Visser’s Generalization: The Syntax of Control and the Passive
Name
van Urk-2013-Visser’s Generalization.pdf
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64.61 KB
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Author(s)
van Urk, Coppe Gerrit
Date Issued
January 2013
Journal
Linguistic Inquiry
Publisher
MIT Press
Citation
Van Urk, Coppe Gerrit. “Visser’s Generalization: The Syntax of Control and the Passive.” Linguistic Inquiry 44.1 (2013): 168–178. ©2013 The MIT Press
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This squib presents an argument for an agreement-based model of control (Borer 1989, Landau 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008), drawn from a crosslinguistic generalization about control in passives. Specifically, I show that obligatory control by the thematic subject of a passive is sensitive to a purely syntactic restriction: it is only possible if T does not agree with an overt DP. This restriction follows from the logic of an agreement-based approach, if implicit arguments participate in Agree relations (Landau 2010, Legate 2010). This generalization subsumes and derives an old observation about control, Visser’s Generalization ( Jenkins 1972, Bresnan 1982).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1162/LING_a_00124
