Perception and Causative Structures in English and European Portuguese: φ‐Feature Agreement and the Distribution of Bare and Prepositional Infinitives

Abstract

Abstract. This paper discusses perception and causative verbs in English and European Portuguese within Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) Agree framework and provides an answer for the old riddle of why these verbs appear to select for different infinitival complements in their active and passive forms. Assuming that infinitival clauses are Case-bearing projections (Raposo 1987, Nunes 1995), the paper proposes that in active structures, the infinitival head and the embedded subject can both agree with the matrix light verb and so “share” the accusative Case it licenses. In passive structures, on the other hand, the intervening φ-features of the participial head block the agreement between the finite T and the infinitival head, which will then be licensed only if preposition insertion is sanctioned as a Last Resort repair strategy.