Getting aHEAD of the Cardinals: Bolstering the Head Movement Approach
Asya Pereltsvaig
Abstract:
In this talk I will examine two superficially similar but in fact disparate constructions: approximative inversion in Russian (e.g., 'lingvistov desjat' lit. linguists ten, 'approximately ten linguists') and postnominal cardinals in Hebrew (e.g., balshanim rabim lit. linguists many, 'many linguists'). Both of these present a marked noun-cardinal order, which I argue to be derived via Head Movement rather than (remnant) Phrasal Movement. Moreover, I argue that these constructions involve two distinct subtypes of Head Movement, triggered by different types of Probes and interacting in different ways with intervening projections hosting cardinals. This analysis allows me to account for various facts previously noted but not explained in the literature.
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