Abstract

A recurrent problem in linguistic theory has been trying to provide a principled basis for the distinction between subject control and object control verbs, where by 'subject control verb' is understood a main clause verb that requires coreference between its subject and the understood subject of a dependent infinitive (e.g. I tried to leave, I promised you to leave), and by ‘object control verb’ a main clause verb that requires coreference between its object and the understood subject of a dependent infinitive (e.g. I persuaded you to leave). A number of possible solutions are examined, in particular a purely formal principle (the Minimal Distance Principle) and a pragmatic principle rooted in Searle's theory of speech acts. It is concluded that any explanatory account of the subject/object control distinction must be grounded in the pragmatics of speech acts, although in at least some languages, including English, these pragmatic principles have become grammaticalized

This content is only available as a PDF.
You do not currently have access to this article.