Non-finite Verb Movement in Romance

Abstract

Abstract Since Pollock, Jean-Yves. 1989. Verb movement, universal grammar, and the structure of IP. Linguistic Inquiry 20. 365–424, it is well known that Romance finite verbs move into the I-domain. However, the relationship between finiteness and verb movement has not yet been investigated in detail. The aim of the present study is to trace and analyse verb movement in various types of non-finite and semi-finite clauses in Romance, including infinitives with specified subjects, inflected infinitives, bare infinitival clauses, Aux-to-Comp (cf. Rizzi, Luigi. 1982. Issues in Italian syntax. Dordrecht: Foris), past participial clauses, and gerunds. It is shown that all types of Romance non-finite verbs move high, with the exception of French absolute participles and French infinitives. The picture of non-finite movement is thus more uniform than that of finite verb movement (cf. Schifano, Norma. 2018. Verb movement in Romance. A comparative study. Oxford: Oxford University Press). A unified account is proposed: non-finite verbs all need to be anchored to the speech act through a higher clause, which requires them to be in a local relation with the anchoring head Fin (cf. Groothuis, Kim A. 2020. Reflexes of finiteness in Romance. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Unpublished PhD thesis).