Aspect and argument realization: A study on antecedentless null objects in Greek

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the interaction between viewpoint aspect and argument realization. More specifically, we examine the correlation of +/Àperfective verb forms in Greek and null objects with indefinite, non-specific interpretation. It is argued that although null objects are possible with both perfective and imperfective verbs, imperfective verbs favour object omission more than perfectives. We claim that this is due to two reasons: first, that there is a difference in the syntactic representation of overt direct objects with perfective and imperfective verbs, which is associated with the notion of economy in their respective derivations, i.e. Merge as opposed to Merge + Move; secondly, that perfective verbs show an interpretive difference at the LF interface depending on the overt versus null nature of the direct object, whereas imperfectives do not. The difference is related to the semantic notion of telicity. This prediction has been tested in an off-line sentence-completion task with two groups of native speakers of Greek, an adult and a child group. The data revealed that native speakers of Greek preferred to use overt DP objects with perfective verbs more than with imperfectives. This finding is interpreted as showing that Aspect is a functional feature with an effect on argument realization. #

Topic Strategies and the Internal Structure of Nominal Arguments in Greek and Italian

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“…Kolliakou's work on Greek definites (Kolliakou 2003) and two proposals for treating some cases of Greek bare nouns as NPs by Tomioka (2003) and Tsimpli and Papadopoulou (2005).…”

The acquisition of transitivity alternations in Greek: Does frequency count?

“…Moreover, there is no developmental pattern attested with respect to the choice of the transitive reading in either verb class, thus supporting the claim that null objects are allowed in Greek child grammars (Tsimpli and Papadopoulou, 2006). Transitive readings in the responses across age groups may be accounted for as an effect of ACT morphology.…”

Some general thoughts on tense and aspect in Modern Greek

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