Feature sharing in agreement

Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. 2016. Vol. 34. No. 3. P. 865–910.

Haug D. T.

This article discusses the mechanism of feature sharing in the analysis of agreement across theories. We argue that there are agreement phenomena that require an agreement mechanism which is both symmetric and feature sharing. Our main argument relies on a Latin nominalized clause construction which has until now remained ill understood. We show that this construction requires a feature sharing and symmetrical approach to agreement. We also show that phenomena in Tsez and in Algonquian that have so far been described in terms of long distance agreement lend themselves to a treatment in terms of feature sharing, and we look at the consequences for the theory of agreement. We show that there are also cases of agreement which resist a feature-sharing treatment. This means that we cannot pin down a single agree mechanism. Some agreement phenomena require feature sharing, others do not, and yet others are incompatible with feature sharing.

Keywords: morphosyntax, морфосинтаксис