Two types of restructuring—Lexical vs. functional

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses criteria for distinguishing between lexical and functional heads in the clausal domain, with special focus on restructuring configurations (a.k.a. reanalysis, clause union, coherence). Using these criteria, I show that even under the narrowest understanding of the term restructuring, German has both functional and lexical restructuring verbs. This proposal contrasts with the view recently advanced by Cinque on the basis of Italian under which all restructuring verbs are functional (as opposed to lexical) heads residing within a highly articulated IP. The two approaches are compared, and it is shown that a universalist interpretation of Cinque's position is untenable.