VERB AGREEMENT WITH PREVERBAL (NON) SYNCRETIC COORDINATED SUBJECTS

Abstract

This paper examines the effects which contribute to the agreement of the verb with only one of the conjuncts of different values for gender and number as opposed to resolved agreement. Boskovic (2009) claims that resolved agreement is the only available pattern of agreement. New experimental research on a Slovenian sample (Marusic, Nevins, and Badecker 2015) confirms that a verb can agree with the plural conjunct as well. These authors, as well as Willer Gold et al. (2016) attest that agreement occurs in phonological form in Slovenian and Serbian. This study is based on an elicited production experiment and acceptability judgments experiments to verify what happens when a verb is in agreement with pre-verbal (non)syncretic coordinated conjuncts of different values for gender and number. The results indicate that resolved agreement is far less frequently used when the verb is in agreement with a syncretic coordinated subject than with a non-syncretic one, as well as that agreement with the last plural conjunct is a stable and available agreement pattern whether or not a verb is in agreement with a (non)syncretic coordinated subject. The results support the hypothesis that agreement occurs in phonological form.