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We claim that across-the-board (ATB) and right node raising (RNR) constructions in English should be analyzed in a uniform way, but neither of them can be on a par with parasitic gap (PG) constructions. To support this claim, we demonstrate that only the former two can license additive coordination (AC) and interwoven dependency (ID). We then offer a novel derivational analysis of the (un)availability of AC and ID in the three constructions. Specifically, we propose that cross-clausal conjunction via External Remerge (ER) constructs parallel coordinate structure in ATB and RNR while illegitimate linear ordering in the resulting multidominance structure is constrained by PF constraints; by contrast, ER does not yield the same kind of coordinate structure for PGs since subordination is required for the PG construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates that the A/Ā distinction is an epiphenomenon that emerges from independently necessary properties of Merge and the interpretive components. A true explanation of the A/Ā distinction requires that the distinction between the two classes of structures must emerge from a conspiracy of independently motivated principles and that the distinction should explain why the contrasts between A- and Ā-constructions are precisely the ones they are. I argue that certain moved constituents must be structurally altered on the way to their landing sites; otherwise, they will interfere with Case and agreement relations. I propose that an optional instance of Merge, late attachment of a prepositional head to the moved DP, "insulates" that DP from Case and agreement, but has consequences for what an insulated DP can antecede and/or license. Insulation is optional, but limited by independently motivated interface requirements that determine its distribution. The distribution of insulation explains why A- and Ā-structures differ in just the ways they do and not in other ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring study that investigated late German-English bilinguals' sensitivity to parasitic gaps inside subject islands. The online reading experiment was complemented by an offline scalar judgement task. The results from the offline task confirmed that for both native and non-native speakers, subject island environments must normally be non-finite in order to host a parasitic gap. The analysis of the reading-time data showed that, while native speakers posited parasitic gaps in non-finite environments only, the non-native group initially overgenerated parasitic gaps, showing delayed sensitivity to island-inducing cues during online processing. Taken together, our findings show that non-native comprehenders are sensitive to exceptions to island constraints that are not attested in their native language and also rare in the L2 input. They need more time than native comprehenders to compute the linguistic representations over which the relevant restrictions are defined, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many variants of categorial grammar assume an underlying logic which is associative and linear. In relation to left extraction, the former property is challenged by island domains, which involve nonassociativity, and the latter property is challenged by parasitic gaps, which involve nonlinearity. We present a version of type logical grammar including 'structural inhibition' for nonassociativity and 'structural facilitation' for nonlinearity and we give an account of relativisation including islands and parasitic gaps and their interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Jackendoff's Parallel Architecture, the well-formed expressions of a language are licensed by correspondences between phonology, syntax, and conceptual structure. I show how this architecture can be used to make sense of the existence of parasitic gap constructions. A parasitic gap is one that is rendered acceptable because of the presence of another gap in the same sentence. Compare * a person who [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we illustrate that arguments in German and Czech differ in their ability to function as antecedents for certain associates (floating quantifiers, parasitic gaps, and predicate nominals). While some of the differences can be explained in terms of surface intervention, others cannot. We propose that this is accounted for if the association abilities are determined early in the derivation—namely, at the edge of the vP phase, where the arguments’ base order is still preserved. While later operations may alter the relative order of the arguments, they come too late to have any effect on the arguments’ licensing abilities, thus rendering intervention effects opaque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work addresses the question of how adnominal appendices in the adjunct right dislocation construction (ADJ-RDC) in Korean resolve their modification relation. The main points made in this paper are: (i) Ko’s (2014, 2015) account in terms of assimilating the ADJ-RDC to a parasitic gap construction does not gain much support; (ii) a proximity based approach more adequately describes the facts; (iii) proximity can be overridden by focus information; and (iv) given a designated default focus position in Korean, the role of proximity can be