The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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4.4.2.1 Locative Small Clauses: The views what is the structure of a SC can be
divided into two classes. According to Stowell (1981, 1983) and Rothstein (1983, 1995,
2001), for instance, a SC is a ‘super-maximal’ projection of the head of the predicate
expression (79a). 41 There are researchers who assume that there is more to the structure
of the SC than meets the eye (Hoekstra and Mulder 1990; Chomsky 1995:175, among
others). In line with the functional structure of the clause, one may take SCs to contain a
functional head F, resulting in the analysis in (79b). 42
(79) a. [ SC= SC/XP DP [ XP [ X’ X DP]]]
b. [ SC=FP DP [ F’ F [ XP [ X’ X DP]]]]
Assuming that both structures are valid, in what follows I will show that (79a)
corresponds to the Locative SC in existential constructions, whereas (79b) is the
structure of the Locative SC in the locative construction. 43
As mentioned in chapter 3 (3.3), the Case assigned by some Locative prepositions
in Russian is either Locative (80a,b), or Accusative (80c), (81):
(80) a. kniga na stol-e Existential constr.
the-book [is] on [a/the] table-Loc
b. on vide/zabil knig-u na stol-e Locative modifier
he saw/forgot [a] book-Acc on [a/the] table-Loc
c. on položil knig-u na stol Locative constr.
he put [a/the] book-Acc on [a/the] table-Acc
41 Stowell (1981, 1983) and Rothstein (1983, 1995, 2001) differ in that the former assumes that the
projection predicated of the subject is X’, rather than XP (i). Given the Bare Phrase structure (Chomsky
1995), there is no real difference between the two.
(i) [ SC= XP DP ext [ X’ X DP int ]]
42 The analysis in (79b) raises the question whether the subject is Merged in Spec-XP and attracted to
Spec-FP by a formal feature on F (Chomsky 1995, 2000), or rather merged directly in Spec-FP. I will
leave this question open here.
43 On the plausible assumption that F is categorially non-distinct from the head of the SC (e.g. N, A, P),
Stowell’s (1981) claim that a verb selects for a SC of a specific category, does not discriminate between
the analyses in (79).