Title

Principles of economy in nonfinite complementation

Date of Completion

January 1995

Keywords

Language, Linguistics

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of Economy Principles in infinitival and participial complementation.^ In chapter 2, I examine English ECM and control infinitivals. I provide evidence against c-selection for various types of infinitival clauses and the standard binding-theoretic account of the distribution of PRO. I argue that both ECM and control infinitivals are IPs, the IP status being forced on them by Economy of Representation. I give an account of infinitival complementation based on the Case-theoretic account of the distribution of PRO and the s-selectional properties of higher predicates.^ In chapter 3, I provide an Economy account of Pesetsky's (1992) observation that agentive verbs cannot ECM lexical NPs based on Hale and Keyser's (1993) proposal that agentive constructions contain a null agentive verb. I also examine properties of French believe-class infinitivals, which, in contrast to their English counterparts, license PRO. I show that French believe-class infinitivals differ from English believe-class infinitivals in that they are specified as (+ Tense). I provide a uniform account of the different behavior of English and French believe-class infinitivals with respect to their Tense specification and licensing of PRO based on the Case-theoretic account of the distribution of PRO.^ Chapter 4 investigates the relevance of infinitival complementation for existential constructions and expletive replacement. Based on the tacts concerning infinitival complementation, I argue that the associate of there is Case-marked by be and that Chomsky's (1993) Greed holds. To reconcile the conclusions with the expletive replacement hypothesis, I adopt Chomsky's/Lasnik's proposal that there is an LF affix and propose that to overcome its morphological inadequacy, there undergoes affix hopping in LF. Empirical evidence is provided for the affix hopping analysis.^ Chapter 5 examines participle (P)-movement in Serbo-Croatian. I provide evidence against the theoretically anomalous long-head movement to C analysis of Serbo-Croatian P-movement (Rivero 1991, Roberts 1994). Instead, I argue that Serbo-Croatian participles adjoin to the element located under Aux$\sp0.$ The analysis is extended to P-movement in Dutch and shown to have important consequences for second position cliticization, excorporation, and the direction of adjunction operations. ^

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