On silent elements: A case study of grand and its silent entourage.

Abstract

Recent work in syntax has seen a proliferation of silent elements (SEs), e.g., van Riemsdijk (2002, 2005) and Kayne (e.g., Kayne 2005, 2006, 2012). This paper offers a feature-based taxonomy of lexical items, in which SEs are non-canonical items without phonological features. An SE and its pronounced counterpart, if any, are thus semantically equivalent, but SEs are not the result of ellipsis, which suppresses the pronunciation of pronounceable elements. Under this contextualization, the SEs in Kayne’s (2012) and Law’s (2012) accounts of the monetary expression grand are reexamined. For ten grand, Kayne (2012) proposes for its underlying source: ten THOUSAND BUCKS IN grand TOTAL, where capitalized items are SEs, while Law (2012) argues for a simpler source form: ten THOUSAND grand BUCKS, where grand remains an adjective. Yet, their starting assumptions that grand does not pluralize and is not used as a noun elsewhere are incorrect. The SE accounts also make a number of incorrect predictions syntactically and semantically and have difficulty explaining acquisition. A nominal account of grand with the same lexical status as G and nickel is far simpler and applies to all dialects. Though the feature-based taxonomy of lexical items predicts the existence of SEs, a proposed SE must still be justified syntactically and semantically. Thus, some of the SEs proposed may not be warranted upon closer scrutiny.