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On the scope of verb movement in Irish

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Abstract

This paper is concerned with one aspect of the syntactic processes which derive VSO order in (Modern) Irish. Analyses which appeal to fronting of the finite verb have played an important role in recent theorizing about the VSO clausal pattern. A question which has resisted resolution, however, is the question of what the target-position for this fronting is: does the verb move as far as the C0-position, or does it remain among the inflectional projections?

This paper argues that the kind of Verb Fronting found in Irish involves only fronting of V0 to I0, and that it is, as a consequence, different in important ways from Verb Fronting of the Germanic type. The analytical challenges posed by the Irish data are, however, made more interesting by the fact that the sequence of Complementizer, Inflectional element and Verb clearly forms a unit-a word at least for phonological purposes. It is an interesting issue how this conclusion is compatible with the conclusion that there is no general fronting of I0 to C0 in Irish (finite) clauses. It is argued that the Verbal Complex is formed by two movements — raising of V0 to I0 and lowering of C0 to I0. The question of how this conclusion can be compatible with current theories of movement and of locality constraints on movement is the final matter addressed.

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  1. Department of Linguistics Cowell College, University of California, 95064, Santa Cruz, CA

    James McCloskey

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This paper grew originally out of conversations with Joe Emonds and discussions with Sandy Chung. It was prepared for presentation at the Seventh Annual Conference on Comparative Germanic Syntax, University of Stuttgart, November 22nd–24th, 1991, and for a subsequent series of lectures at the University of Stuttgart. Earlier versions were presented at the Workshop on Clitics held as part of the First Plenary Conference of the ESF Programme in Language Typology, Il Ciocco, Italy: May 21st–25th, 1991, and at the LSA Summer Institute, UC Santa Cruz, July 1991. Much of the material was also presented in a colloquium at Stanford University in March of 1992. My thanks to those audiences (especially to Henk van Riemsdijk, Pieter Muyskens, Guglielmo Cinque, Christer Platzack, Sandy Chung, Judith Aissen, and Peter Cole) for much useful commentary. I owe a particular debt to Jane Grimshaw and to Dónall Ó Baoill. Thanks also to Eibhlín Ní Chnáimhsí, Máire Ní Fhearraigh, Liam Mac Con Iomaire, Caitlín Mhic Niallais and Donall Ó Baoill for their patience and skill in the role of consultants. Discussions with Sten Vikner, Kyle Johnson, Hubert Haider, Halldór Sigurð;sson and Hans den Besten in Stuttgart helped a great deal to shape the final draft, and a detailed set of comments from Sten Vikner on an earlier version was particularly useful. Finally, the suggestions of three anonymous reviewers for NLLT were more than usually valuable. Much of the research reported on here was completed while I was a visitor in the School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and I am very grateful indeed for the ideal working conditions I found there. The work was supported by NSF Grant BN5-9021398 to the University of California, Santa Cruz, and by faculty research funds from the Academic Senate of UC Santa Cruz.

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McCloskey, J. On the scope of verb movement in Irish. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 14, 47–104 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133403

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