Basic English Syntax with Exercises

Stowell, Tim

5.2.8 Verbs with clausal complements

But why would the clause have to move backwards in a structure like (148)? Note that the clause occupies a position to which Case is assigned: the light verb assigns accusative Case to the specifier of the VP. There is an old idea, dating back to Stowell (1981), that clauses avoid Case positions. While it might seem that clauses occupy similar positions to DPs, there are a number of reasons to think that this is not so. For example, we do not get clauses in the complement position of prepositions, a position to which Case is assigned:

5.4.1 Adverbs

If an adjunct is placed between the head and its sister, i.e. the complement, the branches of the structure cross and this is not a possible configuration. The problem with this account, however, besides its reliance on the assumption that complements are all sisters to the head, is that it is not at all clear why various movement phenomena would not separate the head from its complement. Another account, due to Stowell (1981) assumes that the verb is responsible for assigning Case to the object and that there is an adjacency requirement on Case assigners and assignees. As we have assumed that the theme gets its Case from the light verb, we cannot use Case adjacency to account for why the verb and its theme argument cannot be separated. Even if we assume that Case assigners must be adjacent to the element they Case mark, this will not prevent the verb moving to a higher light verb position allowing an adverb to come between the two:

8.1.2 Clauses without IP

One of the earliest suggestions, which still has a certain appeal, is that these clauses are simply phrases with subjects (Stowell 1984, who termed these constructions Small Clauses):

8.1.2 Clauses without IP

The debate continues and we will not attempt to put an end to it here. Stowell’s analysis does seem to be able to address the problematic issue of the selection of small clause complements, but his analysis of how the predicate can appear to behave like a phrase rests on the validity of the suggested subject movement, and it is not at all clear that there is a well motivated position for the subject to move to, even assuming a more articulated structure of the vP.