Subject Raising Constructions in English

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate two types of subject raising constructions: subject-to-subject raising and subject-to-object raising. In this paper, the empirical evidence and the motivation of subject raising are discussed in depth. This study suggests the Fin[±FIN] Driven EPP Hypothesis as an EPP Model utilizing the Push-and/or-Pull Chain by the feature Fin[±FIN]. The Fin[-FIN] feature pushes up the complement subject from the Fin[-FIN] domain and/or the Fin[+FIN] feature pulls up the complement subject to the licensed specifier position, Spec-T or Spec-V in the Fin[+FIN] domain. In terms of a general feature inheritance of the Fin[+FIN]-T and Fin[-FIN]-T in a split CP{ForceP-TopP-FinP}, the feature [±FIN] acts as a core factor for the EPP and clarifies why the subject raises. In addition, the raised subject in the matrix clause has the interpretation of topic, forming topic-comment structures. So, the raised argument in Spec-T further moves to Spec-Fin, independently of the EPP, by a Top-Fin category to check the topic feature at the position of prominence, i.e., Spec-Fin. (Hanbat National University)