The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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3.2.3 The mapping generalizations and lexicon marking
The marking of a verb’s arguments in the lexicon and their syntactic mapping
are presented in (23) and (24), respectively.
(23) Lexicon marking 16
Given an n-place verb-entry, n>1,
a. Mark a [-] cluster with index 2.
b. Mark a [+] cluster with index 1.
c. If the entry includes both a [+] cluster and a fully specified cluster [/α, /-c],
mark the verb with the [Acc] feature.
(24) CS merging instructions
a. When nothing rules this out, merge externally. 17
b. An argument realizing a cluster marked 2 merges internally; An argument
realizing a cluster marked 1 merges externally.
Given the lexicon marking in (23a,b) and the mapping generalizations in (24),
only the underspecified theta-roles [-m] and [-c] can be merged internally. Each of
them is a [-] cluster, a cluster all of whose features have the value /-, and hence is
marked 2 (by (23a)). Their internal mapping is made explicit by (24b). (In contrast,
[+m] and [+c] are marked 1 (23b) and map externally (24b)).
At this point two rather unrelated questions arise, both of which deserve an
answer: 1. Why are the underspecified [-m] and [-c] roles realized as a PP, rather than
a DP? 2. Which PP-verbs assign [-c] and which assign [-m]? The answer to the
second question is based on the interpretation of the theta-features. This issue, though
important, is orthogonal to the syntactic account of the phenomenon of PP-verbs.
16 Notation:
[α] = Feature cluster α.
/α = Feature (and value) α. (E.g. the feature /+m occurs in the clusters [+c+m], [-c+m] and +m].)
[/α] = A cluster one of whose features is /α. (E.g. [/-c] clusters are [-c+m], [-c-m] and [-c].)
[+] = A cluster ALL of whose features have the value +. (E.g. [-] clusters are [-c-m], [-c], [-m].)
17 (24a) is designed to account for the unpredictable mapping of the mixed clusters [+c-m] (Instrument)
and [-c+m] (Experiencer). These theta-clusters do not receive a merging index. Therefore, when there
is no cluster marked 1in the theta-structure of a given verb, or alternatively, the cluster marked 1 is not
realized, these clusters can be merged externally. Existence and realization of the cluster marked
1results in internal merge of the mixed clusters (for further details see Reinhart 2000, 2001a,b).