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The Minimalist Syntax of Defective Domains. Gerunds and Infinitives

2007; Ubiquity Press; Volume: 6; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5334/jpl.142

2397-5563

Anabela Gonçalves,

Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies

Defectiveness is an important issue in syntactic theory, namely in the study of non-finite domains that lack tense and/or agreement features. In this book, Acrísio Pires investigates this topic, searching for a unified analysis of Eng-lish gerunds and Portuguese infinitives by focusing on subject licensing and, consequently, on agreement, Case and Control properties. According to the author, the above mentioned constructions present some sort of defectiveness in tense and agreement features, and, in spite of some variation, they share a wide range of properties that can be explained under the same mechanisms, namely by adopting the movement theory of control (Hornstein, 1999). Be-sides the synchronic analysis, the book also addresses some historical aspects of Portuguese infinitives, thus providing an important contribution for the theory of language acquisition and change.