Non-Nominative Subject Constructions in the Government and Binding Framework

This study is an investigation of the principles required to account for the behavior of non-nominative subjects in the Government and Binding framework, a version of the Extended Standard Theory. Non-nominative subjects are NPs which are not case marked with nominative case and which do not trigger subject verb agreement. These NPs, however, may share certain syntactic properties with nominative subjects. It is shown that in the Government and Binding framework the principles and theories which distinguish between subjects and non-subjects require an analysis in which the non-nominatives are subjects in certain components and non-subjects in others. In Imbabura Quechua, the language analyzed in greatest detail in this thesis, non-nominative desideratives are treated as subjects by the binding principles, the theory of control and the ECP. In other languages, such as Huanca Quechua, non-nominatives are treated as subjects only by the ECP, but not by the binding principles or by the theory of control.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Linguistics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Hermon, Gabriella

• Language, Linguistics

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8203488

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/66716