Computing Agreement in a Mixed System
Bhatia, Sakshi · Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · 2019
This dissertation develops a comprehensive response to the question of how agreement is computed in Hindi-Urdu – a language with a mixed agreement system where the verb can agree with a subject or an object depending on the structural context. This dissertation covers new empirical and theoretical ground in two domains. First, I identify three kinds of atypical agreement patterns which are not accounted for under traditional approaches Hindi-Urdu agreement -- verb agreement with the nominal component of Noun-Verb complex predicates, long distance agreement of embedding Adjective-Verb predicates with embedded infinitive clause objects, and copular agreement in identity copula structures. Second, I make a novel contribution with respect to the question of how agreement is computed in real-time by investigating the conditions under which agreement attraction errors arise in Hindi-Urdu.