A MP Approach To Pro's Case-Checking In Want-Infinitivals

PRO's Case-checking in want-infinitivals has long been a topic ofstudy in Syntax. To account for it, linguists have advanced a number ofviews, many of which are radically contradictory. The diversity thatexists in the field today is largely a result of the extraordinary complexityof the overlapping distribution between PRO and DP. As a consequence,a multitude of approaches to the want-infinitivals have developed.The related researches on want-infinitivals were started by Chomsky(1981), and then followed by other precedents such as Chomsky &Lasnik (1995), Hyde (2000), Martin (2001) and Bowers (2002). Based onthe investigation of these previous works, this study attempts to make anup-to-date exploration on the issue of PRO's Case-checking inwant-infinitivals within the Minimalist Program Theory.We assume that PRO is in spec-vp and has Null Case. As is wellknown, theθ-marking requirement distinguishes Structural and InherentCases. That is to say, theθ-marking requirement is the only specialcharacteristic of inherent Case. PRO is in vp and gains itsθ-role from thev-bar in the vp, but does not check its null Case with the same verb in thev-bar which does not have null Case spec-feature. Given the assumption,PRO's null Case is structural Case. However, structural Case is uninterpretable feature at LF, so it must be checked off before LF.Moreover, PRO is an empty category and follows from the restrictions onempty category (Chomsky 1999), so PRO can not pied-pipe with the nullCase. To in the control structure has null Case spec-feature which is alsouninterpretable at LF. Hence, the PRO's null Case is percolated up to thespec-TP to check the null Case spec-feature of the infinitival to.At last, thesis comes to the discussion of PRO's Case-checking inwant-infinitivals. According to the features of control infinitivals andAarts's (1997) passivization proposal, I find that want is not both acontrol verb and an ECM verb (Chomsky 1981), but a control verb nomatter whether it c-selects DP+TP or TP.In this way, I establish the positions in which PRO and theoverlapping lexical DP's Cases are assigned by refining the theory of nullCase and studying the subcategory of want-type verbs and I am contentwith the complementary distribution of PRO and lexical DP. In a nutshell,the assumption proposed in this thesis provides us with a principledaccount of the syntax of want-infinitivals, and what's more, the ruleconforms to the economy principle.