Case Assignment and its Relation to C-command in Persian

Contrary to the view that supposes Persian raising constructions have an overt expletive, we suggest that the verbs of these constructions enter derivation with valued ϕ-features. Therefore, the concept of EPP and its strength differ in Persian and English. In addition, some Iranian linguists, such as Anushe (2008), consider EPP as a trigger that drives subject movement from VP to the spec-T which is the same as English. In the same vein, based on Radford’s hypothesis (2009), it was suggested that case feature triggers A-movement in Persian. Consequently, by subject movement to the spec-T, the CP head that c-commands subject assigns its case feature and EPP is also satisfied. The output of this derivational hypothesis is a unitary account of case assignment.