Ascending and Descending VPs in English
Victoria Janke, Ad Neeleman
April 2009 

We argue that English allows both rightward descending VP-shell structures and more traditional rightward ascending VPs. The choice between these depends on case theory and economy. Case theory triggers VP-shell formation whenever the verb is merged with a DP-object after it has been merged with some other category. The reason is that VP-shell formation allows verb and object to surface in adjacent positions, a prerequisite for case licensing in English. Economy has the effect that in all other circumstances, VP-shell formation is blocked. Our argument will be based on contrasts in scope, ellipsis and the distribution of floating quantifiers in VPs projected by verbs selecting two complements. We end with a discussion of the binding data that are often taken to support a uniformly descending structure, incorrectly in our view.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/000861 (please use that when you cite this article, unless you want to cite the full url: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/000861)
Published in:	(Revised version) To appear in Linguistic Inquiry.
keywords:	case, vp-shells, floating quantifiers, particles, binding, scope, syntax
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