Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyse the displacement phenomena the direct and indirect objects in the English Double Object Construction (DOC) can undergo. The focus is on the movement out of the DOC to the sentence initial position. The analysis concerns not only globally acceptable Goal-Theme object sequence but also the Theme-Goal DOC, which grammaticality is restricted only to a few British English dialects. The processes affecting the objects in the Prepositional Construction are also mentioned. The initial part of the paper is devoted to the underlying syntactic representations of the DOC in English. Following, e.g. Citko (2011), Cuervo (2003), Pylkkännen (2002, 2008), a representation with the Low Applicative Phrase has been adopted. The exact case valuation mechanism for relevant objects (as proposed by Bondaruk and Bartczak-Meszyńska (2014)) has been established. The remaining part of this paper contains a detailed discussion of the derivation of particular object initial sentences with the DOC in the active and in the passive and the interplay between passivisation and topicalisation, as the triggers of the object fronting.
Highlights
The aim of this paper is to analyse object displacement phenomena affecting Direct (DO) and Indirect objects (IO) in the Double Object Construction (DOC) in English
The term Alternative Projection has been introduced by Larson (1990) to characterise the suggestion that the DOC and the Prepositional Construction (PC) instantiate two different underlying structures, since they exhibit semantic and syntactic properties too different to be connected via transformations
Why is it necessary to discuss the issue of an Alternative Projection here? Two questions connected with this phenomenon can be raised, one whether the DO-IO DOC in English exemplifies a ‘true’ DOC or whether this structure is derived from a PC by the loss of the preposition
Summary
The aim of this paper is to analyse object displacement phenomena affecting Direct (DO) and Indirect objects (IO) in the Double Object Construction (DOC) in English. Subject to this study are cases where both objects are realised by nominal expressions, such as DPs or pronouns and instances of Prepositional Construction (PC), where a PP functions as one of the objects, both in the active and the passive. This analysis is carried out in the framework of the Minimalist Program proposed by Chomsky (2000, 2001, 2007, 2008). Section three discusses the underlying syntactic structures of the DOC and PC in English, together with the precise mechanism of case valuation in the active and in the passive.
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