English Syntaxfor Spanish Speakers:A Comparative Introduction

Concha Castillo

A 388254

PETER LANGBern • Berlín • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Oxford • Wien

Contents

PagePreface

Introduction 15

1. The Domain of Syntax 211.1 Introduction 211.2 Categories andfunctions 26

1.2.1 Subcategorisation 341.2.2 Functions of constituents 37

1.3 The mechanism of X '-Syntax: constituency and hierarchy 431.3.1. Functional projections 60

1.3.1.1 ThestructureoflP 611.3.1.2 ThestructureofDP 66

Exercise Section 72

2. Declarative Affirmative Sentences (I) 812.1 Introduction 812.2 The merger of I and V: I-movement vs. V-movement 84

2.2.1 Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs 942.2.1.1 The verbs be and have 98

2.2.2 Chainsofauxiliaries 1022.2.3 Dummy do: emphatic declarative affirmatives 106

2.3 A comparison with Spanish 1092.3.1 Spanish auxiliaries 1152.3.2 Modal verbs in Spanish 119

Appendix Section 123Appendix I. English verbal paradigms and the contents of

English I(nflection) 123

Appendix II. English modal auxiliaries 137Appendix III. References of non-modal auxiliaries 149

Exercise Section 156

3. Declarative Affirmative Sentences (II) 1613.1 Introduction 161

3.1.1 Thematic properties 1633.1.1.1 Ataxonomyof verbs 170

3.1.2 Case properties 1723.1.2.1 Defective case-assigners 178

3.2 The order SVO and the VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis 1813.2.1 Subject-raising 188

3.3 Expletive constructions 1923.3.1 Dummy it: a typology 1933.3.2 Existential sentences 2023.3.3 Presentational sentences 204

3.4 The activation of the CP node 2063.4.1 Topicalisation and focalisation 2063.4.2 Locative inversión and predicative inversión 2133.4.3 ThearticulationofCP 222

3.5 A comparison with Spanish 2233.5.1 Non-ergative structures 2243.5.2 Ergative structures 230

3.5.2.1 Existential structures 2303.5.2.2 Non-existential structures 232

3.5.3 Topicalisation and focalisation in Spanish 238Exercise Section 244

4. Declarative negative sentences 2554.1 Introduction 2554.2 Negation as a functional projection 258

4.2.1 The structural position of NegP 2594.2.2 The mechanism of do-support 2634.2.3 Emphatic declarative negatives 267

4.2.4 The verbs be and have 2674.2.5 Negation and modals 269

4.2.5.1 Mixed modals 2734.3 Not outside the verbal component: constituent negation 276

4.3.1 Negated constituent preposing 2794.3.1.1 Theanalysis 282

4.4 Assertive, negative, and non-assertive quantifiers: thesystemof English indefinites 2864.4.1 Non-assertive quantifiers and the relation of

c-comand 2894.4.2 The tripartite system of indefinites: taxonomy and

characterisation 2924.4.3 Generic or universal any 300

4.5 Co-occurrence of negative elements 3034.5.1 Two Neg heads in a simple sentence 303

4.5.1.1 Adverbs and negation 3044.5.2 Double negation 307

4.5.2.1 Two negative elements in a simple sentence 3084.5.2.2 Two negative elements in a complexsentence 309

4.6 A comparison with Spanish 3104.6.1 The structural position of NegP 3104.6.2 The structural position of negative quantifiers 3154.6.3 Non-assertive quantifiers 3164.6.4 The system of Spanish indefinite quantifiers: a

taxonomy 3194.6.5 Other locations for the Neg head in Spanish 321

Appendix Section 323Appendix I. English verbal paradigms 323Appendix II. The semantics of English modals 328

Exercise Section 332

5. Interrogative and Exclamative Sentences ' 3435.1 Introduction 3435.2 Abasic typology of questions 348

5.3 The phenomenon of íT/í-movement and the phenomenonof inversión5.3.1 Subject questions5.3.2 Preposition stranding vs. pied-piping5.3.3 Múltiple questions5.3.4 Themechanism of ¿fo-support5.3.5 The verbs be and have5.3.6 Interrogative negative sentences

5.4 TheCP-domain5.5 yes/wo-questions

5.5.1 Tag-questions5.6 f^A-questions

5.6.1 Echo-questions5.6.2 A characterisation of w/?-items

5.7 Exclamative sentences5.8 A comparison with Spanish

5.8.1 PFft-movement and inversión in Spanish5.8.2 The CP-domain in subordínate clauses5.8.3 The position of the subject5.8.4 Spanish indefinite quantifiers5.8.5 Spanish gw-items5.8.6 Spanish exclamatives

Appendix SectionAppendix I. English verbal paradigmsAppendix II. The semantics of English modals

Exercise Section

6. Imperative Sentences6.1 Introduction6.2 The paradigm of the imperative6.3 The structure of imperatives

6.3.1 Dummy do vs. the rest of verbs6.3.2 Imperatives with a subject

6.4 Grammatical let6.5 The subjunctive

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6.5.1 The syntax and contexts of use of the presentsubjunctive 460

6.5.2 The syntax and contexts of use of the pastsubjunctive 463

6.6 A comparison with Spanish 4656.6.1 The structure of imperatives 4656.6.2 The Spanish subjunctive 469

Exercise Section 473

Bibliography 477

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