6 A-movement

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6.2 Subjects in Belfast English(1) Standard English a. Some students should get distinctions b. Lots of students have missed the classes(2) Belfast English (expletive structures) a. There should some students get distinctions b. There have lots of students missed the classes(3) VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis (VPISH)

CP two subjects: PRN (syntactic subj, EPP)

C TP someone (semantic subj)

Ø PRN/QP T´

there T VP

Some students should QP V´

some students V QP

A-movement get Ø distinctions 2

A-movement(copy-move & delete)

Evidence in support of copying analysis of A-movement

scope properties of a universal quantifier ‘every’ in (6a)

(6) a. Everyone hasn’t finished the assignment yet

b. [CP [C Ø] [TP Everyone [T has][NEGP not [Neg Ø][VP everyone [V finished]

(ii) (i)

the assignment yet]]]]

Ambiguity of (6a):

i) Everyone is in the position of not having finished the assignment yet

ii) Not everyone is yet in the position of having finished the assignment3

Idioms: a unitary constituent

(7) a. Let’s have a couple of drinks to break the ice

b. Be careful not to upset the applecart

c. The president must bit the bullet

(8) a. All hell broke loose TP

b. The shit hit the fan QP T´

c. The cat got his tongue all hell T VP

Cf. positing auxiliaries will QP V´

(10) a. All hell will break loose all hell V A

b. The shit might have hit the fan break loose

c. The cat must have gotten his tongue

Evidence in support of copying analysis of A-movement 4

6.4 Argument structure and theta-roles

(14) List of roles played by arguments with respect to predicates

Role Gloss Example

THEME Entity undergoing the effect of some action Mary fell over

AGENT Entity instigating some action Debbie killed Harry

EXPERIENCER Entity experiencing some psychological state I like syntax

LOCATIVE Place in which something is situated or takes place

He hid it under the bed

GOAL Entity representing the destination of some other entity

John went home

SOURCE Entity from which something moves He returned from Paris

INSTRUMENT Means used to perform some action He hit it with a hammer

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(18) Theta-criterion/θ-criterion

Each argument bears one and only one θ-role, and each θ-role

is assigned to one and only one argument (Chomsky 1981, 36)

(19) Predicate-Internal Theta-Marking Hypothesis

An argument is theta-marked (i.e. assigned a theta-

role) via merger with a predicate

(20) VP the police: VP-external

DP V´ argument

the police V DP the suspect: VP-internal

arrested the suspect argument

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6.5 Unaccusative predicates

(22) a. There have arisen several complications

b. Several complications have arisen

(23) a. There could have occurred a diplomatic incident

b. A diplomatic incident could have occurred

(24) a. There does still remain some hope of finding survivors

b. Some hope of finding survivors does still remain

(25) evidence-1 Icelandic example:

Þad hafa komið nokkrirNOM gestirNOM

There have come some guests

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Evidence-2

(26) Constraint on Extraction Domains/CED Only complements allow material to be extracted out of them, not specifiers or adjuncts (Huang, 1982)

(27) a. He was taking [pictures of who]?

b. Who was he taking [pictures of who]?

(28) a. [Part of what] has broken?

b. *What has [part of what] broken?

(29) a. He was angry [when she broke what]?

b. *What was he angry [when she broke what]?

(30) How many survivors does there remain [some hope of finding how many survivors] complement

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Evidence-3

unaccusative vs. unergative verbs

• Thematic property of the subject:

unaccusatives vs. unergatives

THEME AGENT

Unergatives verbs, complain, groan, salute, etc.

(31) a. *When the Snail Rail train arrived five hours late, there

complained many passengers

b. *In the dentist’s surgery, there groaned a toothless patient

c. *Every time General Wynott Nukem goes past, there

salutes a guard at the gate9

Evidence-4

Unaccusative imperatives (in Belfast English) (Alison Henry, )1995

(32) V + Subject NP

a. Leave you now!

b. Arrive you before 6 o’clock!

c. Be going you out of the door when he arrives!

Cf.

(33) a. *Read you that book!

b. *Eat you up!

c. *Always laugh you at his jokes!

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Evidence-5

Auxiliary selection (use of ‘be’ perfect)

(34) In Shakespearean English

a. Mistress Page is come with me (Mrs Ford, Merry wives of

Windsor, V.v)

b. Is the duke gone? Then is your cause gone too (Duke,

Measure for Measure, V.i)

c. How chance thou art returned so soon? (Antipholus,

Comedy of Errors, I.ii)

d. She is fallen into a pit of ink (Leonato, Much Ado About

Nothing, IV.i)

In present-day English:

All hope of finding survivors is now gone11

Unaccusative verbs

• MOTION predicates: arrive, come, fall, go,

leave, return, rise, etc.

• EXISTENTIAL predicates: appear, arise, be,

become, begin, change,

die, exist, happen, occur,

remain, start, stay, stop,

turn, etc.

