| This thesis investigates the nature of the Feature-Relativized Shortest Move Requirement (FRSMR) as first proposed by Ferguson (1993a, 1996) and Ferguson and Groat (1994a, 1994b, 1995). In essence, this requirement dictates that movement (i.e., Move-;Offering a natural analysis of the types of features and feature checking (e.g., Case, Agr) which drive movement, I examine the Case and Agr checking of the direct object, providing a unified account of object shift and object incorporation, thereby eliminating disjunctive formulations of the Case Filter (e.g., Baker 1988; cf. Rizzi and Roberts 1989). I further examine the Case and Agr checking of the subject (in addition to the direct object) and deduce Holmberg's (1986) Generalization as well as the required availability of Spec-TP, given overt object shift (Jonas and Bobaljik 1993, Bobaljik and Jonas 1996, Thrainsson 1993). I also examine the Case and Agr checking of the object of a preposition, deducing the apparent invisibility of PP nodes for computing c-command relations. Supporting the VP shell analysis underlying my account of PP invisibility, I argue for a deduction of Keyser and Roeper's (1992) Abstract Clitic Hypothesis based on Hale and Keyser's (1993) theory of argument structure. |
