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dc.contributor.advisorNoam Chomsky, Danny Fox, David Petesky and Norvin Richards.en_US
dc.contributor.authorWu, Hsiao-hung Irisen_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-30T16:33:39Z
dc.date.available2009-06-30T16:33:39Z
dc.date.copyright2008en_US
dc.date.issued2008en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45894
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 158-165).en_US
dc.description.abstractIn this thesis I examine some of the fundamental questions surrounding inversion structures. I first provide an analysis of Locative Inversion. I show that the mixed A- and A- syntactic behavior of the fronted PP in English could be derived once we understand how the featural composition of locative phrases influences on the Probe-Goal relation between C and the postverbal DP. In particular, I argue that there is a correlation between syntactic categories of locative phrases and typological differences in the syntactic patterns in Locative Inversion: in Mandarin Chinese, Chichewa, Kinande and Gungbe, locatives are (or can be) represented by nominal categories (i.e. equipped with complete cp-features) and these locatives exhibit pure A-properties in Locative Inversion; in English and Sesotho, however, they are characteristically represented by non-nominal categories and the locative phrases are thus forced to undergo two-step movement from an Aposition to an A-position as avoidance of intervention effects in the Agree system.I also discuss a variety of (generalized) inversion constructions, including English Quotative Inversion, Sentential Subject and French Stylistic Inversion. In these constructions I show that since a cp-deficient constituent moves to [Spec, TP], additional operations (such as topicalization) have to take place so as to destroy the potentially offending structure created by the fronted defective elements.en_US
dc.description.abstract(cont.) Specifically, I suggest that these are related constructions because they all display a mixture of A- and A- properties.Finally I focus on the generalization concerning the placement restrictions of arguments by Spell-Out, in particular the principles that force argument externalization from the vP and VP. I argue that argument externalization is motivated by Case-related concerns.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Hsiao-hung Iris Wu.en_US
dc.format.extent165 leavesen_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectLinguistics and Philosophy.en_US
dc.titleGeneralized inversion and theory of agreeen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
dc.identifier.oclc320456950en_US


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