Long Distance Dependencies
(Filler-Gap Constructions)
and Relative Clauses
October 10, 2007
11-721: Grammars and Lexicons
Lori Levin
(Examples from Kroeger and Van Valin)
Outline
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What is a filler-gap construction?
What is a long-distance dependency?
What is a relative clause?
Relative clauses in various languages
Long distance dependencies in Malagasy
– Where can the gap be?
– What do you do if you need to put a gap
where it is not allowed?
• Where can’t the gap be in English
Filler-Gap Constructions
• Ann, I think he likes ___.
• Gap is ungrammatical without filler:
– *I think he likes___.
• Filler without gap:
– Ann, I think he likes the girl in my class.
– Ann, I think he likes her.
• If you write a grammar for a filler-gap
dependency, an interesting exercise is to
make the parse fail when there is a gap
without a filler or a filler without a gap.
Long Distance Dependencies
S-bar
Distance is measured by the
number of nodes – the number of
S, NP, CP, and IP nodes in
particular – on the path from the
parent of the filler, down the tree
to the gap.
S
NP
NP
VP
V
S
NP
VP
V
NP
S
NP
VP
V
IP
I
Ann,
I think
he told
me he tried to
V
like
NP
___
Long Distance Dependencies
S-bar
Distance is not measured by the
number of words between the
filler and the gap.
S
NP
VP
NP
Ann
the guy I met on
the bus
yesterday in
Oakland
V
likes
NP
Filler Gap Constructions: English
• Topicalization
– Ann, I think he likes.
• It-Cleft
– It’s Ann that I think he likes.
• Wh-question
– Who do you think he likes?
• Embedded Wh-question
– I wonder who you think he likes?
• Relative Clause
– I saw the woman who I think he likes.
Filler Gap Constructions: English
• Tough-movement
– Ann is easy to talk to __ .
• Correlative construction
– The more I think I like Ann ___ the more she ignores
me.
– The more people I talk to ___ the more I learn.
• Comparative clauses
– Ann has seen more movies than I think I have seen
___.
Historical Note
• Chomsky (1977) On Wh Movement
– Proposed a single rule, Move-wh, to account
for all long-distance dependencies.
– Old approach:
• Write rules for each construction.
– New approach:
• Look for what the rules have in common.
What are relative clauses?
Sometimes people use
the term “relative clause”
to refer to the S-bar.
Sometimes they use it
(sloppily) to refer to the
whole NP.
NP
Det
The
N-bar
N-bar
student
S-bar
RP
S
Head noun
that/who/which/Ø
Let’s say that the filler
is the relative pronoun,
not the head noun.
Relative pronoun,
etc.
I saw ___
S containing a gap
But there are relative clauses
• Without head nouns
• Without relative pronouns
• Without gaps
What makes it a relative clause?
• A noun that plays a role in two clauses
– I like the student who won the contest.
• I like the student.
• The student won the contest.
• One clause is part of a noun phrase in the
other clause.
Which sentences contain relative
clauses?
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I am annoyed by the fact that linguistics is fun.
You met the the man who I saw.
I wonder who you saw.
The book that bothered me is on the shelf.
I think that linguistics is fun.
That linguistics is fun bothers me.
I like [who you like].
– Headless relative clause
“Relativized”
• The child who __ saw me smiled.
– Subject of “see” is relativized.
• The child who I saw __ smiled.
– Object of “saw” is relativized.
• The child who I talked to ___ smiled.
• The child to whom I talked ___ smiled.
– Oblique is reltativized.
• The child who I thought you liked __ smiled.
– What is relativized?
Relative Clauses in various
languages
Order of relative clause and head
noun
• English:
– The relative clause is after the head noun
• Turkish
– The relative clause is before the head noun.
Gap and relativizer:
Note ambiguity
Relativizer and pronoun retention
(resumptive pronoun)
Relative pronouns
(vs invariant relativizers)
Relative pronouns
Internal Head
Internal and external head
Combination of strategies
Gap for subject, gap or pronoun for object, pronoun for everything else.
Long Distance Dependencies in
Malagasy
What grammatical function can the
gap have?
Using passivization to get the gap
where you need it
Gaps with “give”
Gap is instrument: two ways to
make a question
It-Clefts in Malagasy: same
restrictions as questions
Malagasy Relative Clauses
Malagasy Relative Clauses
Where can’t the gap be in English?
Wh-questions: English
• Gap in subject position:
– Who ___ likes Ann?
• Gap in object position:
– Who does Ann like __?
• Gap in oblique position:
– Who did you talk to __?
– To whom did you talk __?
• Gap in embedded clause (long distance):
– Who do you think that he saw __?
Constraints on Long-Distance
Dependencies
• Where can the gap be?
• John Robert (Haj) Ross (1967) Ph.D.
Thesis, MIT
Constraints on Long Distance
Dependencies
• The gap cannot be inside a coordinate
structure.
– I saw [the boy and the girl].
– *Who did you see the boy and ___.
• Except in “across the board” extraction:
– Who did you [ [talk to___] and [hear rumors about __] ]
Constraints on Long Distance
Dependencies
• The gap cannot be inside a sentence that
is inside a noun phrase:
– I like [the fact that he reads books every day].
– *What do you like the fact that he reads ___
every day?
Constraints on Long Distance
Dependencies
• The gap cannot be inside the subject:
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–
–
–
[ Pictures of Sam ] were available.
*Who were [ pictures of ___ ] available?
[ Books about linguistics ] were on sale.
*What were [ books about ___ ] on sale?
• But the gap can be inside the direct object:
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–
–
–
You saw [ pictures of Sam].
Who did you see [ pictures of ___ ] ?
You read [ books about linguistics].
?What did you read books about?
Constraints on Long Distance
Dependencies
• The gap cannot be inside an embedded
question:
– They wondered [ who __ talked to Sam].
– *Who did they wonder [ who __ talked to __]?
• But the gap can be inside of a plain
embedded clause:
– They thought [ (that) we talked to Sam ].
– Who did they think [(that) we talked to ___ ] ?
Constraints on Long Distance
Dependencies
• The gap cannot be inside a relative clause or
any another long distance dependency:
– I like [ the boy that Sam plays with ___.]
– *Who do you like [the boy that __ plays with __].
• Except for this:
– Which violins are [ these sonatas easy to play ___ on
___]?