IP Internal Movement and Topicalization Pei-Jung Kuo B.A., National Taiwan Normal University, 2000 M.A., National Taiwan Normal University, 2003 M.A., University of Connecticut, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut 2009 UMI Number: 3367364 Copyright 2009 by Kuo, Pei-Jung INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform 3367364 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Pei-Jung Kuo 2009 IP Internal Movement and Topicalization Pei-Jung Kuo, Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2009 Abstract In this dissertation, I investigate the phenomenon of internal topicalization cross- linguistically, using Chinese as a starting point. Internal topicalization refers to constructions in which a topic phrase is placed between the subject and the verb (in contrast to external topicalization, which involves a topic in the CP domain). I argue that internal topics do not occupy a fixed position (such as the specifier of a topic phrase, which is the case with external topic), but can occur in any projection of the IP domain—the location of internal topics can range from Spec ModalP to Spec vP. This proposal explains, among others, why multiple Left Dislocation internal topics are not possible, why only DP internal topics are allowed, and why animate nominals cannot be internal topics. I also show that an animate internal topic is only possible when it is accompanied by a differential object marker, which, I argue, can be realized by various prepositional and verbal forms in Chinese. Furthermore, I propose that certain seemingly independent and unrelated optional movement constructions to the IP domain in Chinese can be subsumed under the premise of internal topicalization. These optional movements include object preposing, the Chinese BA construction, possessor raising, light verb constructions and the descriptive Y-de construction. A detailed investigation of the syntactic and information structure properties of these constructions shows important similarities, which receive an explanation if these Pei-Jung Kuo - University of Connecticut, 2009 constructions involve the same kind of operation—internal topicalization. I show that internal topicalization offers a new approach to several long-standing puzzles of the syntactic behavior of these constructions. Finally, I extend my proposals based on Chinese to similar constructions in other languages, in particular, possessor raising in Korean and Japanese, and light verb constructions in Japanese. Although there are also different proposals regarding these constructions, I pursue the idea of a unified explanation of all these constructions by resorting to internal topicalization, which promotes the idea that topicalization is a pervasive phenomenon cross-linguistically. APPROVAL PAGE Doctoral of Philosophy Dissertation IP Internal Movement and Topicalization Presented by Pei-Jung Kuo, B.A., M.A. Major Advisor Zeljko Boskovic Major Advisor Sksi'Wurmbrand Associate Advisor Associate Advisor Mamoru Saito University of Connecticut 2009 ii Acknowledgement Although it is true that I am at the final stage of completing my Ph.D. degree (because I am writing this now!), everything in the fast five years seems an unbelievable dream and I am still not quite used to the new title of a Doctor. Six years ago, I applied to UConn, a school I didn't even know where it was. (Later it turned out that this does not matter too much since UConn is in the middle of nowhere anyway.) The only thing that I knew from my former advisor is that UConn was very friendly to Asian students. Well, today I do have empirical evidence to say that this is true! First I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my two major advisors: Zeljko Boskovic and Susi Wurmbrand. This thesis could not have been done without their help. My most memorable impression about Zeljko is that once I could not answer a question about phases in his class, and after class I was asked to reread five of Chomsky's articles five times for each! But I would like to say that without his strict requirements, I could not have finished any part of this thesis today. Zeljko is not only a very good scholar but also a very good teacher. Over these years, I enjoyed his Syntax II and Comparative Syntax seminars so much that I kept going back as an auditor. His unique and energetic teaching style added a lot of fun to these classes (though I admit that I still have difficulty decoding his handwriting). In addition to his teaching, I would especially like to thank him for his crystal-clear comments on my various papers. Sometimes being hesitant, I appreciate that he could give me direct advice so that I would not argue for a disaster. I remembered that my first syntax class at UConn was taught by Susi. One day, in Syntax I, she showed us some Icelandic data and asked us what the generalization was (the answer was V2 phenomenon). I was totally speechless (but said 'What the ***' in my mind) iii because I had never seen a language and a phenomenon like that before. But now I can proudly say that not only do I know what V2 phenomenon is, I'm also discussing Icelandic Object Shift in this thesis! I thank Susi for her detailed instructions and very patient explanations in all the classes that she has taught. For a slow person like me, I did benefit a lot. I would also like to say that I enjoyed the independent studies that I have taken with Susi for the past two years. We tried to find the related issues to the proposal of internal topicalization, and we made it! Writing a dissertation is a sometimes boring and discouraging process, but Susi always encouraged me and tried to cheer me up. Her encouragement dug my potential and made me more confident in myself. (Yes, I can do it!). I would also like to thank my two other committee members: Jonathan Bobaljik and Mamoru Saito. From my first general paper to my dissertation, Jonathan always gave me a lot of useful comments and I was always amazed by how knowledgeable he is. I also learned from him that we should not take a presupposed position and should examine things from different perspectives (but I also admit that this is sometimes annoying because my proposal then might not work). It is a pity that Mamoru can only show up at UConn once a year for seven to ten days. I really wish that he could have been in Storrs more often. The discussions with Mamoru about the similarities/differences between Japanese and Chinese always inspired me to read more relevant literatures and polish my analysis. I also enjoyed all his lectures about light verbs, scrambling, and ellipsis. One of my chapters is in fact inspired by his lectures about light verbs! Other faculty members also played important roles in enhancing my linguistics knowledge in my UConn life here. Thanks to William Snyder and Diane Lillo-Martin on Acquisition, Yael Sharvit and Kimiko Nakanishi on Semantics, and Andrea Calabrese and iv Harry van der Hulst on Phonology. Many thanks to other faculty, including Mona Anderson, Jon Gajewski, Keiko Murasugi, Jairo Nunes, and Daiko Tatahashi, for being nice bosses when I worked for them or for sparing their time to discuss linguistic issues with me. Thanks to David Michaels for setting up the TA award so that I had a chance to win it. Also, thanks to Carole Boster for her wannest care. Of course I will not forget to thank our beloved program assistant, Catalina Ritton, for helping me with those complicated forms and administrative stuff. Not only did I have great teachers here, I also made many good friends in our department. I would like to thank my roommate Nina Radkevich especially, who always helped me in decoding Zeljko's handwriting and listened to my complaints about various things. Also thanks to my mini UConn Corpus: the Chinese group (aka "the gossip group"), including Johnny Hsu-Te Cheng, Chris I-Ta Hsieh, and Ting Xu; the Japanese group, including Masahiko Aihara, Masahiko Takahashi and Toshiko Oda; and the Korean group: Jungmin Kang. I thank them all for being bugged by me regularly for judgments and the time-consuming brainstorming activities for some relevant data. I would also like to thank all my colleagues that I have met in the department. Thanks to Duk-Ho An, Ana Bastos-Gee, Miguel Rodriguez-Mondonedo and Serkan Sener for solving my time-to-time linguistic questions. Thanks to Karen O'Brien, Jean Crawford, and Cynthia Zocca for helping me proofread my papers. Also many thanks to all my other colleagues: Jeffrey Bernath, Carlos Buesa Garcia, Miloje Despic, Natasha Fitzgibbons, Zhanna Glushan, Jong Un Park, Elena Koulidobrova, Nilufer Sener, Oksana Tarasenkova, Lyn Shan Tieu, and many others. Thank you all for your friendship and accompanies. Because of you, I had a very good time here. v I would also like to thank other Chinese linguists that I have met so far in my life.