ASYMMETRIES IN RUSSIAN PREDICATE CLEFTS

LENA IBNBARI

Abstract

Proceedings of IATL 24

The pronunciation of the two verbal copies (V-doubling) in the constructions termed the Predicate Clefts (PC) is subject to the PF principles (Nunes, 2004, Landau, 2006). If such requirement is absent, V-doubling is ruled out by economy considerations and the result is a gap in the base position. This situation is observed in Russian when the fronted verb is an embedded infinitive. In Russian, doubling of the infinitive is ungrammatical while in Hebrew it is optionally possible. This asymmetry is accounted for, I argue, by that in Hebrew control structures it is possible to front either a vP or a CP. Russian, on the other hand, is the language where Long Distance Predicate movement is missing, therefore only the full CP can be fronted but its subpart cannot.



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