Restructuring and the Proper Syntactic Analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to make it clear that syntactic analysis should be based on the lexical information given in the lexicon. For this purpose, lexical information of the syntactic argument is to be taken the form like [VP NKP, _, DKP, AKP] for the ditransitive verb give in English. The argument structure projects to syntactic structure. The NKP in this structure becomes VP-subject, but there is another subject called S-subject (Sentence-Subject) below S node. This amounts to Two-Subject Hypothesis for English. Between these two subjects, there intervene Conjugation-Like Elements, enriched by close examination of English verbal conjugation. Two-Subject Hypothesis perfectly accounts for peculiarities of the Expletive There (ET)construction. Restructuring can also explain the so-called Long Distance Wh-interrogative without introducing Wh-movement, and it can also explain why the imperative verbs are taking the base forms. It can also explain the characteristics of adjective imperatives by the same principles as applied to verbal imperatives. We try to deal with the other subtle problems, to get fruitful results. Restructuring approach, we think, provides more convincing explanations than the movement one.