Swedish and the Head-Feature Convention

Abstract

The HEAD-FEATURE CONVENTION (HFC) has been proposed in the literature on Generalized Phrase-structure Grammar (GPSG) as a mechanism whereby the features on a node are essentially the same as the features on its head node. There are a number of ways in which the convention could be made precise. The discussion of it in Gazdar, Pullum, and Sag (1982), Gazdar and Pullum (1981) does not come down firmly on any one of the possibilities. Gazdar and Pullum (1982) opt for the exact matching requirement discussed below. In section 1. I shall discuss the possibilities, and then in the remaining sections 2.–4. I shall discuss three classes of data from Swedish (well known to scholars of Swedish linguistics) which bear on the choice. My main conclusion will be that HFC should be regarded as a markedness convention rather than as an absolute condition, because however we formulate the matching requirements between the features on a node and those on its head constituent there seem to be examples in Swedish which do not obey HFC.

I am grateful to the participants of the First Workshop on Scandinavian Syntax and Grammar for stimulating discussion at the presentation of this article and in particular to Lars Hellan who did so much to make the workshop enjoyable. I am grateful to Elisabet Engdahl for discussion at all stages of the development of this article and for her skill in providing excellent examples. I am also grateful to two anonymous referees for suggestions and comments that improved the article in several respects and to Lars Hellan and Kirsti Koch Christensen for helpful editorial advice.

This article was prepared while I was a fellow at the Center-for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. I am grateful for support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.