Not every finite CP is a phase

Abstract

This paper proposes that phases are extended projections containing all the projections in the relevant functional sequence, and that extended projections lacking lower projections in the sequence are in turn not phases. The claim is motivated and supported by a detailed investigation of finite ECM in Korean, where embedded subjects are assigned accusative case across finite CP boundaries. I argue that finite ECM occurs in Korean when the embedded clause lacks a T projection in the verbal domain. A typology of clausal complementation emerges, distinguishing defective finite CPs as distinct entities from full CPs in terms of syntactic locality. The proposal also explains the puzzling individual-level restriction in Korean ECM: a GEN operator must occur in the structure to stopgap the semantic effects of missing T, namely to render the embedded finite clause a proposition of type t. The defective CP analysis extends to other languages exhibiting crossclausal finite A-dependency exclusively with defective CPs.