Modality and possession in NPs

In the last decade, a number of studies have investigated the similarities in the structure of the functional projections of NP and VP (Abney 1987, Valois 1991, Ritter 1991, Bernstein 1993). More recently, Kayne (1994) has extended this line of thought by assuming that the extended projection of both NP and VP may contain CP/IP. Let us briefly review Kayne’s assumptions. Kayne derives possessives, like a friend of John's as being a result of an ordinary possessive in which the possessee has undergone movement to SpecCP, as in (1).