Partial Conjunct Agreement: Experiments and Typology
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Andrew Nevins, UCL
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11:30-13:00, G15
In a variety of languages (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, Hindi, Ndebele), coordinated subjects (and
in some cases, objects) consisting of two noun phrases can trigger verbal agreement with only one of these
noun phrases, rather than with the coordination as a whole. Such 'partial agreement' can be with the linearly
closest conjunct, or with the hierarchically highest conjunct, but apparently never with a conjunct that is
neither highest nor closest. Assuming these two choices to be possible, a number of factors determine when
they are actually chosen, including whether the coordination is preverbal or postverbal, and a number of
specific features, including a) the case, b) the number, c) the gender, and d) the animacy of the conjunct to be
agreed with, and sometimes how these relate to the values for such features of the coordination as a whole. A
factorial design is clearly the best way to sort out the contribution of all of these independent variables to the
dependent variables, and once a reliable picture emerges from these experimental results, we can begin to ask
what other properties within the languages in question these specific relations correlate with, and how the
characteristics of these relations may be used to classify language varieties on morphosyntactic terms,
including the possibility of "language atlases", akin to those of the SAND project for Dutch, but built on the
results of morphosyntactic experimental data.