On the vP Analysis of Persian Finite Control Constructions

Ghomeshi (2001) proposes an account of Persian subject control constructions in terms of a reduced vP complement to the control verb, followinga proposal made by Wurmbrand (2001). Faced with the fact that the complement of the control verb is headed by what has been treated in the linguistic literature on Persian as the complementizer ke 'that', she suggests that ke, in this construction, is a clitic hosted by the matrix control verb. However, closer examination of the claimed "restructuring" construction, the distribution of temporal adverbials, and ke-cliticization in Persian militates against such a proposal.