Rigid Edges in Syntax - Evidence from vP and VP

Rigid Edges in Syntax

  This paper investigates an ordering restriction imposed on syntactic edges, with special attention to constraints on scrambling in Korean and Japanese. The paper shows that elements externally merged on the edge of a Spell-out domain cannot scramble over their domain-mates. This generalization captures the distribution of the subject, the object, and their floating numeral quantifiers in constructions with scrambling. The paper argues that the ordering restrictions in scrambling are instantiations of the Edge Generalization - a property predicted from cyclic linearization (Fox and Pesetsky 2005) and a probe-goal search in movement (Chomsky 2001). The paper provides evidence for the claim that so-called weak phases (VPs) must undergo cyclic Spell-out, just as strong phases (vPs and CP). It also supports the claim that scrambling is triggered by a probe-goal search, just like other types of feature-driven movement.