Abstract:

This paper investigates the correlation between control and finiteness in Greek subjunctive clauses. It is shown that the main control pattern is Partial Control (PC) and that Exhaustive Control (EC) is very limited and occurs only with Anaphoric Subjunctives. On the basis of evidence from distribution and case agreement, it is claimed that Greek subjunctive T is finite, so that it always checks nominative case on the subject, even in EC constructions. It is therefore argued that control in Greek subjunctives cannot be accounted for by a PRO or a movement/Agree approach, because (i) the attested control pattern does not exhibit the properties of control as predicted by these approaches and (ii) their licensing conditions are not met. Additional crucial evidence is presented from constructions where control is attested over a lexical (either pronoun or DP) subject or even an object clitic. Thus, it is claimed that control in Greek subjunctive clauses is not the result of the licensing of the properties of their subject, but it derives from the licensing of their special temporal properties and from the semantic requirements of the main predicate.