Hypotheses

Proposed Theoretical Hypotheses from Across the Discipline

Clausal Typing Hypothesis
(Cheng, 1997:22)

“Every clause needs to be typed. In the case of typing a wh-question, either a wh-particle in C0 is used or else fronting of a wh-word to the Spec of C0 is used, thereby typing a clause through C0 by Spec-head agreement.”

Split INFL Hypothesis
(Pollock, 1989)

IP should be decomposed into two separate projections: TP and AGRP.

Uniformity of Theta-Assignment Hypothesis
(Baker, 1988)

Identical thematic relationships between predicates and their arguments are syntactically represented by identical structural relationships.

VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis

Subjects are base-generated in Spec, VP.

VP-Shell Hypothesis
(Chomsky, 1995)

VP is dominated by the projection of a little v, which assigns an external theta role.