Minimality Effects in Syntax · The MLC and Derivational Economy ...

98 Gisbert Fanselow
b.[Häuser gebrannt] haben hier noch nie
houses burnt have here yet never
“houses have never burnt here”
c.[Mädchen geküsst] haben ihn noch nie
girls kissed have him yet never
“girls have not kissed him yet”
Thus, there is independent evidence that (45b) is a legal constellation of
German and Spanish. An MLC formulated as in (44) will not prevent the
object from moving across the subject in (45b). In contrast, subjects must go
to Spec,IP in English. Here, (45a) is the only constellation that can underlie
multiple questions such as (3). Even in its liberal version (44), the MLC
prevents an object from crossing a subject. The choice between (44a) and
(44b) is thus a good candidate for an explanation of crosslinguistic variation
concerning simple superiority effects (see, e.g., Haider, this volume).
While such an approach successfully captures basic superiority facts,
more complex data are not readily explained along these lines. Consider
Icelandic first. One may want to relate the absence of superiority effects in
this language to (44), since the existence of so-called transitive expletive
constructions in Icelandic suggests that thematic subjects may be placed
into lower positions than in English (see, e.g., Bobaljik and Jonas (1996)).
Haider (2000, this volume) observes that movement to Spec,IP is an option
for thematic subjects in Icelandic, German, and Spanish, and notes that an
explanation of the absence of superiority effects in terms of a low subject
position predicts that one should observe English-type asymmetries whenever
the position of adverbial material makes it clear that the thematic subject
occupies a high position. Haider cites contrasts such as (48) (which he
attributes to Ottósson (1989), and H. Sigurdsson, p.c.) as evidence for the
claim that this prediction is borne out:
(48) Superiority effects in Icelandic and different subject positions
a. Hva# hefur hver gefi# börnunum?
what has who given the-children?
b.*Hva# hefur hver oft gefi# börnunum?
what has who often given the-children?
“who has often given what to the children?”
The availability of a low position for the subject hver in the verbal projection
explains the grammaticality of (48a). In (48b), however, the subject precedes