Russian and the EPP requirement in the Tense domain

This paper analyzes movement to the Tense domain in Russian. It demonstrates that Russian verb does not normally leave the vP, and that only internal Nominative arguments can remain in situ, while external ones obligatorily raise to [Spec; TP], as in English. Unlike in English, external subjects can be sentence-final, but this results from additional Information Structure related movement when they are in narrow focus. The paper shows that various Russian constructions have no overt material in the left periphery (‘V O’, ‘V S’ with internal Nominative arguments, etc.). Obligatory external subject raising proves that the EPP requirement in the Tense domain is definitely operative in Russian, so covert expletives are introduced in these cases. Turning to sentences with non-Nominative XPs in the left periphery, the paper demonstrates, contrary to several recent models, that such XPs never exhibit subject properties and hence cannot pass through [Spec; TP]. The paper concludes that these constructions also contain covert expletives (i.e. Russian has them wherever English has overt ones) and that only Nominative DPs can satisfy the EPP requirement in Russian. These results are interesting for the EPP typology and for the more general question of whether EPP-driven movement depends on agreement.

► Russian resembles English with respect to the EPP requirement in the Tense domain.
► There is no V-to-T movement, internal Nominatives satisfy the EPP or remain in situ.
► External DPs always raise to [Spec; TP], but can become sentence-final for IS reasons.
► Non-Nominative XPs cannot satisfy the EPP (no subject properties in any construction).
► Sentences where Nominative DPs are in situ or absent have covert expletives.