English VP-preposing allows VP modifiers to remain on the right (John said he would arrive on Tuesday, and arrive he did, on Tuesday). The classic analysis of this invokes VP constituency, claiming that the modifiers are right-adjoined to VP and stranded by movement of a smaller VP ([VP arrive] he did [VP [VP arrive] on Tuesday]). This article proposes a radically different view based on the copy theory of movement (Chomsky 1993), wherein moved items leave a copy in their site of origin. I propose that VP-preposing always involves movement of the maximal VP with possible/impossible argument/ modifier “strandings” representing possible/impossible pronunciations of the original copy. This proposal allows a straightforward analysis of “paradox” examples in which VP-preposing constituency appears to clash with c-command requirements. It also raises the possibility of eliminating adjunction entirely in the analysis of modifiers.
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Fall 2024
October 03 2024
VP-Preposing and Constituency “Paradox”
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Richard K. Larson
Richard K. Larson
Department of Linguistics, Stony Brook University, richard.larson@stonybrook.edu
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Richard K. Larson
Department of Linguistics, Stony Brook University, richard.larson@stonybrook.edu
Online ISSN: 1530-9150
Print ISSN: 0024-3892
© 2022 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Linguistic Inquiry (2024) 55 (4): 659–695.
Citation
Richard K. Larson; VP-Preposing and Constituency “Paradox”. Linguistic Inquiry 2024; 55 (4): 659–695. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00485
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