Tough류 형용사와 Essential류 형용사의 보문구조에 관한 최소주의적 연구

Abstract

Kang, Sunok. 2011. A Minimalist Study of the Structures of the Complement Clauses of Toough-type and Essential-type Adjectives. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 11-3, 773-786. In English when tough-type adjectives have infinitival clauses as their complements, the object of the infinitival complement clauses can appear in the matrix subject position. However, this is not possible with essential-type adjectives. The object of the infinitival complement of essential-type adjectives are not allowed to appear in the matrix subject position. In this paper I explain why the two types of adjectives are different this way by analyzing the structures of their complement clauses in terms of selectional features and the possibility of complex predicate formation in the framework of Chomsky's (2000, 2001b, 2008) minimalist approach. I propose that the tough-type selects CP the head of which has a [+operator] feature, whereas the essential-type selects CP the head of which has a [-operator] feature. I argue that this difference in the selectional features between these two types of adjectives plays a crucial role in accounting for their syntactic difference.