ill-understood
parameter-settings and principles.
Verbal Compound
°Synthetic compound.
Visibility (condition)
SYNTAX: condition which states that an element must be
°Case-marked in order for it to be
visible for °theta-marking (which in
turn is required by the °theta-criterion),
and thus subsumes the °Case filter. See
also °Chain condition.
LIT.
Chomsky (1986a).
Vocal cords
PHONOLOGY: thin bands of muscle in the larynx at the upper end of the
wind pipe. The vocal cords can move rapidly due to the passing of air, producing
°voiced sounds.
Voiced
PHONOLOGY: a °feature which characterizes
sounds that are produced with vibration of the vocal cords.
EXAMPLE: In English [b] and [d] are [+voiced] as opposed to [p] and [t]
which are [-voiced], i.e. voiceless.
Vowel
PHONOLOGY: a sound that is produced in such a way that the air stream can
pass through the vocal tract without a noticeable obstruction.
Vowel harmony PHONOLOGY: an °assimilation process involving vowels of different °syllables. EXAMPLE: in Turkish, the vowels of a suffix that are [+high] assimilate to the vowel of the stem with respect to the features [back] and [round]:
v - evim 'my house' göz - gözüm 'my eye' gul - gulum 'my rose' basj - basjïm 'my head'
Vowel reduction
PHONOLOGY: a process in which an unstressed vowel reduces to a
°schwa.
EXAMPLE: in Dutch pastoor -> p@stoor.
LIT.
Booy (1977),
Kager (1989).
VP-adjunction
SYNTAX: °adjunction of a
constituent to VP. In the Barriers-framework (Cf. Chomsky 1986b), VP-adjunction
is a crucial step in the (A'-)movement of direct objects.
EXAMPLE: if the direct object of a simple sentence would be
wh-moved to spec of CP in one step, the result would be (i).
(i) [CP who [C did] [IP John [VP see t ]]]This structure is ruled out, because there are two °barriers between who and its trace: VP is a non °L-marked maximal projection (and therefore a °Blocking Category and an inherent barrier), and IP, being the first maximal projection to dominate VP, is a barrier by inheritance. In order to explain the well-formedness of who did John see?, it is assumed by Chomsky that the object first adjoins to VP and only then moves to spec of CP, resulting in (ii).
(ii) [CP who [C did] [IP John [VP t1 [VP see t2 ]]]]Because barrierhood is defined in terms of °exclusion, this step voids the barrierhood of VP and thus that of IP, which is inherited from VP. The possibility of adjunction to VP is required independently to account for certain cases of °QR.
VP Preposing
SYNTAX: preposing of a VP.
EXAMPLE: in the second conjunct in (i) the VP has been preposed.
(i) She promised that she would mend the dishwasher, and [VP mend the
dishwasher]i she will ti
VP Raising
SYNTAX: movement of an infinitival VP to the right of its governing verb.
This syntactic operation occurs in many German and Dutch (Flemish) dialects.
EXAMPLE: in Flemish, VP raising results in the structure in (i)b, given the
°d-structure in (i)a.
(i) a da Jan [VP Marie nen boek geven] wilt]
that Jan Marie a book give wants
'that Jan wants to give Marie a book'
b da Jan ti wilt [VP Marie nen boek geven]i
VP Raising is distinguished from
°extraposition, because it is triggered
by verbs that also trigger °Verb Raising,
and because it induces °IPP.