Shifting objects and procrastinating subjects*

Date
1996-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Calgary
Abstract
We claim that the Minimalist framework of Chomsky (1993) predicts VSO to be the unmarked word order in a language which has both verb raising and Object Shift (in the sense of Holmberg (1986)). This paper has two sections: In section l, we will show that object shift entails a subject positions lower than the specifier of AgrS. Thus, in a language with verb raising to AgrS, VSO order would be derived trivially. In section 2, we will show how this works in Irish, a language with both overt object shift and VSO matrix ordering.
Description
Andrew Carnie, University of Calgary; Jonathan Bobaljik, Harvard University
Keywords
Linguistics, Syntax, Irish language
Citation
Carnie, A., & Bobaljik, J. (1996). Shifting objects and procrastinating subjects*. Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 18(Winter), 23-30.