Chapter 6 - Inflectional Phrases(16) a [IP Carl does [VP not have a car]]
b [IP we do∆ [VP not have a car]]
If we take agreement to be a relationship established between a head (perhaps
limited to functional ones) and its specifier, these observations again lead us to the
conclusion that the inflection is a head.
2 The syntax of inflection
Let us now focus attention on the inflectional element itself to see some of the
syntactic processes that concern it. Here we will be concerned with certain movement
phenomena involving the inflection and the process of auxiliary insertion discussed in
the last chapter.
When the inflection is represented by a free morpheme, such as a modal auxiliary
or the infinitival to, nothing much happens to it. As a free morpheme it can stand by
itself and hence we see it sitting in the head position:
(17) a IP
DP I'
- I vP
should DP v'
Sam v VP
e DP V'
Fiona V
phone
b IP
DP I'
Sam 2 I vP
should DP v'
t 2 v VP
phone 1 v DP V'
e Fiona V
t 1