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

1. Some Properties of Infinitival Constructions
A mainstream of generative analyses of infinitives is based on the hypothesis that
infinitives are full clauses differing from finite clauses only in their impoverished inflectional
content. The highly restricted possibilities for subjects in infinitives would be derived from the
weak character (or perhaps absence) of inflectional content. The standard analysis since
Chomsky (1981) assumes that infinitival INFL can neither govern nor Case-mark its subject, so
that either this subject has to be PRO (which need not be governed nor Case-marked) or obtains
Case independently of the infinitival INFL (in ECM constructions, 'for'-infinitives or raising
constructions).
Concerning PRO, its restricted distribution has been made to derive from the postulation
that it is a [+pronominal, +anaphoric] DP. Since BT requirements on [+pronominal] and
[+anaphoric] elements are contradictory, PRO has to escape such requirements by being
ungoverned, hence having no Binding Domain. Such a theory faces two main problems:
a) Since PRO escapes all binding requirements, it remains a mystery why its reference
requirements are so highly restricted: either it is controlled or it receives arbitrary interpretation,
the choice not being free in most cases. We will not propose any interesting solution for this fact,
but we will contend that it is not possible to derive control from other modules of the grammar
(such as Binding Theory).
b) Given a theory of Visibility as defined in Chomsky (1986-b), if PRO does not receive
Case, it should not be licenced as an Argument.
Kayne (1991) presents a hypothesis that avoids at least the former problem: PRO is
always governed (at least at LF) and therefore it is subject to binding requirements, so that
control is reduced to BT. We will argue that this positions is untenable. Kayne does not say
anything about the possibility that PRO may receive Case, but his theory could be extended in
that direction more easily than standard ones. We will discuss Kayne's proposal in detail in
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