Overview

Hitherto, we have assumed a simple model of clause structure in which canonical clauses are CP+TP+VP structures. However, in §5.6 we suggested that it is necessary to ‘split’ TP into two different auxiliary-headed projections in sentences like He may be lying – namely a TP projection headed by the T constituent may and an AUXP projection headed by the AUX constituent be.In this chapter, we go on to suggest that CPs and VPs should likewise be split into more than one type of projection – hence the title of the chapter. We begin by looking at arguments that the CP layer of clause structure should be split into a number of separate projections: Force Phrase, Topic Phrase, Focus Phrase and Finiteness Phrase. We then go on to explore the possibility of splitting verb phrases into two separate projections – an inner core headed by a lexical verb and an outer shell headed by an abstract light verb.

Split CP: Force, Topic and Focus projections

Our discussion of wh-movement in chapter 6 was concerned with movement of (interrogative, exclamative and relative) wh-expressions to the periphery of clauses (i.e. to a position above TP). However, as examples like (1) below illustrate, it is not simply wh-constituents which undergo movement to the clause periphery:

1. (1) No other colleague would he turn to

In (1), no other colleague (which is the complement of the preposition to) has been focused/focalised – i.e. moved to the front of the sentence in order to focus it (and thereby give it special emphasis).