The Syntax of Givenness Ivona Kucerová

TP
Aux
TP
T
vP
t Aux
VP
money
VP
give
VP
children
t money
Notice that the sentences we have considered in this section crucially differ from the sentences
that originally motivated introducing G-movement into the system. The difference
is that if head movement is blocked, α G may be asymmetrically c-commanded by new
material. Recall the definition of G-movement from (11), repeated below as (56). Even
though we can identify what element must be given, we cannot establish a perfect partition
between given and new as we were able to do in the previous cases.
(56) G-Movement [version 1]
G-movement must take place
a. iff α G is asymmetrically c-commanded by a non-G element,
b. unless the movement is independently blocked.
The definition of G-movement given in (11)/(56) takes care of these cases with the clause
unless the movement is independently blocked. Thus, the pattern that arises can be described
as do as much as you can. But does this mean that anything goes? I will address
this question in the next section. I will show that if α G is required to G-move, α G must
move at least once.
In chapter 4, I will address the question why it is sometimes okay to move a given element
only locally even if there is a higher new element, while in other cases, non-local
movement is required. The distinction will follow from the way we will interpret givenness.
For now, let’s stay with the soft constraint formulation which requires a given element
to move across as many new elements as syntactically possible.
In this section, we have seen that tying G-movement to head movement makes correct
predictions since G-movement is able to move only as far as the relevant head can move. If
movement of the head is independently blocked (for example, by the head being selected
by another head), G-movement can only be very local.
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