On the opacity of clausal constituents

Abstract

Clausal constituents of sentences present analytical difficulties in terms of both their distribution and their ability to determine syntactic relationships. This study proposes a typology of these constituents based on their differing syntactic and semantic properties and corresponding distinctions involving question formation. Contrary to the claims of government-binding theory, the analysis presented here argues that the data can ultimately be accounted for by an appeal to the semantic rather than simply the syntactic properties of these constituents.