This thesis consists of two parts. Part I provides an analysis of the locative inversion construction, the conjunction agreement construction, and the genitive of negation construction in Russian. These constmctions are argued to share one formal property: they contain an element other than the highest nominal argument satisfying the Extended 3rojection Principle. The EPP is shown to be indepen...

A previous study of passive constructions has suggested that these are much more frequent in Sesotho than in English spontaneous speech (Demuth, 1989). This has raised a number of questions regarding the possible effects of the input on the apparently earlier acquisition of passives in Sesotho. This paper explores the distribution of passives in Sesotho child-directed speech. It aims to provide...

We propose an analysis for expletive-associate constructions within the minimalist framework outlined by Chomsky (1991, and later). Specifically, we argue that the expletive is an argument expression that must raise to the (most) external subject position in order to satisfy the Extended Projection Principle and check nominative case, while number agreement is checked by the associate. We prese...

Outside LFG, the term ‘subjectless’ is found referring to a range of phenomena in which the expression of the predicate lacks an overt lexical item (a syntactic constituent) bearing the grammatical function of the subject. In some of these phenomena, for example in prodrop, the architecture of LFG allows us to find the subject at the a-structure and f-structure levels despite there being no cat...

This paper analyzes changes in the null subject parameter in Caribbean Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese varieties. Assuming a Minimalist framework that ascribes parametric variation to differences in lexical settings, it is argued that increased frequency of overt pronominals and an anti-locality principle against Spec, head grammatical interactions trigger a shift from interpretable to unintep...

Much work has demonstrated that speakers of verb-final languages are able to construct rich syntactic representations in advance of verb information. This may reflect general architectural properties of the language processor, or it may only reflect a language-specific adaptation to the demands of verb-finality. The present study addresses this issue by examining whether speakers of a verb-medi...

Manning, C.D. and Sag, I. A. 1998 Argument Structure, Valence, and Binding Nordic Journal of Linguistics This paper develops within HPSG a model of grammar with two syntactic levels, valence lists and argument structure, at which sentences may have di erent representations: syntactically ergative and Western Austronesian languages are distinctive by allowing di erent prominence orderings betwee...