Comparative Syntax of the Balkan Languages (Oxford ... - Cryptm.org

CONTROL AND RAISING 77As the above data show, the morphological correlation between C and I in theBalkan languages seems to be regulated along mood distinctions, while inEnglish and German it follows the ±finite divide.Interestingly, in the Romance languages (i.e., French and Italian) whichhave infinitival as well as subjunctive complements, C is neutral to mood properties(subjunctive versus indicative) but sensitive to the finite versus nonfinitedistinction, as the French examples below show:(9) a. Jean veut partir. (infinitive)'John wants to leave.'b. Jean pense que Marie pan. (indicative)"John thinks that Mary will leave.'c. Jean veut que Marie parte. (subjunctive)'John wants Mary to leave.'In (9b) and (9c) the C is que, while in (9a) C has no phonological realization(although it is possible to have de infinitivals 1 ). One difference between Balkanand Romance languages is that in the former group subjunctive mood is realisedby means of a designated morpheme (the subjunctive particle), while in Romanceit is realised on the verbal form. However, it is not clear whether thiskind of realization is sufficient to account for the differences in the C system.This is a valid observation, but it need not concern us here (see Tsoulas 1995and note 4).Going back to the Balkan languages, we notice that in the absence of infinitivals,control and raising occur within subjunctive complements, as shown in(10) from Greek:(10) a. O Janis prospadi.se na fiji. MGrkthe John tried-3SG PRT leave-3SG'John tried to leave.'b. 1 fitites fenonde na djavazim poll.the students seem-3PL PRT read-3PL a lot'The students seem to study a lot.'The immediate question that arises then is how control and raising are to be analyzedin the Balkan languages: if these phenomena require a -finite context, thenthe implication is that at least some subjunctive complements should be analyzedas -finite. To be more precise, the subjunctive complements that correspondto control and raising infinitives in English and Romance should betreated as -finite. The next question then is how finiteness is to be defined. Notethat in most analyses the empty category (EC) involved in control and raisingcomplements is to some extent contingent on what qualifies as a -finite context.Suppose that -finite corresponds to absence of tense specification, and in particularthe +past specification (Stowell 1982); then if the relevant subjunctivecomplements do not show T alternations, that is, past tense, they could still beconsidered as -finite despite the presence of agreement.