Checking Up on (ϕ-)Agree

• Hedde Zeijlstra ^[1] ; Bronwyn M. Bjorkman ^[2]
  1. [1] Queen's University

     Queen's University

     Canadá

     
  2. [2] University of Göttingen

     University of Göttingen

     Landkreis Göttingen, Alemania

     
• Localización: Linguistic inquiry, ISSN 0024-3892, Vol. 50, Nº 3, 2019, págs. 527-569
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • We argue for a uniformly upward-probing implementation of Agree (Upward Agree, UA), showing that it can account for a wide range of long-distance agreement phenomena, including cases that have been cited as evidence against earlier UA models of ϕ-agreement. Our core revision to earlier UA approaches is a distinction between checking and valuation: while we maintain that checking is strictly regulated by UA, we propose that valuation depends on a secondary relation of accessibility, which allows valuation of a higher probe by a lower, accessible goal, in cases where the checker of the probe cannot (fully) value it. This model provides a better account of asymmetries between Spec-head agreement and long-distance agreement patterns, and also accounts for movement-agreement interactions without a need for EPP features