This paper is an investigation of cross-linguistic realizations of the EPP effect in the finite clause. The standard EPP is conceived as a syntactic requirement that Spec-TP must be overtly filled. However, if the EPP simply requires that Spec-TP be overtly filled, as is claimed by Chomsky (1981) and recently by Lasnik (2001a, b), the grammaticality of the sentences without overt XP in Spec-TP in null subject languages (NSLs) would be unexpected, because the Spec-TP is not literally filled. Those examples would allegedly be in violation of the EPP. This paper reviews recent proposals that the EPP can be satisfied by head merge/movement in NSL like Spanish (and Romance languages in general) and Greek (Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou 1998), and argues that the EPP satisfaction by head is the unmarked mode of the EPP effect. In this regard, it will be proposed that, even in English, the EPP is satisfied by lexical realization of the relevant head. Let us dub this the X^0-EPP. This paper eventually draws a conclusion that the EPP is a universal condition on the realization of heads, and that the EPP does not have much to do with XP in Spec-TP. This paper introduces a condition aboutthe syntactic behavior of agreement head (T, in particular): the First Head Condition (FHC) and argues that the X^0-EPP is deduced from theFHC, a PF requirement. As the consequences of the present study, the (anti-)that-t effect and the subject-object asymmetry in English wh-questions prove to conform to the FHC. In addition, it is also shown that theFHC explains V2 and C2 phenomena without otherwise extra cost.
1. Introduction 2. The First Head Generalization 3. Types of Subject Realization 4. Consequences 5. Conclusion References
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