Properties

In addition to the constraint on the types of the inverting verbs, there are other restrictions on English locative inversion. As Bresnan (1994) argues, locative inversion can occur just in case the postverbal theme can be interpreted as the argument of which the preverbal locative argument is predicated, as schematized in (17).

(17) Verb <theme, location>

As (17) indicates, the inverted locative phrase must be an argument PP subcategorized by the verb, rather than an adjunct PP. In other words, in a locative inversion sentence, the inverted locative phrase has to denote the location where the theme exists, rather than the location where the event takes place. As can be seen in (18), the verbs such as knit and drink cannot undergo locative inversion because the verbs do not

subcategorize for a locative argument and the inverted locative PP does not denote the location of the theme.

(18) a. *Among the guests was knitting my friend Rose.

b. *On the corner was drinking a woman.

Another restriction, observed by Coopmans (1989), is that English locative inversion occurs only if the verb is in the simple past or present tense. That is to say, modal auxiliaries are banned from English locative inversion, which is called auxiliary restriction. As the examples (19) taken from Coopmans (1989) demonstrate, the modal auxiliaries make the locative inversion sentences impossible.

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(19) a. *Down the hill may roll the baby carriage.

b. *Down the stairs has fallen the baby.

However, we think that auxiliary restriction does not exist in English locative inversion since we still can find many locative inversion instances with modals or auxiliaries in several studies, as illustrated below.

(20) a. On these trials can be found many kinds of mushrooms.

(Bresnan 1994)

b. On the house roof has been mounted a copper lightning rod …

(Levin and Rappaport 1995, Chapter 6, example (36a))

As shown in (20), there is no auxiliary restriction for English locative inversion.

In English locative inversion, the inverted locative PP has been argued to be the grammatical subject since it displays several subject-like properties (Hoekstra and Mulder 1990, Bresnan 1994, Levin and Rappaport 1995, Collins 1997). First, an inverted locative PP, like a regular subject, can undergo subject raising, as shown below.

(21) a. On that hill appears to be located a cathedral.

b. In these villages are likely to be found the best examples of this cuisine.

(Bresnan 1994, example (65))

Second, the extraction of the inverted locative PP behaves like the extraction of a

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regular subject in displaying that-trace effect.

(22) a. It’s in these villages that we all believe _____ can be found the best examples

of this cuisine.

b.*It’s in these villages that we all believe that ______ can be found the best

examples of this cuisine.

(Bresnan 1994, example (81))

Third, Hoekstra and Mulder (1990) indicate that an English locative inversion sentence can be embedded in sentences with wh-complementizers.

(23) a. We all witness how down the hill cam rolling a huge baby carriage.

b. We suddenly saw how into the pond jumped thousands of frogs.

(Hoekstra and Mulder 1990 (example (72))

Hoekstra and Mulder (1990) give another piece of evidence for the subject status of the inverted locative PP that the inverted locative PP patterns with a grammatical subject in being questioned without auxiliary inversion, as shown below.

(24) a. On which wall hung a portrait of the artist?

b. *On which wall did hang a portrait of the artist?

On the other hand, many researchers argue that the inverted locative PP cannot stay at the subject position in the syntactic structure because it is non-nominal and differs from a regular subject in a number of respects (Stowell 1981, Coopmans 1989,

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Wu 2008). First, in an English locative inversion sentence, the verb agrees with the postverbal theme, rather than the preverbal locative PP.

(25) a. In the swamp was/*were found a child.

b. In the swamp were/*was found two children.

Second, Coopmans (1989) observes that a locative inversion sentence only occurs in a root clause, as demonstrated below.

(26) a. *He denied that down the hill rolled the baby carriage.

b. *It is possible that out of the house strolled my mother’s best friend.

Third, as Bresnan (1994) and Wu (2008) point out, an Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) verb, which usually selects a non-finite clause, cannot take a locative inversion sentence.

(27) a. I expect John to hang a picture of Leonard Pabbs on this wall.

b. *I expect on this wall to be hung a picture of Leonard Pabbs.

Fourth, in a yes-no question, a regular subject can undergo subject-auxiliary inversion, but the inverted locative PP cannot.

(28) a. Did John hang a Mexican serape on the wall?

b. *Did on the wall hang a Mexican serape?

To summarize, English locative inversion occurs only when the inverted locative PP is an argument subcategorized by the verb and when the inverted locative PP is

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predicated of the postverbal theme. In addition, contra Coopmans (1989), we think that modals or auxiliaries are allowed in English locative inversion. In English locative inversion, the inverted locative PP displays both subject-like and non-subject properties, as summarized in Table 1; as a result, there has been a debate as to how the locative PP is mapped to the syntactic structure. In section 2.4, we will discuss how the previous studies account for the derivation of English locative inversion.

Table 1. The properties of English locative inversion