The Ergative Hypothesis and Free Word Order in Dutch and German

Multiple Feature-Checking: A Theory of Grammatical Function Splitting

“…A similar type inversion can be found in German, too, under the same condision (cf den Besten 1984 andSafir 1995). It is therefore concluded that either the objective-marked EXP or the nominative-marked THEME in a clause with a psych-verb in Dutch can appear at the Spec of T in overt syntax.…”

“…According to den Besten (1984), Hoekstra (1984) and, especially, Broekhuis (1992), it is more precise to regard those verbs that allow this kind of OBJ's permutation not as psych-verbs, but as ergative verbs.…”

Extraction from subjects: some remarks on Chomsky’s On phases

“…This section will discuss a case that has traditionally been analyzed as involving extraction from argument, the socalled wat voor-split.. We will see that this split does not lend support to Chomsky's claim that extraction is possible from derived subjects only: extraction of wat from derived and from underlying subjects is equally (im)possible. My claim is perhaps surprising given that Den Besten (1985) has contended that wat voor-split is possible with direct objects and derived subjects (9a′&b′), but not from underlying subjects (9c′). (9) At first sight Den Besten's examples in (9) seem to support Chomsky's claim, but closer scrutiny quickly reveals that this is not really the case.…”

Feature inheritance versus extended projections

“…We will see that this split does not lend support to Chomsky's claim that extraction is possible from derived subjects only: extraction of wat is equally (im)possible from derived and from underlying subjects. At first sight, this claim is perhaps surprising, given that Den Besten (1985) has contended that the wat voor-split is possible with direct objects and derived subjects (11a&b), but not with underlying subjects (11c). (11) Den Besten's examples in (11) therefore seem to support Chomsky's claim, but closer scrutiny quickly reveals that this is not really the case.…”