LINGUIST List 13.3093

Mon Nov 25 2002

Diss: Syntax: Nasu "Aspects of the Syntax..."

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

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1. nnasu, Syntax: Nasu "Aspects of the Syntax of A-Movement"

New Dissertation Abstract

Institution: University of Essex
Program: Department of Language and Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002

Author: Norio Nasu 

Dissertation Title: 
Aspects of the Syntax of A-Movement: A Study of English Infinitival
Constructions and Related Phenomena

Linguistic Field: Syntax
Subject Language: English

Dissertation Director 1: Andrew Radford

Dissertation Abstract: 

A long-standing assumption concerning movement is that A-movement
applies in a successive-cyclic manner, making use of (an) intermediate
landing site(s). The present study calls this assumption into
question and explores the possibility that A-movement takes place in a
single step. To this end, it examines the applicability of the
Extended Projection Principle (EPP) in infinitival complement clauses
from various perspectives. It also brings attention to bear on data
from finite clauses to illuminate the discussion.

Although the EPP is commonly considered to be universal, its
applicability in control and raising infinitival clauses is not
immediately detectable by any directly visible means, partly because
infinitival SpecTP is allegedly occupied by a phonologically empty
category (either PRO or a copy) and partly because the EPP feature
lacks a morphological reflex in contrast to other features like Case-
and phi-features.

In an attempt to find independent evidence for or against EPP effects
at intermediate stages of A-movement, this thesis deals with several
phenomena which have been considered to support successive-cyclic
A-movement such as floating quantifiers, scope reconstruction, and
anaphoric binding. A close examination of these phenomena reveals
that they can be accounted for without recourse to postulating copies
in intermediate SpecTP positions.

So-called anti-reconstruction effects such as the lack of Condition C
violations with A-movement not only reinforce this view but even
suggest the absence of A-movement. However, the behaviour of idiom
chunks and radical reconstruction phenomena strongly indicate the
necessity of movement. It will be argued that these paradoxical
requirements can be reconciled by eliminating intermediate stepts in
A-movement.

Non-universality of the EPP is supported independently and
cross-linguistically by correlations between agreement patterns and
word order. It will be demonstrated (i) that partial agreement is
associated with an incomplete phi-set of T, (ii) that different word
orders are related to the presence/absence of the EPP effect and (iii)
that a clause headed by phi-incomplete T does not necessarily exhibit
an EPP effect.