An (only) apparent case of hyper raising in Spanish

Abstract

This paper deals with an apparent case of hyper raising in Spanish (Juan parece que llegará tarde) and concludes that no actual raising takes place: that is, the allegedly A-moved subject (Juan) appearing at the left edge of the raising predicate is actually in an A’-position in the left periphery of the matrix clause. The thesis defended in this paper has been challenged recently by Fernández-Salgueiro (2011), who proposes an analysis in terms of A-movement. In this paper I will argue against this view (i) by showing that it leads to empirical and conceptual inconsistencies and (ii) by providing evidence of the A’-status of the subject. I will further reject a monoclausal analysis of this construction, which considers parecer a modal verb (Ausín 2001, (Torrego 2002) or a grammaticalized adverb as suggested by Cross (1945) and Bolinger (1946).