The Relaxation of the Intervention Effects
Having shown that the covert restructuring analysis accounts for the sequence-of-tense phenomena found with infinitive/subjunctive complements, I will now argue that this analysis, which is independently motivated by the temporal interpretations of infinitive/subjunctive complements, also accounts for the fact that the Defective Intervention Constraint (1) is relaxed when extraction takes place out of an infinitive/ subjunctive indirect question as shown in (1) and (2).
(1)
(2)
Let us consider (1a) as an example. Given the covert restructuring analysis, we construct the matrix vP (3) during its derivation.
(3)
In (3), the embedded AspP tPRO buy which of the new books is required to raise covertly to the Spec of the matrix v for its temporal interpretation, since infinitive/subjunctive complements obligatorily undergo the sequence-of-tense rule. The present analysis assumes the single-output syntax advocated by, among others, Bobaljik (1995), Brody (1995), Groat and O’Neil (1996), and Pesetsky (2000), which claims that Spell-Out takes place after covert operations. In the single-output model, there is just one movement component; the phonological principles of chain pronunciation determine whether the head of a chain is the only position pronounced (overt movement) or whether a trace position is pronounced (covert movement). I argue that this AspP-movement is a covert phrasal movement in the sense that the moved phrase is pronounced in the original position of its chain and unpronounced in its moved position in the PF component. Under this analysis, the wh-phrase which of the new books, which is buried in the moved AspP, can bypass the intervening element when without inducing any intervention effects. The wh-phrase which of the new books raises from within the inner Spec of the matrix v to the outer Spec of the matrix v and then to the Spec of the matrix C, yielding (4).
(4)
Following Pesetsky (2000), let us assume that the first instance of phrasal movement of a wh-phrase to the Spec of an interrogative C is overt in that the wh-phrase is pronounced in the head position of its chain and unpronounced in the other positions in the PF component. In (4), the wh-phrase which of the new books is pronounced in the Spec of the matrix C and unpronounced in the other positions. This yields (1a). (1b) and (2a–b) can be accounted for in the same say. Hence, the covert restructuring analysis can account for the relaxation of the intervention effects with infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions.
