Purpose Clauses: Syntax, Thematics, and Semantics of English Purpose Constructions

274 Pages·1991·18.45 MB·English

by  Charles Jones (auth.)

PURPOSE CLAUSES
Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy
Volume 47
Managing Editors:
GENNARO CHIERCHIA, Cornell University
PAULINE JACOBSON, Brown University
FRANCIS J. PELLETIER, University ofA lberta
Editorial Board:
JOHAN VAN BENTHEM, University of Amsterdam
GREGORY N. CARLSON, University of Rochester
DAVID DOWTY, Ohio State University, Columbus
GERALD GAZDAR, University of Sussex, Brighton
IRENE HElM, M.LT., Cambridge
EWAN KLEIN, University of Edinburgh
BILL LADUSA W, University of California at Santa Cruz
TERRENCE PARSONS, University a/California, Irvine
The titles published in this series are listed at the end 0/ this volume.
CHARLES JONES
Department of English,
George Mason University, U.S.A.
PURPOSE Cl,AUSES
Syntax, Thematics, anei Semantics
of English Purpose Constructions
SPRINGER -SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jones. Charles. 1939-
Pu r p o sec Iau s e s s y n t a x. t h ema tiC s, an d sem a n tiC S of En 9 IlS h
purpose constructlons Charles Jones.
p. cm. -- (Studles In Ilngulstlcs and phllosophy ; v. 47'
Includes blbllographlcal references and Index.
ISBN 978-94-010-5537-6 ISBN 978-94-011-3478-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-3478-1
1. Engllsh language--Clauses. 1. Tltle. II. Serles.
PE1385.J66 1991
425--dc20 91-27504
ISBN 978-94-010-5537-6
Printed on acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1991
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1991
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
includ ing photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
to Miles. Buck. & Sheep
CONTENTS
Preface Xl
CHAl7I'ER I. IN1RODUCTION 1
1. Two Theoretical Frameworks 2
l.l. Govemment-BindingTheory 2
l.1.l. The Subtheories ofGB 3
l.1.2. Passive in GB 9
l.2. a-Theory 10
l.2.l. Argument Assignment 11
l.2.2. a-Binding 13
l.2.3. The a-Theory of Passive and Raising 17
1.2.4. The a-Criterion and the Projection Principle 19
2. Purpose Constructions 24
2.l. Syntax 28
2.1.1. External Syntax 28
2.1.2. Internal Syntax 29
2.2. Semantics 31
2.2.1. Quantification 31
2.2.2. Control 32
2.3. a-Theory and the Organization of the Grammar 33
CHAPI'ER II. EXTERNAL SYNTAX 34
1. Distinguishing Purpose Clauses 34
1.1. Obligatory and Nonobligatory Control 34
1.1.1. Williams (1980) and Control 35
1.1.2 PC, IOC, and Control 36
1.1.3. The Thematic Nature of the PC Controller 41
1.2. Unexpected PC Properties 43
vii
viii CONTENTS
1.2.1. Prepositional Phrase Control of OPC 43
1.2.2. SPC and Intransitives 46
1.3. Purpose Clauses and Infmitival Relatives 48
2. Adjunction of IOC and PC 50
2.1. IOC and PC Distributions 50
2.2. IOC, PC, and Recursion 52
2.3. Syntactic Tests 55
2.3.1. Preposing 56
2.3.2. Negation 57
2.3.3. Pseudoclefts 60
2.3.4. Relative Order ofIOC and PC 61
2.3.5. VP-Deletion 61
2.3.6. Conjunction 62
3. Purpose Clauses as Adjuncts 64
3.1. The Argument/Adjunct Distinction 65
3.1.1. Semantic Optionality 65
3.1.2. Syntactic Optionality 66
3.1.3. Iterability and Constrained Adjuncts 67
3.2. PC and the Lexicon 69
4. Wh-Extraction 73
CHAPfERm. INTERNALSYNfAX 79
1. Inside In Order Clauses 80
2. Inside Subject-Gap Purpose Clauses 83
2.1. SPC as VP 84
2.2. Consequences of the VP Analysis of SPC 86
3. Inside Object-Gap Purpose Clauses 95
3.1. The Standard Analysis of OPC 96
3.2. OPC as VP 98
3.2.1. Suppression of the External9-Role 99
3.2.2. External Projection of Internal9-Roles 105
3.3. Consequences of the VP Analysis of OPC 113
3.3.1. The SPC Tests 114
3.3.2. Lexical Material in Comp 117
3.3.3. NP Within NP 118
CONTENTS ix
3.3.4. Parasitic Gaps Within Syntactic Subjects 119
3.3.5. Weak Crossover 120
3.3.6. Long Distance Gaps 122
3.3.7. Parasitic Gaps 128
