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In:New Insights into Theoretical Syntax from Asian Languages: Studies in honor of C.-T. James Huang
Edited by Andrew Simpson
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 290] 2026
► pp. 80–116

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The notion of “subject” and CED under Symmetrizing Syntax

 | Sophia University
 | Tokai University
Published online: 15 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/la.290.04fuk
Abstract
This chapter aims at providing a minimal characterization of the notion of “subject,” building primarily on Narita and Fukui’s (2022) notion of Generalized Predication (GP). We will argue that subjecthood is not due to some specific categorial feature or its X-bar-theoretic projections, but primarily an interface phenomenon that arises as a result of GP, whose application is driven by the structural symmetry (exocentricity) of {XP, YP}-structures (Section 2). We will then argue that the Subject Condition effect of Huang’s (1982) Condition on Extraction Domain (CED) may be reformulated under the GP-based characterization of subjecthood and the so-called specificity condition (Section 3). We will further argue that Rizzi’s (2005) and Rizzi and Shlonsky’s (2007) Subj(*)P and the associated phenomenon of Criterial Freezing, Bowers’ (1993) Pr and other predicator heads (Den Dikken’s 2006 Relator, etc.), extraneous conditions on Merge, labeling, and phases are all eliminable in favor of a single notion of GP.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Beyond the “Subject-as-Specifier” approach: Introducing Generalized Predication
    • 2.1Subject = Specifier-of-X(P)
    • 2.2Approaching subjects from below: The theory of unconstrained Merge
    • 2.3Subjecthood as an interface phenomenon: Introducing Generalized Predication
    • 2.4Deriving the D-givenness of topics and some subjects
    • 2.5Interim summary and comments on some precursors
    • 2.6GP and the enabling function of the Strong Minimalist Thesis
  • 3.Deriving the CED effect on subjects
    • 3.1Specificity condition redux
    • 3.2Generalized Predication, the D-givenness condition, and CED for A-moved subjects
    • 3.3Transparency of in-situ subjects
    • 3.4Further extension to the opacity of topics and multiple subjects
    • 3.5The in-situ external argument and some further extension of GP
    • 3.6Interim summary
    • 3.7Comparisons with precursors
      • 3.7.1Movement and (criterial) freezing
      • 3.7.2Conditioned Merge
      • 3.7.3Phase impenetrability and the Phrasal Sister Condition
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (92)
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