Abstract
The Germanic V2 languages differ from English and Italian in not allowing backward binding. In this paper I have tried to account for this cross-linguistic variation in terms of a recent proposal by Chomsky (2008) that A-chains and A-bar chains should be held strictly apart, and that A-movement and A-bar movement sometimes may take place in parallel. With respect to backward binding, I have claimed that this is a connectivity effect, only possible when we have an A-bar chain. Observing with Cardinaletti (2004) that there are at least two subject positions in front of the verb (disregarding V2), the relevant difference between V2-languages and English and Italian seems to be that these positions are divided between Spec-CP and Spec-TP in V2 languages, but not in English/Italian, where both subject positions are in the T/Infl-domain, enabling a kind of syntactic haplology. Thus, English and Italian, but not the Germanic V2-languages, allow backward binding
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Functional Heads : The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Volume 7 |
| Editors | Laura Brugé, Anna Cardinaletti, Giuliana Giusti, Cecilia Poletto |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-19-974673-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Bibliographical note
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015.The record was previously connected to the following departments: Swedish (015011001)
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Languages and Literature
Free keywords
- Germanic V2
- Psych-verbs
- Romance
- backward binding