Suggested answer for Exercise 5
| (1) | a | Which book did John buy? |
| b | Short stories, I don’t like. | |
| c | Short stories I expect nobody likes. | |
| d | Mary seems to hate big cats. | |
| e | I know the researcher who is believed to have invented cold fusion. |
Θ-role is assigned by a lexical head in a local configuration. A lexical head can assign Θ-role either to the constituents in its specifier or in its complement position.
Sentence (1a) is problematic as the lexical entry of the verb ‘buy’ as in (2a) states that it should assign the ‘theme’ Θ-role to a DP immediately following it as in structure (2b).
| (2) | a | buy | :cat: [–F, –N, +V] |
| Θ-grid: <agent theme< | |||
| subcat: nominal | |||
| b | |||
But there is no DP in this position. In fact the object of the verb appears in the initial position in the sentence. Therefore the sentence should be ungrammatical. But it is not. So the assumption is that in the initial structure the wh-DP was in Spec,VP, the canonical theme position, where it is assigned the theme theta role, them it moves to the sentence-initial position. Why does it have to move there? Regular theme complements do not undergo this movement (John bought Ulysses.). However, those DPs that are marked for +wh feature have to move to sentence-initial position to fulfil their operator function.
The verb like in (1b) is a transitive verb. It has an experiencer and a theme argument as is illustrated in its lexical entry in (3a).
| (3) | like | :cat: [–F, –N, +V] | |
| Θ-grid: <agent theme> | |||
| subcat: nominal |
As the lexical entry shows there should be a nominal complement in the sister node of the head but this complement seems to be in the initial position of the sentence similarly to sentence (1a). Thematic role assignment can be accounted for in the same manner we did in sentence (1a). The initial position of the object DP was Spec,VP where it got the theme theta role from the main verb. Then it moved to the first position of the sentence. This movement cannot be motivated by the fact that the DP has a +wh feature, as it is not a question word. But it is obvious that the sentence has marked contrastive interpretation (Short stories I don’t like, but I like novels.). This indicates that the complement has a contrastive interpretation; therefore it is marked as contrastive. DPs marked as contrastive tend to move to the sentence-initial position. This operation is called topicalisation.
In sentence (1c), as in sentence (1b) the DP short stories is the theme complement of the verb like, as its lexical entry indicates. Sentence (1c) is a complex sentence, the topicalised DP moves to the first position of the main sentence. The theme complement must be in the Spec,VP of the embedded sentence as in (1b) to get thematic role from the lexical verb like of the subordinate sentence. Then it moves to the initial position of the main sentence to get the contrastive interpretation.
In the complex sentence (1d) there are two predicates: the verb seem and the verb hate. The lexical entry of the two verbs is in (4a) and (b).
| (4) | a | seem | cat: [–F, –N, +V] |
| Θ-grid: <proposition> | |||
| subcat: sentential | |||
| b | hate | cat: [–F, –N, +V] | |
| Θ-grid: <agent theme> | |||
| subcat: nominal |
As the lexical entry of the verb seem indicates, it does not have thematic subject, so the subject of the sentence cannot be the thematic subject of the verb seem. The verb hate has a thematic subject, but there is no DP in the Spec,IP, (the canonical case position of the subject) of the embedded sentence. Still the sentence is grammatical. The DP Mary is interpreted as the subject of the verb hate, she is the “hater”. In the initial structure the DP Mary must be in the specifier position of the VP of the subordinate sentence.
| (5) |
It is assumed that the subject Mary moves from the Spec,VP position of the embedded sentence to the Spec,IP of the main sentence. The motivation for this movement is Case. DPs must have Case. Subject DPs cannot get Case in Spec,VP, they have to move to Spec,IP to get nominative Case. But the infinitival marker, as it is non-finite (present, past, future), cannot assign Case (*It seems Mary to hate big cats.). The subject DP must move to the subject position of the main sentence. As the verb seem does not have thematic subject, the subject DP of the embedded sentence can move to the Spec,IP of the main sentence to get nominative Case. As this movement is motivated for Case it is DP-movement.
In sentence (1e) there are three verbs. The lexical entries of the three verbs are in (6a), (6b) and (6c), respectively:
| (6) | a | know | cat: [–F, –N, +V] |
| Θ-grid: <experiencer, theme> | |||
| subcat: nominal | |||
| b | believed | cat: [–F, –N, +V] | |
| Θ-grid: <proposition> | |||
| subcat: sentential | |||
| c | invent | cat: [–F, –N, +V] | |
| Θ-grid:<?experiencer, propositional> | |||
| subcat: sentential |
The subject DP and the object DP of the verb know are in their canonical positions, in Spec,IP and in Spec,VP, respectively. The lexical head of the object DP is modified by a complex relative sentence. The lexical verb believed of the main sentence is followed by a sentence as is required by its lexical entry. Notice that the passive form of the verb believe has no thematic subject. In the most embedded sentence the verb invent has a thematic subject, which should be in Spec,vP in the initial position to get thematic role. Intuitively, we know that the subject of invent is the relative pronoun who. It has the agent role ‘inventor’. It is marked for +wh feature, therefore it moves to the sentence initial position as in (1).