Non-finite Complement Structures of Perception Verbs in English

Abstract

This paper discusses properties and structures of two types of non-finite complements (i.e. the bare infinitival complement and the participial complement) of perception verbs in English, and defends the view that the two types of complements have a clausal structure headed by the functional category Aspect, whose size is smaller than TP. It argues against a TP analysis of the bare infinitival complement and a DP/NP analysis of the participial complement, and shows that both complements are AspP and differ with respect to the feature value of the aspectual head. It also shows that a minimalist idea of Case valuation, with the assumption that the bare infinitival is a Case-bearing projection, may explain the different properties of the bare infinitival and the participial complements.