Feature-Inheritance under Full Interpretation : Its Effects on Agree(Tohoku Review of English Literature)

Abstract

This article aims to provide principled explanation to agreement phenomena in Icelandic, a V2 language. Specifically, adopting Goto's (2011a, c) feature-inheritance system, according to which C-to-T feature-inheritance does not take place in the V2 environment, this article argues that in such environment the φ-probe and the EF-probe can interact with each other on the C head without being constrained by stipulative ordering of the probes. It is shown in the article that the proposal elegantly derives alleged agreement phenomena in Icelandic that have resisted explanation under any of the existing theories of agreement (Chomsky 2008, Hiraiwa 2005).