Whamit!

The Weekly Newsletter of MIT Linguistics

Colloquium 11/12 - Emily Hanink (University of Manchester)

Speaker: Emily Hanink (University of Manchester)
Title:Mixed extended projections and the cline from nominalization to relativization
Time: Friday, November 12th, 3:30pm – 5pm

Abstract: Within the literature on deverbal nominalizations, much attention has been paid to the possible “cut-off” points for verbal structure within so-called ‘mixed categories’ (Bresnan 1997) or ‘mixed extended projections’ (Borsley and Kornfilt 1999). While research has shown that, across languages, the amount of verbal structure may vary in nominalizations that characterize events (e.g. Alexiadou 2001), nominalizations that characterize ordinary individuals remain less understood in this respect.  Strikingly, Baker and Vinokurova (2009) argue that, in contrast to event-characterizing nominalizations, the verbal component of “subject” nominalizations is rather limited and does not show variation; constructions that are superficially similar but which contain more structure are in fact relative clauses in disguise. This talk contributes to the empirical landscape of this nominalization type through the investigation of subject nominalizations in Washo (isolate, United States). I argue that the verbal cut-off point is quite high in this construction (AspP), but that, despite displaying some relative clause type properties, it is still a case of true nominalization. The view that emerges from Washo (and a comparison with related constructions across languages) is therefore one in which individual-characterizing nominalizations do show variation in verbal structure, and in which the distinction between nominalization and relativization is more of a cline than a dichotomy.