Functional Heads and Interpretation

Abstract

This thesis examines the effect that functional heads have on the interpretation of arguments.It focuses on the functional head Agr, which is implicated in predicate-argument agreement relations; the import that other functional heads have on interpretation is a subsidiary concern.The argument of the thesis goes as follows: firstly, reference must be made to both an independently projecting functional head Agr and to a level of discourse representation in order to adequately analyse the phenomenon of predicate argument agreement. This theory sheds light on an unusual complementarity between agreement and overt arguments in Celtic because it provides a natural constraint on morphological feature checking mechanisms.

The thesis shows that functional heads are therefore implicated in the interpretation of arguments.