On the relation between V-to-I and the structure of the inflectional paradigm

Abstract

In this paper an account is provided of the trigger for V-to-I movement. This account explains why relatively rich inflection involves a distinct inflectional node in the clausal structure whereas relatively poor inflection is base-generated on the verb (Rohrbacher 1999), without having to assume that there are two fundamentally different types of inflection. I will argue that there is not a direct causal connection between rich inflection and V-to-I but, rather, that the two are related because having V-to-I andnot having rich inflection are alternative ways of avoiding a violation of the same constraint, namely a general constraint that disfavours complex structure below the word (X 0 ) level. This constraint is a ranked, violable constraint, as in the optimality-theoretic conception of grammar. Its interaction with two other relevant constraints, which concern economy of movement and realisation of the input in the output, will account for the fact that languages can vary in their tolerance level for the amount of inflection on unmoved verbs. The analysis thus explains why no single definition of richness can exactly divide the V-to-I languages from the non-V-to-I ones. It will also account for the English ‘V-to-I for auxiliaries only’ puzzle.