The Minimalist Syntax of Defective Domains: Gerunds and Infinitives (Linguistik Aktuell Linguistics Today)

206 Pages·2006·0.97 MB·English

by  Acrisio Pires

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TheMinimalistSyntaxofDefectiveDomains
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UniversityofVienna ArizonaStateUniversity
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Volume98
TheMinimalistSyntaxofDefectiveDomains:Gerundsandinfinitives
byAcrisioPires
The Minimalist Syntax
of Defective Domains
Gerunds and infinitives
Acrisio Pires
UniversityofMichigan,AnnArbor
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany
Amsterdam(cid:2)/(cid:2)Philadelphia
TM Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements
8
ofAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences–Permanence
ofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1984.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Pires,Acrisio
Theminimalistsyntaxofdefectivedomains:gerundsandinfinitives/
AcrisioPires.
p. cm.(LinguistikAktuell/LinguisticsToday,issn0166–0829;v.98)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Grammar,Comparativeandgeneral--Syntax. 2.Grammar,
Comparativeandgeneral--Gerund. 3.Grammar,Comparativeand
general--Infinitive. 4.Minimalisttheory(Linguistics). I.Title. II.Series.
P291.P55 2006
415/.6--dc22 2006047817
isbn9027233624(Hb;alk.paper)
©2006–JohnBenjaminsB.V.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyform,byprint,photoprint,microfilm,or
anyothermeans,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCo.·P.O.Box36224·1020meAmsterdam·TheNetherlands
JohnBenjaminsNorthAmerica·P.O.Box27519·Philadelphiapa19118-0519·usa
To my family, especially my mother,
for all their love despite the distance.

To Lucia Lobato, in memoriam.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations and symbols xiii

Introduction 1
1 Gerunds: Phonologically null features 3
2 Features and control 5
3 Inflected and non-inflected infinitives: Case and control 11

CHAPTER 1
The minimalist syntax of clausal gerunds 15
1 Introduction 15
2 The clause structure of Clausal Gerunds 17
3 Null subjects in Clausal Gerunds 28
3.1 Problems for a Null Case/Tense approach to control in gerunds 28
3.2 Obligatory control in Clausal Gerunds 32
3.3 Non-Obligatory control in Clausal Gerunds 36
4 The syntax of Clausal Gerunds 37
4.1 The derivation of Clausal Gerunds 39
5 Overt Case marking and default Case? 58
6 Binding and Clausal Gerunds 60
7 Case and agreement in non-finite domains 65
8 Conclusion 68

CHAPTER 2
Clausal versus TP-defective gerunds: Control without tense 70
1 A Class of Gerunds without a TP 70
1.1 No independence in terms of tense and aspect specification 71
1.2 No projection of a lexical subject 72
2 Restructuring Gerunds? 72
3 Control and Null Case 76
3.1 Problems for a Tense/event binding approach to Null Case 79
4 Deriving control and lack of overt subjects in TP-defective gerunds 82
5 Properties of gerunds as complements of perception verbs 87
viii THE MINIMALIST SYNTAX OF GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

6 TP defective Gerunds vs. gerunds as complements of perception verbs 88
7 Conclusion 90

CHAPTER 3
Agreement, case, control and movement in infinitives 91
1 Introduction 91
2 Control in dialects with inflected infinitives 92
2.1 Need for a local c-commanding antecedent 93
2.2 Sloppy reading under ellipsis 93
2.3 Impossibility of split antecedents 94
3 Null subjects of uninflected infinitives as the result of DP-movement 95
3.1 Subject control 96
3.2 Object control 97
3.3 Adjunct control 98
4 Non-overt subjects of inflected infinitives 99
5 Evidence from binding 101
6 A Note on Arbitrary PRO 103
7 Believe-type verbs in Brazilian Portuguese 104
7.1 Background: Propositional infinitives in English and French 104
7.2 Contrast: Propositional infinitives in Brazilian Portuguese 108
8 Other analyses of control 111
8.1 Tense, agreement and control 116
8.2 Overt subjects of infinitives in other Romance languages 121
9 Conclusion 124

CHAPTER 4
Syntactic change:
The development of inflected and non-inflected infinitives 125
1 Introduction 125
2 Inflected versus non-inflected infinitives 125
3 Theories about the origin of inflected infinitives in Portuguese 127
4 A learnability explanation for the origin of inflected infinitives 129
5 Explaining the effects of the loss of inflected infinitives 136
5.1 Licensing of null subjects in dialects with inflected infinitives 136
5.2 Loss of verbal agreement in Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese 140
5.3 Null subjects of infinitives in Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese 142
5.4 Licensing of overt subjects in non-inflected infinitives 144
6 Other changes in Brazilian Portuguese 149
6.1 Background: A point-of-view projection above TP 149
6.2 Loss of inversion in BP 153
6.3 Changes in verb and clitic placement 157
6.4 Third person accusative clitics 162
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

7 Conclusion 164

Conclusion 166

References 168
Index 180