Reanalyzing syntactic ergativity in Control and conjunction reduction
Lisa Morgenroth, Martin Salzmann
November 2024 

Research on syntactic ergativity has focused on accounting for the ban on A′-movement of the ergative. In this paper, we focus on syntactic ergativity in Control and conjunction reduction, which has received considerably less attention. We argue that the S/P-pivot in these constructions can be accounted for if the movement theory of Control (MTC) is adopted and the following two assumptions are made: First, Control complements/non-initial conjuncts are merged as complements of the matrix verb. Under the MTC, this automatically derives the S/P-pivot in the matrix clause/initial conjunct given Minimality: the object position is targeted first by theta-driven movement. Secondly, the ergative cannot undergo A-movement since it is an inherent case (or possibly a PP). This derives the S/P-pivot w.r.t. the gap in the non-finite clause/non-initial conjunct as only S or P arguments can move out. The fact that movement out of Control complements/non-initial conjuncts is possible follows from the assumption that S and P are not involved in an Agree operation that involves a full set of phi-features. For coordination, this requires that non-initial conjuncts are treated as non-finite, which receive their tense specification from the matrix clause, as in clause-chaining languages. This analysis favors a theory of case assignment where both S and P receive case (nominative/absolutive) from T (and thus fail to be deactivated in control clauses/non-initial conjuncts). For a language like Dyirbal, the perhaps most prominent syntactically ergative language, this favors a theory like that of Müller & Thomas (2017).

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008608 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	In Silke Fischer, Doreen Georgi, Fabian Heck, Johannes Hein, Anke Himmelreich, Andrew Murphy & Philipp Weisser (eds.), Strict Cycling: A Festschrift for Gereon Müller. Linguistische ArbeitsBerichte 97, 341–364. Leipzig: University of Leipzig.
keywords:	syntactic ergativity, control, coordination, conjunction reduction, movement theory of control, dyirbal, clause chaining, syntax
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