Assignment 8:  Danish Definiteness		DUE TUESDAY, MARCH 4


Part I

The data below indicate how definiteness is expressed in Danish:

(1)  en gris		"a pig"		grisen		"the pig"
(2)  et hus		"a house"	huset		"the house"
(3)  en mand		"a man"		manden		"the man"
(4)  en hest		"a horse"	hesten		"the horse"
(5)  et navn		"a name"	navnet		"the name"
(6)  et barn		"a child"	barnet		"the child"
(7)  en s0n		"a son"		s0nen		"the son"
(8)  en fader		"a father"	faderen		"the father"
(9)  en pige		"a girl"	pigen		"the girl"
(10) et ord		"a word"	ordet		"the word"
(11) en mund		"a mouth"	munden		"the mouth"
(12) en fisk		"a fish"	fisken		"the fish"
(13) en vind		"a wind"	vinden		"the wind"
(14) et tag		"a roof"	taget		"the roof"
(15) et 0je		"an eye"	0jet		"the eye"


Before you attempt an analysis, though, consider the following:

(16) et store hus	"a big house"	det store hus	"the big house"
(17) et lille barn     "a little child"	det lille barn	"the little child"
(18) en gammel hest	"an old horse"	den gammel hest	"the old horse"
(19) en store fisk	"a big fish"	den store fisk	"the big fish"

And the following too:

(20) *store huset
(21) *lille barnet
(22) *gammel hesten
(23) *store fisken

Your task is to work out and present an analysis, using whatever tools you have
available.  In your analysis, you should assume the DP hypothesis and make
explicit what you assume the syntactic structures are.  Then in the context of
this syntactic analysis, present a generative account of the allomorphy of the
definiteness marking seen in these examples.


Part II

For this part, I want you to assume the following (commonly accepted) analysis
of relative clauses.  Restrictive relative clauses, as in (1) below, are
adjoined to NP:

(1)  The barn that we lived in was in pretty good shape.

[There might be a number of barns; the relative clause here picks out one.]





Nonrestrictive relative clauses, as in (2), are adjoined to DP:

(2)  The barn, which we lived in, was in pretty good shape.

[Here the barn is already identified; the relative clause just adds some information.]

To make sure you understand the structural differences you are to assume,
draw the structures and show them to somebody before proceeding.

Now consider the following new information about Danish definiteness:

(3)  barnet    0nskede den hest  som  vandt l0bet.
     the child wanted  the horse that won   the race
     "The child wanted the horse that won the race."

(4)  barnet    0nskede hesten    som  vandt l0bet.
     the child wanted  the horse which won   the race
     "The child wanted the horse, which won the race."

You can take this data to be representative of a persistent pattern.  Here
are a couple more examples:

(5)  den pige som jeg elsker er Marja.
     the girl that I  love is Marja
     "The girl that I love is Marja."

(6)  pigen    som jeg elsker er Marja.
     the girl who  I  love   is Marja
     "The girl, who I love, is Marja."

(7)  en mand stjal grisen  som vi fik af naboen.
     a  man  stole the pig which we got from the neighbor
     "A man stole the pig, which we got from the neighbor"

(8)  en mand stjal den gris  som  vi fik af   naboen.
     a  man  stole the pig   that we got from the neighbor
     "A man stole the pig that we got from the neighbor"

Modify your account as necessary.


III. Do the following facts tell you anything about the structure of DPs?

(1)  en mand stjal grisen  med  blao pletter.
     a  man  stole the pig with blue spots
     "A man stole the pig with blue spots."

(2) *en mand stjal den gris med blao pletter.

(3)  en mand stjal den store gris med blao pletter.