Feature Inheritance and Object Raising in Epistemic Modal Constructions in Mandarin Chinese

We present evidence to argue that the object raising in epistemic modal constructions in Chinese is A-movement. The consequence of this claim is the apparent violation of Minimal Link Condition. Following Chomsky’s (2007 & 2008) feature inheritance hypothesis, we argue that the T of the TP complement of epistemic verbs does not contain any unvalued phi-features due to the absence of the CP-layer, and contains only the inherent EPP structural requirement, which, in itself, does not impose minimality restriction on the search of the goal. The implication of this analysis is three-fold: (i) the checking-based approach to A-movement does not hold in Chinese, (ii) Chinese employs the delayed version of Phase Impenetrability Condition, and (iii) activity condition in Chinese is subject to factor(s) other than Case.

Possessor Raising in Nuu-chah-nulth

Nuu-chah-nulth possessor raising is semantically unrestricted and affects only subjects: subject agreement matches the person and number of the possessor (rather than the possessed subject), and the possessive-marking clitic attaches to the head of the clause (rather than to the possessum). Nuu-chah-nulth possessor raising is analyzed as a syntactic dependency between the possessive clitic in the main clause and the base-generated possessor position within DP. A Possessive Phrase can appear in either the DP or the clausal domain, and the possessive clitic may be generated in either position. When the possessive clitic is generated in the main clause, a possessor may raise out of subject position via feature-driven movement; the Minimal Link Condition prevents such movement from occurring out of object position.

Features, θ-Roles, and Free Constituent Order

This article proposes a new base generation account of free constituent order. Scrambling as movement is incompatible with central assumptions of the Minimalist Program:it cannot involve the checking of strong categorial features. Concentrating on German, the article refutes the standard empirical arguments for scrambling and shows that free constituent order is a base-generated phenomenon. The article proposes that °-role assignment is a by-product of checking the formal features of arguments. When checking features are strong, word order is fixed; when checking features are weak, free constituent order arises owing to a relativized interpretation of the Minimal Link Condition.