Partial Control is Trickier Than We Thought

• Authors: Anna Snarska
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper discusses partial control, a notoriously intricate phenomenon. Brought to the linguistic limelight only recently (cf. Landau 2000), its bizarre nature renders it a real challenge to any theory of control. I contribute to the Agree vs. Move debate on control by making an empirical claim concerning cases of what I call Parasitic Partial Control Effects which are extremely problematic to Landau's Agree Theory of Control. To account for these facts, I propose a solution framed within the theory of control based on Move. Refining insights in Rodrigues (2007), I suggest that the licensing of the PC effect depends on the presence of the projection of woll P dominated by TP in the structure of the infinitive and the sideward movement of the DP controller from within the adjunct to the matrix. Thus, Landau's claim that partial control is licensed only in complements must be loosened (if not dropped).

Keywords

EN

PRO; control; sideward movement; pro

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Journal: Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 44
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 345-361

Dates

published

2008-09-01

online

2008-10-24

Contributors

author

Anna Snarska

• Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznañ

References

• Bondaruk, A. 2004. PRO and Control in English, Irish and Polish: A minimalist analysis. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.
• Bondaruk, A. 2006. "Minimalist approaches to Control: A critical overview". Research in Lanuguage 4. 91-126.
• Bošković, Ž. 1997. The syntax of nonfinite complementation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Bowers, J. 2005. On reducing Obligatory Control to movement. (Ms., Cornell University.)
• Chierchia, G. 1984. Topics in the syntax and semantics of infinitives and gerunds. (Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.)
• Chomsky, N. 1982. Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
• Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin and use. New York: Praeger.
• Kayne, R. 2002. "Pronouns and their antecedents". In: Epstein, S. D. and T. S. Seely (eds.), Derivation and explanation in the Minimalist Program. Oxford: Blackwell. 133-166.
• Kim, K. 1998. Anti-Connectivity. (Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.)
• Landau. I. 2000. Elements of control. Structure and meaning in infinitival constructions. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
• Landau. I. 2003. "Movement out of control". Linguistic Inquiry 34. 471-498.[Crossref][WoS]
• Landau, I. 2004. "The scale of finiteness and the calculus of control". Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 22. 811-877.
• Landau, I. 2006. "Severing the distribution of PRO from case". Syntax 9. 153-170.[Crossref]
• Landau, I. 2007. Two routes of control: Evidence for case transmission in Russian. (Ms., Ben Gurion University, Tel-Aviv.)
• Lawler, J. 1972. A problem in participatory democracy. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
• Manzini, R. and A. Roussou. 2000. "A minimalist theory of A-movement and control". Lingua 110. 409-447.[Crossref]
• Martin, R. 1996. A minimalist theory of PRO and control. (Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs.)
• Martin, R. 2001. "Null case and the distribution of PRO". Linguistic Inquiry 32. 141-166.[Crossref]
• Nuñes, J. 1995. The copy theory of movement and linearization of chains in the minimalist program. (Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.)
• Nuñes, J. 2001. "Sideward movement". Linguistic Inquiry 32. 303-344.[Crossref]
• Pires, A. 2001. The syntax of gerunds and infinitives: Subjects, case and control. (Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.)
• Polinsky, M. and E. Potsdam. 2002. "Backward control". Linguistic Inquiry 33. 245-282.[Crossref][WoS]
• Richards, N. 1998. "The Principle of Minimal Compliance". Linguistic Inquiry 29. 599-629.[Crossref]
• Reinhart, T and E. Reuland. 1993. "Reflexivity". Linguistic Inquiry 24. 657-720.
• Rodrigues, C. 2007. Agreement and flotation in Partial and Inverse Partial Control configurations. (Ms., MIT, Cambridge, MA.)
• Rosenbaum, P. 1967. The grammar of English predicate complement constructions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Sauerland, U. and P. Elbourne. 2002. "Total reconstruction, PF movement, and derivational order". Linguistic Inquiry 33. 283-319.[Crossref]
• Snarska, A. 2007. "Partial control - Is it really a grammatical chimera?" In: Arabski, J., D. Gabryś-Barker and A. Łyda (eds.), Studies in language and methodology of teaching foreign languages (vol 1). Katowice: University of Silesia Press. 106-122.
• Stowell, T. 1982. "The tense of infinitives". Linguistic Inquiry 13. 561-570.
• Williams, E. 1980. "Predication". Linguistic Inquiry 11. 203-238.
• Witkoś, J. and A. Snarska. 2008. "On Partial Control and Parasitic PC Effects". SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 5. 42-75.
• Wurmbrand, S. 2007. "Infinitives are tenseless". U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics. 13(1). 407-420.
• Chomsky, N. 2000. "Minimalist inquiries. The framework". In: Martin, R., D. Michaels and J. Uriagereka (eds.), Step by step: Essays in honor of Howard Lasnik. Cambridge, MA: MIT press. 89-156.
• Hornstein, N. 2000. Move! A minimalist theory of construal. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
• Hornstein, N. 2003. "On Control". In: Hendrick, R (ed.), Minimalist syntax. Oxford: Blackwell. 6-81.
• Hornstein, N. 2006. "A short note on NOC". University of Maryland Working Papers in Linguistics 14. 39-46.
• Janke, V. 2008. "Control without a subject". Lingua 118. 82-118.[WoS][Crossref]
• Kayne, R. 1984. Connectedness and binary branching. Dordrecht: Foris.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10010-008-0017-8