The head of the nominal is N, not D: N-to-D Movement, Hybrid Agreement, and conventionalized expressions

Abstract

The DP Hypothesis has recently come under intense criticism (Bruening 2009, Bruening et al. 2018). In the face of this criticism, several responses have been offered. This paper addresses three such responses and shows that they are without force. First, N-to-D movement is not necessary in Shona, as Carstens (2017) claims. Second, patterns of hybrid agreement in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian do not require the DP Hypothesis, as Salzmann (2018) claims. Third, patterns of conventionalized expressions show that there is a close syntactic relation, possibly selection, between a selecting head and N, contra Salzmann (2018). The patterns of conventionalized expressions are incompatible with the DP Hypothesis and require that the head of the nominal is N, not any functional head. Functional heads inside nominals have to be dependents of the head N, not vice versa.