Movement Out of Control

This article is a comprehensive critique of the reductionist view of control advocated in recent minimalist studies, most notably Hornstein 1999. The core of this view is the claim that obligatory control should be collapsed with raising, and nonobligatory control with pronominal coreference. I argue that Hornstein's theory (a) overgenerates nonexisting structures and interpretations, (b) fails to derive a wide range of well-known raising/control contrasts, and (c) involves unstated stipulations belying the appeal to Occam's razor.