Check QuestionsChapter
Check Questions
Q1 Government is a structural configuratin under which e.g. case is assigned. A
head governs its sister and everything within its sister unless a barrier intervenes. The
notion ’barrier’ is introduced to prevent certain elements to be governed from outside
by a governor (i.e. to allow certain elements to remain ungoverned). VPs are not
barriers as the case-assigning light verb can govern into them. Non-finite IPs are not
barriers, as the prepositional complementizer for can govern into them and case-mark
the subject of an infinitival clause. CPs are barriers though, they block government by
a governor from outside.
Q2 Exceptional Case Marking occurs with a special group of verbs whose
propositional complement, contrary to other types of verbs, is not realised by a CP but
an IP, i.e. these verbs subcategorise for non-finite IPs with overt subjects which must
be case-marked. The subjects are case-marked by the case-assigning light verb
governing into the VP. The case assigned is accusative, the direction of case-
assignment being leftward.
Q3 According to one view, clauses which consist of a subject and a predicate not
including a verbal element to express a proposition are analysed as ’Small Clauses’
which lack a categorial status (thus, these would count as exocentric projections).
Another view assumes that these clauses have the categorial status of their predicate
and their subjects occupy the specifier position within the projection of the predicate.
According to the third view these type of clauses contain an agreement element acting
as head (an I head). In this view the head of the predicate does not determine the
categorial status of the whole clause, the agreement element does.
Q4 There are two types of unpronounced subjects: the non-independent type and
the independent type. The non-independent type of subject has an antecedent with
which it shares a theta-role. It has to be lower in the structure than its antecedent. It is
always associated with a subject antecedent and it cannot refer outside of the subject
clause of another clause. The independent type of unpronounced subject has a theta-
role of its own even if it is coreferential with another element. It does not necessarily
have to be higher up in the structure than the element it is associated with. It can be
coreferential with subjects and objects as well.
Q5 Raising is a type of movement that occurs with certain types of verbs. The
subject of the lower clause is moved out to the subject position of the higher clause.
The moved element must originate in the subject position of the lower clause which
must be a non-finite clause. There is no raising out of finite clauses or object positions.
The properties of verbs that may occur in a raising structure include lacking a light
verb that can assign a theta-role to the subject and case-mark it. Lacking a light verb
implies having a subject position available and vacant. Another property of verbs that
can be part of raising structures is that they take a propositional (clausal) complement,
which can be finite or non-finite. In raising structures the light verb cannot case-mark