Speaker: Rotsuprit Saengthong (MIT)
Title: Clause Size Reduction by Projection Feature
Time: Tuesday, November 18th, 1pm – 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: I will present an ongoing project on clausal complementation. I have observed that when tested with restructuring diagnostics as used in Wurmbrand (2001), clauses containing functional elements (e.g., C and T) behave like full CPs in some environments, but in other environments, they behave as if they are smaller than expected given the presence of those functional elements. Such variation is evident in Thai control constructions, where infinitival complements contain the same morphemes as full CPs, yet lack the defining properties of CPs. For instance, certain clauses include C and T morphemes but behave syntactically like vPs. These facts suggest that the mechanisms of structure building—specifically Merge and Labeling/Projection—may operate differently in such environments. I propose that in Merge (α, β), there may be what I tentatively call a Projection feature, which determines which head is selected for projection. I further argue that clausal reduction arises as a consequence of this operation.