UCONN Talk (February 7, 2020)

Here is a rough draft of my UCONN talk to be given Friday February 7, 2020.

https://www.dropbox.com/…/Implicit%20Argument%20in%20Passiv…

The Implicit Argument in the Passive:

Revisiting Collins (2005)

I summarize the work on the passive in English that I have been doing over the last few years. First, I discuss implicit arguments, and give many reasons to think that they are syntactically projected (unlike recent proposals by Bruening, Legate and Alexiadou, which largely ignore the kind of evidence I adduce). Then I discuss the following consequences of my results. Note that these consequences (especially (d)) seem to fly in the face of what are now mainstream assumptions in our field. If anybody has any comments or corrections, let me know. I leave tomorrow afternoon, but I will probably run through my talk once more before leaving.

a.
The status of the Theta-Criterion
[The Theta-Criterion holds and imposes restrictions on semantic interpretation.]
c.
The status of by-phrases
[by-phrases are arguments, not adjuncts.]
d.
The status of VoiceP
[VoiceP does not introduce external arguments.]
e.
The status of UTAH
[UTAH holds, but as a theorem.]