Raising to Object and Proper Movement

Abstract

Many languages have been described as possessing a construction in which some embedded constituent apparently raises out of the clause that it is a semantic and syntactic argument of, and becomes a constituent of a higher clause. In these languages the lower CP is demonstrably a finite clause, with Comp material present (even wh-phrases, in Passamaquoddy, for example). The “raised” NP apparently becomes a constituent of the higher clause, as indicated by word order, Case, agreement, and/or syntactic facts such as binding. Massam (1985), for example, lists as having raising to object constructions Blackfoot and Cree (Algonquian), Berber, Ilokano, Malagasy, Moroccan Arabic, Quechua, Standard Arabic, and Zacapoaxtla Nahuat; she also provides analyses of this phenomenon in Bauan Fijian, Kipsigis (see also Jake and Odden 1979), and Niuean. The construction has been described in other languages as well; for example Japanese (e.g., Kuno 1976, Hiraiwa 2000, Tanaka 2001), Korean (e.g., Hong 1990, Schutze 2001), Turkish (Zidani-Eroglu 1997, Moore 1998), and Tsez (Potsdam and Polinsky 1999, 2001). An example of raising to object in Passamaquoddy (Algonquian, Maine) appears in 1:1