Abstract

According to Chomsky (1970), raising to subject and raising to object may not take place inside nominalizations. This claim has largely been accepted as fact ever since. For instance, Newmeyer (2009) repeats the claim as crucial evidence for the Lexicalist Hypothesis, the view that word formation takes place in a component of the grammar separate from the phrasal syntax. This paper shows with attested examples and survey data that the claim is false: raising to subject and raising to object are both grammatical inside nominalizations. This argues for a purely syntactic model of word formation, and against Lexicalist accounts. Additionally, the paper shows that one argument against syntactic accounts of nominalization, that from coordination, does not go through, clearing the way for the most parsimonious type of theory: one with only one combinatorial component, not two distinct ones for phrases versus words.

Highlights

  • The literature includes two broad approaches to word formation

  • Raising is only ever possible with the full syntactic structure that the syntactic account requires. This is true in both clauses and nominalizations, and so we need a syntactic account of both

  • Since Chomsky (1970), it has been accepted that raising is ungrammatical in nominalizations, and some have argued that this points to a Lexicalist conception of grammar, with distinct components for word formation and phrasal syntax

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Summary

Introduction

On the Lexicalist approach, word formation requires a component of grammar separate from the phrasal syntax. This paper argues for the latter—more parsimonious—view and a model of grammar with only one combinatorial system. It does so by contesting the longstanding claim from Chomsky (1970) that raising to subject and raising to object do not take place in nominalizations. This, I argue, requires a syntactic account of nominalization. Some of the Lexicalist literature has argued against purely syntactic accounts of nominalization on the basis of coordination.

Raising is Grammatical inside Nominalizations
Attested Examples
Acceptability Survey
Discussion and Analysis
Discussion
A Syntactic Analysis
Summary
Findings
Defending a Syntactic Account of Nominalizations
Conclusion
Full Text
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