We consider the typology of attested Ā-extraction asymmetries between core argument DPs and argue that an Ā-probe can be required to specifically target the closest DP. Such an Ā-probe specification is part of Aldridge’s (2004, 2008) influential analys…
Assuming Grosu’s (1973) decomposition of Ross’s (1967) Coordinate Structure Constraint into the Conjunct Constraint and the Element Constraint, this article searches for a principled account for the Conjunct Constraint, rebaptized as the Coordinand Con…
This squib presents new data involving adjective orders that are problematic for analyses of adjectives as merged in the specifiers of fixed sequences of functional heads. Evidence is presented from Naasioi to suggest that adjectives in this language a…
A number of languages have been argued to establish basic word order by means of VP-fronting (e.g., Kayne 1994, Massam 2001). However, many such analyses overgenerate: some material thought to be VP-internal never appears fronted and must apparently al…
In this article, I argue that when movement maps onto a λ-bound variable (a “trace”), that variable must be of an individual semantic type, such as type e or type d. Thus, even though natural language has expressions of higher types, these expressions …
Haitian has optional regressive nasal assimilation in a vowel-nasal (VN) context: /fami/ [fãmi] ‘family’. It is found also in recent loan-words in contexts where the source lacks phonetic nasalization. This process systematically underapplies in VNs th…
The Person-Case Constraint (PCC) is a family of restrictions on the relative person of the two objects of a ditransitive. PCC effects offer a testing ground for theories of Agree and of syntactic features, both those on nominals and those found on agre…
Kučerová (2018) puts forward a novel theory of the morphology and interpretation of nominal gender in Italian. Here, we take issue with this theory from both empirical and theoretical standpoints. We first show that several generalizations presented as…
The mechanism of subcategorization has been used for decades to account for many sorts of idiosyncratic behaviors of lexical items. We home in on the use of subcategorization for regulating the behaviors of individual exponents (morphs, vocabulary item…
In this article, we analyze five reduced structures in Italian that display morphological agreement between their past participle and their internal argument. Three of the five structures have full illocutionary force despite lacking the middle field a…