摘要：This paper works with one central idea that Small Clauses (as put forward basically by Stowell 1981 and 1983 and Chomsky 1981 and 1986, our Hypothesis A) do not exist, if they are understood as Complement Small Clauses. Kreps (1994) argues that Small Clauses are IP complement clauses, containing a subject and a verb just like any other clause. The only difference would be that in some of these IP complements, if the verb is a copula, it may be deleted at PF. Hence, Small Clauses are formally identical to IP clauses, better, Small Clauses are themselves IPs, headed by an empty Io, the complement of which is a VP headed by non-overt copula. This paper also draws interesting consequences if we adopt this proposal by Kreps, our Hypothesis B.
