On the (non)complementarity of theta-theory and checking theory

Chomsky (1995) proposes that the theta -system and the checking system form two complementary modules. As a consequence both subjects and objects must form nontrivial chains to check their formal features with a functional ca tegory (T and v, respectively). I argue that objects and exceptional-Case-m arking subjects check their formal features with a lexical verb. whose doma in is therefore both theta -role assigning and feature checking. I show tha t discarding the complementarity assumption in this manner results in a mor e "bare" theory of the computational system as well as several empirical ad vantages.