Principles of Argument Structure (Excerpt 1: The Wedge)

In chapters 2 and 3, I argued that the implicit argument in the passive is syntactically projected on the basis of the distribution of reflexives, reciprocals, pronouns, Helke expressions and secondary predicates. I will now argue that all implicit arguments (across different constructions and different languages) are syntactically projected, whether or not any syntactic data actually support that conclusion for a particular construction in a particular language. I will call this argument the wedge, because of its far-ranging consequences. The metaphor is that the generalizations about the English passive help to pry open a much larger generalization concerning implicit arguments cross-linguistically.