wh constraints

Question 1

Complex DP constraint

Answer 1

• cannot break up a complex DP
• mary bought a book that was about wine -> *what did mary buy a book that was about?- a book that was about wine is a complex DP, cannot break it up

Question 2

wh-island

Answer 2

• Usually when there are 2 wh words in a sentence
• How did jane wonder what mary fixed?
• Minimal link condition- need intermediate jumps, but position is occupied by random ass question word

Question 3

Subject condition

Answer 3

• Sort of like Complex DP but related to CP

- That Mary would say that is surprising -> *what is that mary would say surprising

Question 4

Coordinate structure constraint

Answer 4

• I liked Mary and John ->* who did you like mary and?

- Look for and

Question 5

That-t filter

Answer 5

when you extract the subject you must drop that - Who did mary say that saw jill?

Question 6

Raising

Answer 6

• Raising happens when the verb does not assign a theta role
• be likely, to seem, to appear
• DP skips over this verb, is not in the subject position, because seem or whatever doesnt have theta roles
• weather “it”- it appears to rain- raising verb.

Question 7

Passive

Answer 7

• There is no agent- there is no spec in the upper vP shell, it skips to the top
• Passives are unaccusatives, only nominative case is assigned

Question 8

Subject control

Answer 8

• verbs like expect
• assign theta roles- different than raising
• only one thing- not object control
• 2 verbs semantically refer to one subject
• Pro- goes in spec of upper vp shell, moved to TP, co-indexed with subject
• Why pro? 2 verbs such as expect to enjoy themselves both refer to the same subject- the children. 1 argument cannot take theta roles from 2 verbs, so the pro must be added, but coindexed with the subject

Question 9

Object control

Answer 9

• There are 2 things- the children convinced the man to taste the cookies.
• The man is theta roled by convinced and taste, as the agent of taste and the theme of convinced.
• Pro is added to the spec of the outer vp and moved to TP to account for the double theta bullshit

Question 10

Exceptional case marking

Answer 10

• Subject to object raising
• The children believed the man to like the cookies
• The children didnt believe the man, they believed the man to like the cookies. therefore, the man is not the theme of believed, so you do not need a pro because no 2 things are theta roled together

Question 11

Relative clauses

Answer 11

• Complex DP- the candidate you recommend- different than a regular CP complement.
• Add Op in place of who
• Add slashed 0 for that if its not there
• The Op is conindexed with the object- you recommended him