4. The PP 'Subject' of OPC 131
5. PC and Be 137
CHAFfER IV. EASY-CLAUSES 141
1. Easy-Sf 142
2. Easy-Clause = OPC 144
2.1. The VP Tests Revisited 146
2.2. The 'Subject' ofEC 150
3. The New Tough Movement 151
3.l. Tough Problems With a-Marking 152
3.2. Tough Reanalysis 158
3.2.1. Tough Reanalysis and Complex Adjectives 159
3.2.2. Tough Extractions 161
4. Related Constructions 164
4.1. Pretty to Look At: Object Deletion 164
4.2. Too/Enough Complements 166
4.3. An Easy Pan to Fry Eggs In: Mixed Relatives 168
4.4. A Fool to Love Mary 170
172
C~V.QUANTIHCATION
1. Quantification and Predication 172
2. Quantifying PROa rt> 177
2.l. Epstein (1984) and PRO/ITb 177
2.2. Lebeaux (1984) and PR0 180
arb
3. Control via Empty Operators 184
3.l. Generalized Quantificational Control 185
3.l.1. PRO as Anaphor 186
3.l.2. Empty Operator as A-Anaphor 187
3 .l.3. Clark (1990) and Control 188
x CONfENTS
3.2. PC, EC, and Quantificational Control 189
3.2.1. The Implicit Argument Quantifier 189
3.2.2. Adverbs of Quantification 192
3.3. Licensing Conditions on Empty Operators 196
4. Conclusion 199
CHAPfER VI. CONTROL 201
1. A Semantics for Control 203
1.1 a-Roles and Control 204
l.2 Augmentation of an Argument Structure 208
2. What is a a-Role? 209
2.l. With Respect to a Predicate 210
2.2. Beyond the Predicate 213
3. Control of Purpose Clauses 215
3.1. Purpose Clauses 216
3.2. Control of Posessor-PP and Easy-Clauses 223
3.2.1. Possessor-PP 223
3.2.2. Easy-Clauses 224
4. Generalized Control 227
4.1. Farkas (1988) and Complement Control 227
4.1.1. Controller Choice 228
4.1.2. Thematic Matching 229
4.2. Thematic Matching in the Grammar 231
5. Obligatory Control and the Argument/Adjunct Distinction 234
CHAPfER VII. CONCLUSION 238
Bibliography 244
Index of Names 251
Index of Subjects 253
PREFACE
The purpose clause is a common fonn of adverbial modification in English.
The bracketed phrases below are purpose clauses, and they look and sound
unremarkable. We hear and see these things all the time.
John came [to play with the children]
I brought John along [to play with]
Insofar as purpose clauses appear to be adverbial, they frequently occupy a
relatively low place on the scale of important things for syntactic theory to
address itself to. In this book I assume the theoretical framework that has
come to be known as 'Government-Binding' theory (GB), initiated in
Chomsky (1981). The general fonn of the analyis of purpose clauses in GB
dates roughly from Chomsky (1977). where several kinds of constructions
akin to purpose clauses are identified. Within GB. this analysis is so widely
accepted that it deserves to be considered the standard theory. This book,
then. is about a few syntactically peripheral ell~ments that have enjoyed a
relatively long-lived. virtually universally accepted. theoretical treatment
What is perhaps an obvious question arises in this context. Why write a
GB book about purpose clauses? This book. I hope, will supply an
interesting answer. Simply put. purpose clause:;, and related constructions,
have various properties that are not accounted for in the standard theory. In
this book I propose an alternative analysis of purpose clauses, an analysis
from which. I think. more of their properties follow more naturally. The
particular theoretical framework within which this alternative account is
outlined is the thematic theory of argument structure that has been developed
by Edwin Williams in the last few years.
This book should be of interest primarily to students and practitioners of
syntactic theory. Beginning students of syntactic theory may find much of
this book of interest because, in order to compare the analysis proposed here
with the standard theory, I have explicitly reviewed and outlined many of the
fundamental assumptions of both the standard theory and the thematic
xi