The gray area of supine clauses
Virginia Hill · Linguistics · 2002
This paper aims to clarify the categorial and syntactic status of supine forms in Romanian. It appears that the supine is a [+N][+V] category that lacks o-features and differs from adjectives with reference to distribution, thematic properties, and syntactic checking. Crucially, the absence of o-features reflects on the syntactic configuration, which becomes valid in only two instances: within a DP, or within a CP structure. Supine complementation is the optimal choice for tough constructions. Checking conditions on [N] features in these constructions have as side effect a form of clause union. The result is a monoclausal structure, more economical in operations than tough constructions with infinitive or subjunctive complements.