This article addresses the syntax of the notorious tough(-movement) construction (TC) in English.... more This article addresses the syntax of the notorious tough(-movement) construction (TC) in English. TCs exhibit a range of apparently contradictory empirical properties suggesting that their derivation involves the application of both A-movement and Ā-movement operations. Within previous principles-and-parameters models, TCs have remained “unexplained and in principle unexplainable” (Holmberg 2000:839) because of incompatibility with constraints on θ-role assignment, locality, and Case. This article argues that the phase-based implementation of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2000, 2001, 2004) permits a reanalysis of null wh-operators capable of circumventing the previous theoretical difficulties. Essentially, tough-movement consists of A-moving a constituent out of a “complex” null operator that has already undergone Ā-movement, a “smuggling” construction in the terms proposed by Collins (2005a,b).
This talk examines the set of possible hierarchical relations between past tense and modals in En... more This talk examines the set of possible hierarchical relations between past tense and modals in English, and discusses the implications of this for the general theory of tense and for the theory of the relation between tense and modality. I will be concerned not only with the morpho-syntactic hierarchical relation between past tense and modals, but also with the logical semantic relation between them. Among the questions I will address are (a) whether epistemic and deontic uses of modals must be fundamentally distinguished from each ...
The Tense of Infinitives
matical Relations, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gazdar, G. (1981) "Unbounded Depende... more matical Relations, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gazdar, G. (1981) "Unbounded Dependencies and Coordinate Structure," Linguistic Inquiry 12, 155-184. Grosu, A. (1981) "Should There Be a (Restricted) Rule of Conjunction Reduction?" Linguistic Inquiry 12, 149-150. Kossuth, K. C. (1978) "Icelandic Word Order: In Support of Drift as a Diachronic Principle Specific to Language Families," Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 446-457. Thrainsson, H. (1979) On Complementation in Icelandic, Garland Publishing, New York. Williams, E. (1978) "Across-the-Board Rule Application," Linguistic Inquiry 9, 31-44.
Where the Past is inthe perfect
Sequence of perfect
In this article I will argue that the English infinitival perfect (have+-en) functions as a true ... more In this article I will argue that the English infinitival perfect (have+-en) functions as a true past tense in at least some cases, reviving an old analysis (Hoffman 1966). I will review Hoffman's three main arguments for this position, and reject two of them while accepting the third. In addition, I will show that the infinitival perfect resembles the English preterit past in exhibiting a “simultaneous” present-tense-like interpretation when embedded within a main clause containing past tense. This type of interpretation, a paradigmatic example of “ ...
Remarks on Clause Structure
Small Clauses, 1995
The Role of the Lexicon in Syntactic Theory
Syntax and the Lexicon, 1992
An archery bow includes a handle and two limbs, each of which is attached to the handle through a... more An archery bow includes a handle and two limbs, each of which is attached to the handle through a connector which permits the limbs to be either detached or folded with respect to the handle. The "tiller" of the bow may be adjusted through the connectors or by interchanging limbs. The draw weight of the bow may also be adjusted through the connectors without changing or otherwise modifying the limbs. Both tiller and draw weight are adjusted by altering the attitude of the limbs with respect to the handle through the connectors.
Syntax and Semantics
Syntax and the Lexicon, 1992
III. Where the Past is in the Perfect
Tiempos compuestos y formas verbales complejas, 2008
The Alignment of Arguments in Adjective Phrases
Perspectives on Phrase Structure: Heads and Licensing, 1991
Some people think that writing a dissertation is a lonely job, but they are wrong. It is impossib... more Some people think that writing a dissertation is a lonely job, but they are wrong. It is impossible to do it all by yourself. There are many, many people who supported me. Every single one of them has, in his or her own special way, contributed to the writing of this dissertation, and therefore their names should have been on the cover as well, not only mine. My first thanks go to my supervisors, Sergey Avrutin and Peter Coopmans. From the first time I met Sergey I was charmed by his exciting new ideas and by his catching enthusiasm for doing science. I'll never forget our inspiring talks on the 'balcony' of ADD, introduced by the famous words: 'Joke, do you want a sigarette?'. I want to thank Peter Coopmans for introducing me to Sergey, and making it possible for me to spend a year in Milan, working on my MA-thesis on a study which made part of the NWO Comparative Psycholinguistics Project. This study formed the starting point for my work with Sergey. But I also want to thank Peter for reading and commenting my work, over and over again, and for asking exactly the right, critical questions at the right moment. Thank you Peter, your help has been indispensable. A very special 'grazie mille' goes out to Denis Delfitto. When I started studying Italian in 1999 I never thought that I would have liked linguistics, but one class of 'Sintassi' was enough to make me change my mind completely. I am not exaggerating when I say that without his unforgettable enthusiastic and inspiring courses this dissertation would never have been written, for the simple reason that I never would have discovered how fascinating doing linguistics can be. I would like to thank the UiL OTS for having given me the opportunity to work as an AiO, it will always remain a memorable period of my life. I also thank them for the financial support which made it possible to travel and to present my work at various conferences and workshops, giving me the possiblity to discuss my ideas with linguistic colleagues. I received much support from other linguistic colleagues. I want to express my gratitude to
Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1991
Common nouns in English differ from proper names in that they typically occur with a preceding de... more Common nouns in English differ from proper names in that they typically occur with a preceding determiner:(1) a. John met the president of a mining company yesterday b.* The John met the president of a mining company yesterday c.* John met the president of mining company yesterday d.* John met president of a mining company yesterday (2) a. Bill's brother worked on one aspect of this problem b.* Brother worked on one aspect of this problem c.* Bill's brother worked on aspect of this problem d.* Bill's brother worked on one ...
Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1996
In this article I present an outline of a theory of phrase structure that incorporates a series o... more In this article I present an outline of a theory of phrase structure that incorporates a series of functional projections forming the basis for the interpretation of tense. Most previous theories of tense have relied on an idiosyncratic set of semantic rules to account for the distribution and interpretation of particular tense forms. The theory that I develop here seeks to derive most of the semantics of tense from independently motivated principles of syntactic theory. To this end, I introduce a minimum of new theoretical machinery, though a more complex syntactic structure is required, involving an additional functional projection dominating the verb phrase and various phonetically null elements. In this respect, the theory is in the spirit of work in the Principles and Parameters framework associated with the interpretation of argument structure, thematic roles, and pronominal reference.
Tensed clauses, infinitives, and gerunds all have a clausal (subject-predicate) structure, but th... more Tensed clauses, infinitives, and gerunds all have a clausal (subject-predicate) structure, but they differ from each other in a number of respects, as is well known. One important difference concerns the COMP position: unlike infinitives and tensed clauses, gerunds lack the COMP position entirely. One consequence of this is that there is no gerundive complementizer parallel to for or that. Another consequence is that Wh Movement never applies inside a gerund. The latter point can be illustrated in two ways. First, gerunds can ...
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