Sag&Wasow coordination question

[Gert Webelhuth]

----- Original Message -----
From: Lars G. Johnsen <lars.johnsen at lili.uib.no>
To: <hpsg-l at lists.Stanford.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 9:23 AM
Subject: Sag&Wasow coordination question


> Hi all
>
> I am using Sag&Wasow's book in a syntax course and have a question
> concerning the coordination schema and its relation to unification. The
> schema, in chapter 4, is formulated as:
>
> [1] -> [1]+ CONJ [1]
>
> There seems to be a problem with unification using this schema, or at
> least it has caused me to scratch my head, but then i may have missed a
> paragraph in the book. Here are two interpretations:
>

I am teaching syntax with the book right now and the question you pose also
arises in connection with the distinction between VP coordination and
sentence coordination. It seems the schema in the book works for coordinate
VPs, where the two VPs must agree as far as I can see, but it doesn't work
for sentences:

    Mary is sleeping and the girls are playing in the yard.

As you say, coordinated NPs don't have to agree either. It thus seems that
we may need at least two coordination schemas, one which enforces agreement
and one which does not, depending on whether or not the valence of the
coordinate expressions is empty or not (perhaps).

Best,