Jaume Solà i Pujols - Departament de Filologia Catalana ...

the I-subject.
- some principles of Case theory to the effect that the I-subject has to receive Case from
the AGR-identifier.
We have crucially assumed that CPs are candidates for becoming I-subjects, but we
have said nothing about whether they also are assigned Case. Since Stowell (1981), a widely
accepted hypothesis has been that CPs do not accept Case. For the present theory it is essential
that I-subjects obligatorily obtain Case from their AGR-identifier, in order to explain how
Accusative is never assigned to an I-subject.
So if I-subjects obligatorily obtain Case from their AGR-identifier, we seem to be
compelled to the conclusion that CP I-subjects receive Case too, contrary to Stowell's hypothesis.
In any event, it is clear that CPs show a distribution which is clearly different from that
of DPs. These are some of the essential facts:
- object CPs do not have to be adjacent to the verb:
(117) I said the other day that...
- CPs cannot occupy the subject position of sentences and Small clauses:
(118) a. *Does that John comes bother you?
b. *I Consider that John may come impossible
- (in many languages) CPs cannot be the complement of a preposition and do not
require 'of' insertion:
(119) a. *I talked about that...
b. I am sure (*of) that...
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