The Structural Asymmetry Between Finite and Non-finite Adjunct Clauses in English

This paper investigates how argument topicalization can(not) be performed from adjunct clauses. Conventionally, the Adjunct Condition has been absolute in English. Even though potential counterexamples were presented in the past, many syntacticians have not dealt with them as a matter of syntax. It is no exaggeration that facing those data offers some clues to puzzle out how the inner structure of the adjuncts is composed in syntax and which syntactic position they may occupy in the root clause. Accordingly, this article ventures to shed light on the mystery of why some kinds of English adjunct clauses license argument fronting (topicalization) out of their inner domain but not others. Adopting a cartographic approach refined by Rizzi (1997) and Haegeman (2006, 2012a, 2012b), certain kinds of motivation are pursued as ways to license or block argument topicalization in Finite and Non-finite adjunct clauses in English.