The Raising of Predicates: Predicative Noun Phrases and the Theory of Clause Structure

One of the basic premises of the theory of syntax is that clause structures can be minimally identified as containing a verb phrase, playing the role of predicate, and a noun phrase, playing the role of subject. In this study Andrea Moro identifies a new category of copular sentences, namely inverse copular sentences, where the predicative noun phrase occupies the position that is canonically reserved for subjects. In the process, he sheds new light on such classical issues as the distribution and nature of expletives, locality theory and cliticization phenomena.

• The only study which looks specifically at copular and related constructions • Identifies a new category of copular sentences • Useful appendix traces the history of the copula from its origin up to modern frameworks

Acknowledgments; Introduction: four apparently unrelated empirical domains; 1. The anomaly of copular sentences: the raising of predicates; 2. The syntax of ci; 3. Are there parameters in semantics? The defining properties of existential sentences; 4. The 'quasi-copula': on the role of finite clauses in seem-sentences; 5. A view beyond: unaccusativity as an epiphenomenon; Appendix; Notes; References; Index.