Deriving (non)agreement in Welsh

Calvin Quick

Keywords: syntax, morphology, Celtic linguistics, clitics, agreement, Welsh

TL;DR: I investigate unexpected patterns of agreement in Welsh: exploring why they are unexpected, and accounting for them in a systematic way that derives both unexceptional and exceptional patterns.

Abstract:

Welsh canonically displays agreement only with pronouns, never with full NPs. Yet numerous cases of full agreement with displaced (both A- and Ā-moved) NPs are robustly attested, and, on close inspection, resist incorporation into frameworks where agreement only targets pronouns. I motivate an account of AGREEMENT vs. NONAGREEMENT patterns in Welsh based on locality, clitic incorporation, and cyclic movement, within a typology of RESUMPTIVE vs. GAP structures. Past accounts have argued that the nominal characteristics of Celtic verbs naturally derive the ‘regular’ complementary agreement patterns (pronoun-only). I argue these properties also derive the ‘irregular’ (unrestricted) patterns in Welsh.

(see attached PDF for full abstract)

Abstract submission type: in-person talk

Note: this work has also been submitted for presentation at GLOW47 and is currently under review. I will update the organizers once the status of that submission changes.

Submission Number: 93