On the Empirical Scope and Theoretical Status of the OC-NC Generalization

Abstract

The article discusses the OC-NC generalization ( Landau 2004 , 2015 ) that establishes a relationship between the obligatory control nature of a construction and its semantic (tensedness/attitude) and formal (morphological agreement) properties. I discuss three counterexamples attested in languages of the Caucasus and demonstrate that complements of desiderative verbs in these languages violate predictions of the generalization: agreeing tensed complements instantiate obligatory control, or uninflected tensed complements are noncontrolled. I also give references to other potential counterexamples and discuss issues raised by the empirical evidence, ultimately arguing that no such typological universal holds.