2026-09-18T22:56:45Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/458942022-01-13T07:54:31Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131022
Noam Chomsky, Danny Fox, David Petesky and Norvin Richards.
Wu, Hsiao-hung Iris
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
2009-06-30T16:33:39Z
2009-06-30T16:33:39Z
2008
2008
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45894
320456950
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-165).
In 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.
(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.
by Hsiao-hung Iris Wu.
Ph.D.
165 leaves
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.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.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Linguistics and Philosophy.
Generalized inversion and theory of agree
Thesis
application/pdf
Publication
unknown
unknown
<Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="2ed2eea3-411f-45e4-91d5-0db0d8731c1c">
<Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type>
<Language>eng</Language>
<Title>Generalized inversion and theory of agree</Title>
<PublishedIn>
<Publication>
</Publication>
</PublishedIn>
<PublicationDate>2008</PublicationDate>
<Authors>
<Author>
<DisplayName>Wu, Hsiao-hung Iris</DisplayName>
<Affiliation>
<OrgUnit>
</OrgUnit>
</Affiliation>
</Author>
</Authors>
<Editors>
</Editors>
<Publishers>
<Publisher>
<DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName>
<OrgUnit />
</Publisher>
</Publishers>
<License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License>
<Keyword>Linguistics and Philosophy.</Keyword>
<Abstract>In 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.</Abstract>
<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.</Abstract>
<Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right"
>
</Access>
</Publication>