Nonlocal-Dependencies and Infinitival Constructions in German

Drawing on the example of infinitival constructions in German this paper will contrast two different approaches to the treatment of non-local dependencies within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar. The essential difference between the two accounts is that the first and older approach, Constituent Control (CC), operates on phrase structure, whereas the second approach, Functional Uncertainty (FU), operates on functional structure. A further difference between the two approaches is that FU allows one to do without empty strings (as traces), which are indispensable in CC for purely technical reasons. This paper concentrates on the linguistic aspects rather than the mathematical properties of FU, arguing in favour of FU on the basis of linguistic data.