The Syntax of Givenness Ivona Kucerová

. TP
yesterday
TP
car
TP
drove
vP
Petr
vP
t car
vP
t yesterday . . .
VP
quickly . . .
To sum up, we have seen in this section that G-movement can target a single given
element as well as a constituent dominating more than one given element. I have argued
that movement of a constituent containing more than one given element is preferred to
moving the given elements separately. Whether such a constituent may G-move depends
on two factors: (i) such a constituent must independently be able to move, and (ii) the
constituent may dominate only given element sat the point of G-movement. I have argued
that the variety of word order patterns found in Czech arises from a combination of the two
moving strategies: (i) given elements moving separately, and (ii) given elements moving
as one constituent. Thus, G-movement turned out to be a sufficient tool for deriving the
complex Czech data. But we have also seen that we do not have a sufficient metrics yet
that would decide when exactly G-movement is licensed. In chapter 4 I will show how the
syntax-semantics interface decides when G-movement is licensed and when it is not.
3.3 Summary
In this section, we have seen how G-movement introduces a sort of verb second pattern
in which the given elements are moved around the verbal head, unless such a given element
is the last element merged in the relevant part of the derivation. I have argued that if
more than one given element can move as one constituent, such a derivation is preferred
to a derivation in which the given elements undergo independent movement. In contrast,
if several given elements cannot move as one constituent, they must move independently.
The independent instances of G-movement must obey the Path containment condition. I
argued that a combination of these two strategies – order preserving movement of one con-
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