Subject Positions, Subject Extraction, EPP, and the Subject Criterion
Domain:
natural language processingRecord type:
paper
Creator:
Ur
Publisher:
Oxf
Host:
Abstract The idea that the EPP reduces to the criterial freezing of the clausal subject is shown to have empirical consequences beyond those discussed in Rizzi & Shlonsky (2006, 2007). In particular, it bears upon the Highest Subject Restriction on resumptive pronouns in Hebrew relative clauses, the Anti-Agreement Effect in Berber and on the conditions for Quantifier Raising and Lowering. The status of the clausal subject as an “aboutness” topic is also examined in the context of a discussion of a particular brand of negative sentences in Hebrew. It is further argued that the relevant probing feature on the Subj head is [person] and that this leads to an implementation of the idea that [person] and [number] are not only distinct features but also distinct probes, associated with different heads: [Number] is a feature of T and [person] a feature of SUBJ.