| This dissertation is a comparative study of the syntax of nonfinite categories (infinitives) and "defective" finite categories (subjunctives and imperatives) and the way in which they express deontic modality. The issue is investigated in Slavic and Finno-Ugric languages focusing on Russian, Old Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, and Finnish.;Following the basic tenets of The Minimalist Program, as laid out in Chomsky (1995, 1998), I assume that formal features are syntactic primitives that enter into checking relations. Grammatical relations/functions are thus connected to checking relations. For example, if an argument has a feature-checking relation with T, then that argument assumes the grammatical function subject. Nevertheless, there are instances in which grammatical functions that are supposed to be connected to a certain checking relation are "split-up". That is, a nominative case-marked object can check its case feature in Spec-TP (the usual position for nominative subjects to check their case), which, however, does not supply it with grammatical subject properties. My thesis, in part, investigates the syntactic behavior of nominative objects.;Another main goal of this work is to demonstrate that infinitives containing an invariable deontic modal predicate are monoclausal raising constructions, and, as such, do not involve subject control. The postulation of a separate functional (modal) projection will be argued to be necessary, which (together with the infinitive) will be shown to be responsible for the oblique case of the subject of modal infinitival constructions.;The main theoretical contribution of this study is the proposal that two types of constructions, one nonfinite (infinitival sentences with a modal) and the other finite (subjunctives containing a modal), can be represented by a single monoclausal raising structure, despite the appearance of a complementizer in the latter.;In addition, the modal interpretation of imperatives will be investigated; more precisely, a syntactic and semantic analysis of Russian imperatives in their non-canonical uses (i.e., when they express a counterfactual conditional and other modal meanings) will be provided. |
