Morphology & Syntax workshop

In this week's meeting of the Morphology & Syntax Workshop, we will have Prof. Asia Pietraszko visiting from the University of Rochester to give a presentation titled "Clause internal phase and successive cyclic A-movement."

Please join us in Social Sciences Research Building Room #302 on Friday, March 29nd 2024, 12:30-2:30pm. The abstract for the talk is provided below.

Clause internal phase and successive cyclic A-movement

Phase Theory posits that each clause consists of two locality domains (phases): the complete clause (CP) and a clause internal domain located roughly around vP. A common type of evidence for this claim comes from footprints of successive cyclic movement observed at the edges of both CP and vP. However, the two domains famously differ in their opacity for syntactic operations such as A-movement and phi-agreement, with vP being significantly more transparent than CP. This asymmetry has led some authors to question the phasehood of vP, especially in the context of an alternative explanation of intermediate movement through vP (Keine & Zeijlstra 2023). I will argue in this talk that operational opacity is indeed observed at the clausal middle field, supporting the clause-internal phase hypothesis. In particular, I argue that VoiceP in Zimbabwean Ndebele is opaque for A-movement and phi-agreement. The facts additionally support the claim that successive cyclic movement, both A and A-bar, is probe-driven. Finally, I offer some thoughts on why the VoiceP/vP phase is more transparent than the CP phase.