ABSTRACT
Syntactic construction which contains an infinitive, e.g. Philip wants to go. In older forms of transformational grammar, such sentences were formerly derived via equiNP deletion from more complex structures which contain NPs with the same reference: Philip wants/ Philip goes. By deleting the subject of the object clause, the agreement transformation which links the person and number of the subject to the verb is blocked, and the verb of the embedded object clause is realized as an infinitive construction ( complementation). In more recent forms of transformational grammar, the subject of an infinitive is analyzed as a phonetically empty pronoun ( control). Infinitive constructions may function as constituents and thus can be realized as subjects, objects, predicate nominals, adverbials, or attributes. ( also equi-NP-deletion, raising)
References
transformational grammar
Word formation morpheme that is inserted into the stem, e.g. -n-in Lat. iungere ‘to tie’ vs iugum (‘yoke’) or the -t-in the reflexive function between the first and second consonants of the root in the eighth binyan of classical Arabic, cf. ftarag ‘to separate,’
‘to place before oneself.’ Ablaut and umlaut are often considered infixes. ( also affix)
References
Matthews, P.H. 1972. Inflectional morphology. Cambridge. McCarthy, J. 1981. A prosodic theory of non-concatenative morphology. LingI 12. 373-418.