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A-movement

(6) a. Everyone hasn’t finished the assignment yet

b. [CP [C Ø] [TP Everyone [T has][NEGP not [Neg Ø][VP everyone

[V finished] the assignment yet]]]]

(38) a. All hope of finding survivors has gone

b. All hope has gone of finding surviors

(39) [CP [C Ø] [TP [QP All hope of finding survivors [T has][VP [V gone]

[QP all hope of finding survivors]]]]

(40) [CP [C Ø] [TP [QP All hope of finding survivors [T has][VP [V gone]

[QP all hope of finding survivors]]]]

(41) [CP [C Ø] [TP [QP All hope of finding survivors [T has][VP [V gone]

[QP all hope of finding survivors]]]] 13

6.6 Passive predicates

1. Four main properties of passives:

a. Aux ‘be’

b. V-en

c. by-phrase

d. A-movement of NP2

2. Passives resemble unaccusatives in structure:

(45) a. No evidence of any corruption was found

(preverbal subject)

b. There was found no evidence of corruption

(expletive structure)

3. discontinuous spellout (PP at the foot)

(50) No evidence was found of any corruption

4. The distribution of idiomatic nominals:

(51) a. They paid little heed to what he said

b. Little heed was paid to what he said 14

(55) Uniform Theta Assignment Hypothesis(UTAH)

Constituents which fulfil the same thematic role with respect to a given predicate occupy the same initial position in the syntax

(54) a. The students were arrested

?The camels

?!The flowers

!The ideas

b. They arrested the students

?the camels

?!the flowers

!the ideas 15

6.7 Long-distance passivization

(56) a. There are alleged to have been stolen a number of

portraits of the queen

b. A number of portraits of the queen are alleged to

have been stolen

(57) a. There are believed to have occurred several riots

b. Several riots are believed to have occurred

(59) [TP Ø [TP There are [VP believed [TP there to

[AUXP have [VP occurred [QP several riots]]]]]]]16

(58) Attract Closest Condition (ACC)A head which attracts a given kind of constituent attracts the closest constituent of the relevant kind

(57) b. Several riots are believed to have occurred

CP EPP feature on T

C TP long distance passivisation

Ø QP T´ (in a successive-cyclic fashion)

Several riots T VP A-movement

are V TP

believed QP T´

several riots T AUXP

to AUX VP

have V QP

occurred several riots

ACC vs. RMC

(61) Relativized Minimality Condition (RMC) A constituent X can only be affected by (e.g. agree with

or be attracted by) the minimal (i.e. closest) constituent of the relevant type above it (i.e. c-commanding X)

ACC vs. RMC: one is in effect the converse of the other

ACC says that a head H can only attract the closes expression

X of the relevant type which it c-commands, whereas

RMC says that an expression X can only be attracted by the closest head H of the relevant type which c-commands it.

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6.8 Raising: A-movement

(66) a. There does seem [to remain some hope of peace]

b. Some hope of peace does seem [to remain]

(68) a. It would seem [that Senator Slyme has been lying to Congress]

b. Senator Slyme would seem [to have been lying to Congress](70) [CP Ø [TP There does [VP seem [TP there to

[VP remain [QP some hope of peace]]]]](71) [CP Ø [TP Some hope of peace does [VP seem [TP some

hope of peace [Tto [VP remain [QP some hope of peace]]]]]

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6.8 Raising vs. Control

(72) a. He does seem [to scare them]

b. He does want [to scare them](73) [CP Ø [TP He does [VP seem [TP he [T to [VP he [V scare

[PRN them]]]]](78) [CP Ø [TP He does [VP he [V want [CP [C Ø]

[TP PRO [T to [VP PRO [V scare] them]]]]]]]

PRO: VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis & Predicate-Internal Theta-Marking Hypothesis

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PRO out of the VP into spec-T(invisible movement)

(79) a. They were both priding themselves on their achievements

b. I don’t myself think that Capuccino was the best choice for

manager of the England team

c. He was personally held responsible

Floating modifiers must be c-commanded by its bold-printed antecedent.

‘both’: floating quantifier

‘myself’: floating emphatic reflexive

‘personally’: argument-oriented adverb

cf. (80) b.*There were themselves thought to have been implicated two

republican senators.

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Movement of PRO to spec-T

(82) b. [To themeselves be indicted] would be

unfair on the company directors

(83) b. [CP [C Ø] [TP PRO [T to [AUXP themselves [AUX be [VP [V indicted] PRO ]]]]

(84) a. It seems/*wants to be assumed that he lied to Congress

b. There seem/*want to remain several unsolved mysteries22

seem vs. want

(86) a. John seems to have helped Mary

b. = Mary seems to have been helped by John

(87) a. John wants to help Mary

b. ≠ Mary wants to be helped by John

(88) My cat/?My gesture wants to be appreciate

(89) My cat/My gesture seems to have been appreciated

(90) a. John is likely to win the race

b. John is keen to win the race

(91) a. There is likely/*keen to be a strice

b. All hell is likely/*keen to break loose

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