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Generalized Inversion

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Abstract

In this article, I generalize the notion of``Inversion'' on the IP-level to include allcases of what has previously been referred toas Inversion (following Collins 1997) andA-Scrambling (following Miyagawa 2000,forthcoming a, b) as well as variousother constructions in which a non-Nominativesubject fills the canonical subject position,SpecIP. I exemplify IP-Inversion using a range ofconstructions from Russian, and show that the``inverted'' constituent has subject (A) properties,and that it is accompanied by verb-raising, which isrequired in such instances by the Overt Tense Condition.The ability to fill SpecIP with a non-Nominativeconstituent is a parameterized property of alanguage related to the strength of the Nominativecase features in I. The driving force behind Inversionis (a version of) the (traditional) Extended ProjectionPrinciple (EPP), that is an overtness requirement onthe specifier of the functional category I. FinallyI argue that Inversion, as an overtness requirementon the specifier of a functional projection, can begeneralized to the CP level as well, where an equivalent overtness requirement forces filling ofSpecCP, as in Germanic V2 languages. The analysisallows us to unite various apparently disparateconstructions as the result of a simple set ofparameters, and to expose central issues of economywithin the computational system.

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  1. Department of Linguistics, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-4376, USA

    John Frederick Bailyn

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Bailyn, J.F. Generalized Inversion. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22, 1–50 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:NALA.0000005556.40898.a5

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