On the Internal Structure of VP and AP Small Clauses: Overt vs. Covert Movement

초록

This paper investigates overt and covert movement of the small clause subject. I present that an asymmetry is found in AP and VP small clauses with respect to overt movement out of the subject, while a symmetry is found with respect to scope-taking. Adopting Den Dikken’s (2006, 2007, 2008) phase extension hypothesis, I argue that the internal structure of AP small clauses differs from that of VP ones: while the subject of the VP small clause occupies SpecVP, a functional phrase is projected on top of the AP small clause, and the subject moves to SpecFP. The additional movement step raises the subject overtly to the phase edge, consequently visible to a higher head for agreement. I assume that QR operates just once, which makes the scope of the subject to be fixed inside the small clauses, necessarily taking narrow scope.

키워드