5 - Labeling and Determinacy: Verb-Second and Expletives

Summary

Chapter 5 examines the tension between determinacy and labeling. Due to determinacy, if there is a TP, Verb-second (V2), i.e. V to C, is not possible but TP expletives are. Conversely, if there is no TP, V2 is possible but TP expletives aren’t. I will argue that older stages of English lack a TP and that this enables both V2 and movement of the subject from the specifier of the v*P to the specifier of the CP. It also makes the grammatical subject position and the expletive optional. Later stages of English introduce a TP, which enables expletives in the TP but bars V2. The loss of V2 and introduction of expletives has not been linked before and this offers a new perspective both on the data in English and in V2 languages and on the tension between the two third factor principles.