Abstract:

On the basis of experimental evidence this paper shows that in Serbian pre-nominal possessive modifiers modifying a noun phrase in subject position can be interpreted as coreferential with a clitic or a strong pronoun in object position. This finding speaks against a condition B violation in these contexts as has been assumed in previous analyses of Serbian (cf. Despić 2013). It implies that possessive noun phrases in article-languages like English and articleless languages like Serbian may receive a parallel analysis (Universal DP hypothesis, Bašić 2004; Progovac 1998): in both languages, the modifier occupies a position in the noun phrase structure from where it does not c-command out of the noun phrase, leading to free covaluation in these contexts (cf. Reinhart 2006). Interestingly, clitics are more likely than strong pronouns to be interpreted as coreferential with the possessive modifier in our test. This may be attributed to the fact that clitic forms in general are more easily bound in non-c-command configurations. In addition, the discourse conditions in the test, where the possessor represented given information, could have contributed to the fact that it was more likely associated with a clitic than with a strong pronoun.

摘要：

根据实验证据，本文表明，在塞尔维亚语名词前名词所有格修饰语中，修饰主体位置中的名词短语可以解释为宾语，宾语中带有名词或强烈代词。正如先前对塞尔维亚语的分析所假设的那样，这一发现表明在这些情况下违反了条件B（参见Despić2013）。这意味着诸如英语之类的冠语语言和诸如塞尔维亚语之类的无冠词语言中的所有格名词短语可能会受到平行分析（Universal DP hypothesis，Bašić2004； Progovac 1998）：在两种语言中，修饰语在名词短语结构中都占据一个位置它不会从名词短语中发出命令，从而导致在这些情况下进行自由评估（参见Reinhart 2006）。有趣的是，在我们的测试中，与强代词相比，气候更有可能被解释为与所有格修饰语共存。这可能归因于这样的事实，即通常在非c命令配置中，气候形式更容易绑定。此外，测试中的话语条件（拥有者代表给定的信息）可能会导致这样的事实，即该信息更可能与一个气候名词相关，而不是与一个强力代词相关。