Locality, control, and non-adjoined islands

Abstract

The goal of this paper is twofold: empirically, it is shown that obligatory control (OC) into islands is not restricted to control into certain adjuncts, but can also involve non-adjoined islands. This poses a serious problem for the movement theory of control (MTC), whose analysis of OC into adjuncts crucially relies on the fact that adjunction is involved. Second, the paper seeks to explore to what extent control theory is compatible with phase theory based on a strict version of the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC). In order to reconcile these locality considerations with the observed control patterns in the context of islands, the paper assumes a moderately local relationship between controller and controllee. The basic idea of the proposed theory is that the controllee starts out as an empty argument which needs to be referentially identi ed under Agree. To this end, it moves from phase edge to phase edge (in accordance with the PIC) until it can be licensed by the controller. In contrast to the MTC, the target position of controllee movement is not the controller position itself; thus, control into islands (including non-adjoined islands) can be derived more easily, since the control relation can already be established when the controller is at the edge of the highest phase inside the island and the controller is merged in the next higher phase. Hence, the theory is compatible with phase theory and can in particular account for the observed control patterns involving adjoined and non-adjoined islands.