The unbearable lightness of GOing: The projection parameter as a pure parameter governing the distribution of elliptic motion verbs in Germanic

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that most of the Germanic languages can use modal verbs with non-verbal complements. In the present paper I will focus on modals with directional PPs such as the German Ich muss nach hause (I must home). There are two ways to analyze such constructions. Either we say that the modal can (also) be used as a main verb, in which case it can have a complete theta-structure, a full-blown subcategorization frame (e.g., Barbiers (1995)), or we say that, among the verbal complements the modal verb can combine with, there is a super-light motion verb [e]GO. Swiss German presents us with two incontrovertible arguments to the effect that there has to be an empty GO. The first, due to J. Hoekstra (1997), is based on the distribution of PPs in verbal clusters. A second argument comes from Verb Doubling. Dutch and German differ from Swiss German in this respect. It is tempting to assume that these languages lack the empty GO. However, West Flemish confronts us with a paradox: according to one argument it must have empty GO, according to the other argument it must lack it. The only way in which the paradox can be resolved, it is argued, is to assume that all varieties (there are relevant additional data from Afrikaans, Alsatian, German, Frisian, and Luxemburgish) have the phonetically empty super-light motion verb GO but that the variation is due to a 'Pure Parameter'. This parameter, the Projection Parameter, is argued to regulate the licensing of empty light motion verbs as well as the occurrence of Verb (Projection) Raising.