The rise of lexical subjects in English infinitives

Abstract This paper attempts to account for the changing distribution of lexical subjects in English infinitives within the framework of the Minimalist Program, paying special attention to the role of the infinitival morpheme and the change in the category and formal features of the infinitive marker to. First, it is argued that from Old English to the 16th century, when the infinitival morpheme was present, the external argument of bare infinitives could be realized either as a lexical DP or the infinitival morpheme; then, the loss of the infinitival morpheme led to the situation that bare in... Mehr ...