A-movement

Overview

We will look at the syntax of subjects. So far, we have assumed that subjects originate in the specifier position within TP and remain in situ (except where the subject undergoes wh-movement and moves to spec-CP, e.g. in sentences like Who did he say was coming?). However, we shall argue that subjects originate internally within the Verb Phrase as arguments of verbs, and are subsequently raised into the specifier position within TP, with the relevant movement operation being triggered by an [EPP] feature carried by T. Since spec-TP is an A-position (i.e. a position which can generally only be occupied by argument expressions), the operation by which subjects move into spec-TP is traditionally known as A-movement.