On the syntax of ought-to-be constructions with and without a specific addressee

Abstract

This paper focuses on the (ought-to-be) deontic, which is analyzed from the concepts of obligation discussed in Castañeda (1970), Feldman (1986) and Hacquard (2006, 2010). From co-occurrence tests of an ought-to-be modal with other elements in the CP layer – in particular, with the wh-phrase por que (why) and with adverbial elements, it was found that ought-to-be is interpreted between the high projections IntP and ModP. It was also shown that an ought-to-be can be used in an utterance with or without a specific addressee and that this difference reflects in the syntax. The proposal is to extend the analysis by Portner, Pak and Zanuttini (2019), developed for Korean speech style particles, to the ought-to-be deontic, postulating that this deontic, when used with a specific addressee, integrates a structure in which the cP category is projected, which allows features that express the speaker-addressee relation, such as status, to be checked. Consequently, this modal is restricted to the matrix domain. When, however, it appears in an utterance without a specific addressee, it integrates a structure without the projection of cP, since it does not refer to the speaker-addressee relationship. In this case, it can appear in both the matrix and embedded domains.