How to probe expletives

• Autores: Jun Abe
• Localización: Studia linguistica: A journal of general linguistics, ISSN 0039-3193, Vol. 72, Nº 1, 2018, págs. 76-112
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article argues for a Move-approach to expletive constructions, according to which expletives satisfy the EPP by moving to a designated position rather than by being simply externally merged into it. In particular, I argue that the expletive and its associate form a constituent underlyingly and that the associate carries partitive Case that needs to be checked in accordance with Chomsky's (2008) probe-goal system. Further, I propose that expletives carry only unvalued ϕ-features, unlike ordinary DPs. This makes it possible to accommodate those cases in which expletives appear to be involved in default agreement