On Phase Extension

Assuming that a phase is a predication, den Dikken (2006, 2007a) argues that the phase is not fixed, but can be extended when the head of a phase raises to a higher head. With a view to overview the empirical adequacy of the phase extension mechanism, this paper reviews proposed analyses of predication inversion, locative inversion, object shift, preposition stranding, there-raising and superiority. It is shown that analyses in terms of phase extension can effectively account for the interaction of head movement and phrasal displacement. Those analyses, however, involve some empirical and conceptual issues. Among these are (a) Whether head movement is a syntactic movement or a PF operation; (b) Den Dikken’s argument that predicate/locative inversion involves A-movement is dubious, since there are cases in which the inverted locative behaves like a topic though they show apparent subject-like properties, and (c) There are cases where verb movement is a precondition but is not a sufficient condition for object shift.