1 Real and Apparent Long-Distance Agreement in Subject-to-Subject Raising Constructions Eric Potsdam Maria Polinsky University of Florida Harvard University Workshop on Local Modeling of Non-Local Dependencies in Syntax 2008 Meeting of the German Linguistic Society, Bamberg, Germany 1 Introduction Long-Distance Agreement in Subject-to-Subject Raising Constructions (LDA): a subject-to-subject raising verb agrees with the apparent subject of its complement clause (1) raising.verb.AGR [ CP/TP … subject.AGR … ] Greek (example based on Iatridou 1988/1993, Anagnostopoulou 2003) (2) dhen fenonde [na agapun ta pedhia tin Maria] NEG seem.3PL SBJV love.3PL the children.3PL the Maria.ACC ‘The children don’t seem to love Maria.’  LDA is not a unified phenomenon theoretically 1. REAL LDA involves genuine long-distance agreement and requires a non- local agreement mechanism, such as Agree (Chomsky 2000) (3) ______ Agree _____ ? ? raising.verb.AGR [ CP/TP … subject.AGR … ] 2. APPARENT (FAKE) LDA involves some other syntax and non-local Agree is not necessary (4) two kinds of fake LDA a. Backward Raising: the embedded DP has a silent representation in the matrix clause b. Scrambling: the matrix clause DP appears to be part of the embedded clause as a result of scrambling, but it is still in the matrix clause outline of the talk • Fake LDA 1: Backward Raising in Adyghe (section 2) • Fake LDA 2: Scrambling in Russian (section 3) • Real LDA: Greek (section 4) • Conclusion (section 5) 2 Fake LDA 1: Backward Raising in Adyghe (Polinsky and Potsdam 2006) Adyghe (Circassian): NW Caucasian (Abkhazo-Adyghean) language, spoken in the south of Russia and Turkey (related languages: Kabardian, Abaza, Abkhaz, Ubykh) head-final, extremely free surface word order, with a difference between root and embedded clauses (embedded clauses have to be verb-final) morphological cases: ergative (-m), absolutive (-r), generalized oblique; other relations expressed by PPs rich agreement with the absolutive and the ergative in person and number 2.1 raising verbs relevant predicates: HWEn ‘become, turn out to’, qEBeB’En ‘happen to’, S’Et ‘be likely to’, feZen ‘begin’, wExEn ‘stop, be over’ (some speakers only) (5) [axe-me pEsme-r a-txE-new] feZa-R-ex 3PL-ERG letter-ABS 3PL.ERG-write-SUP begin-PAST-PL ‘They began to write a letter.’ Evidence for raising: no imperative formation, no selectional restrictions, preservation of idiomatic meanings (6) a. E-pe hozE-r qErexE 3SG.POSS-nose smoke-ABS blows ‘S/He is furious.’ (lit.: smoke is coming out of his/her nose) b. [E-pe hozE-r qErexjE-new] qEBeB’ER 3SG.POSS-nose smoke-ABS blow-SUP happened ‘S/He happened to be furious.’ REAL LDA analysis (7) _____________ Agree ____________ ? ? [axe-me pEsme-r a-txE-new] feZa-R-ex 3PL-ERG letter-ABS 3PL.ERG-write-SUP begin-PAST-PL ‘They began to write a letter.’