Abstract: In this squib, I introduce the bare nominal passive (‘a book by Chomsky’), and give an analysis for it in terms of a null passive participle. I provide evidence for the analysis from the distribution by-phrases, dative to-phrases, purposes clauses, and the Binding Theory. The analysis is argued to provide support for the principles of argument structure developed in Collins 2024.
Key Words: passive, implicit arguments, argument structure
Semantics pushed herself out of her recliner, after a lazy morning reading through her favorite novel, ‘Montague and his Discontents’. Her muscles felt stiff, and she felt the need for a brisk walk outside. There were little drops still hitting the window panes, but it was bound to clear up soon. So she jumped up and grabbed the leash.
Abstract: This squib argues that Heavy XP Shift (HXPS) is to be analyzed as smuggling (in the sense of Collins 2005): The shifted constituent moves to Spec FocP, followed by vP movement smuggling the external argument around the focused constituent.
In this post, I summarize my recent MIT Press monograph for non-linguists.
Collins, Chris. 2024. Principles of Argument Structures: A Merge-Based Approach. MIT Press, Cambridge.
In this post, I write down some of my thoughts and observations on returning to Cornell to give a talk, after almost two decades away. It is loosely based on my Facebook posts.
Here I post the handout and videos for my Cornell talk. I don't know how long the videos will stay posted, so you should download them as soon as possible. This talk covers the same material as the Yushan Salon talk, but it is considerably more polished.
part 1
https://drive.google.com/file/
part 2
https://drive.google.com/file/
