earticle

영어

English exhibits a peculiar agreement phenomenon in thereconstructions, where T agrees with the first conjunct of conjoined nominals rather than the entire conjoined phrase. Based on Lasnik’s (1995) proposal that the expletive there is an LF affix, Bošković (1997) suggested an account for this phenomenon. While attractive, Bošković’s analysis does not align with the latest syntactic theory. This paper proposes a solution for this phenomenon within Chomsky’s (2013, 2015) labeling algorithm framework, maintaining Bošković’s explanatory point. Specifically, it argues that the expletive there merges externally with the associate, forming {there, associate}, and undergoes obligatory movement due to the labeling algorithm. This reduces the issue to split phi-feature agreement of T. The analysis is further validated by explaining three challenging cases: lack of adjacency between there and its associate, unergatives and ergatives’ unsuitability for there-constructions, and a case difficult to explain without the Merge-over-Move Principle. This paper’s analysis offers a cohesive explanation for variations across different syntactic structures involving there-constructions. If this paper’s discussion is on the right track, it supports the validity of Chomsky’s labeling algorithm framework.