subsumed under the role of focus. Thus, a unified focus based account is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope anomaly observed in sentences like Mrs. J can't live in Boston and Mr. J in LA (¬◊>∧) and No dog eats Whiskas or cat Alpo (¬∃>∨) is known to pose difficult challenges to many analyses of Gapping. We provide new arguments, based on both the basic syntactic patterns of Gapping and standard constituency tests, that the so-called 'low VP coordination analysis'-the only extant analysis of Gapping in contemporary syntactic theories which accounts for this scope anomaly-is empirically untenable. We propose an explicit alternative analysis of Gapping in Hybrid Type-Logical Categorial Grammar, a variant of categorial grammar which builds on both the Lambek-inspired tradition and a more recent line of work modelling word order via a lambda calculus for the prosodic component. The flexible syntax-semantics interface of this framework enables us to characterize Gapping as an instance of like-category coordination, via a crucial use of the notion of hypothetical reasoning. This analysis of the basic syntax of Gapping is shown to interact with independently motivated analyses of scopal operators to immediately yield their apparently anomalous scopal properties in Gapping, offering, for the first time in the literature, a conceptually simple and empirically adequate solution for the notorious scope anomaly in Gapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues against the conclusion in Postal 1994 that there are no instances of parasitic gap licensing by the rightward displacement of a DP. The evidence presented in Postal 1994 allows us to conclude only that right node raising is able to target adjunction structures when a parasitic gap derivation is otherwise blocked. Three cases are then provided to support the argument that, in principle, both parasitic gap licensing and right node raising can target adjunction structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages often single out prominent positions for special consideration, allowing certain elements to appear only in those positions. Often material in the prominent position surfaces faithfully but neutralizes elsewhere ( preservation systems), but other systems involve the spreading or migration of features to the prominent position to comply with the positional restriction ( overwrite systems). The set of positions that behave as prominent for preservation seems to be a superset of the positions that behave as prominent for overwrite. This paper argues that this asymmetry stems from differences between positional faithfulness and positional licensing. Only positional licensing produces overwrite; it is argued here that it may target only the most prominent positions, while positional faithfulness, which produces preservation, may target all kinds of prominent positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an argument for syntactic approaches to sluicing. We base our study on the novel observation that Parasitic Gaps (PG) are licensed in sluicing contexts. We show that, in order for PGs to be licensed in sluicing contexts, overt wh-movement must occur, leaving a real gap in the ellipsis site. Therefore, the ellipsis site has the full-fledged syntactic structure that licenses PGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larson (1989) noted that rightward movement of a DP past a clausal adjunct can necessitate a parasitic gap inside that clausal adjunct. This paper argues that rightward DP-movement beyond certain adjunct clauses is movement beyond typical Heavy-NP Shift that is licensed by the need to bind the parasitic gap. I show that this correctly predicts a number of observations concerning the exceptional nature of the rightward movement involved. In particular, parasitic gaps are able to license rightward movement that is potentially unbounded and successive-cyclic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hindi-Urdu has an oblique participle construction meaning 'without', which resembles a parasitic gap construction in other languages. These other languages, like English, have obligatory movement to the left which is a condition on a parasitic gap, as in wh- question sentences. But in Hindi-Urdu, questions do not require leftward movement, allowing the question word to stay in situ. In addition, this participle is possible with statements as well, suggesting that Hindi-Urdu does not have parasitic gaps or obligatory A ' movement. T his paper explores the actual nature of this participle, concluding that it has a PRO subject and null pronoun object. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Merger of a phrase for the second time (i.e. remerge) leads to structure sharing, which can be represented by a multidominance graph. Depending on the configuration, this corresponds to what is traditionally considered either regular movement or sideward sharing. These two types of remerge exhibit somewhat different properties. Basic Minimalist principles predict that locality constraints can be circumvented by the second type, yielding apparently nonlocal dependencies. Such effects are indeed attested in right node raising, insubordination, and amalgamated sentences. The fact that the first type cannot circumvent locality constraints is shown to explain why apparent nonlocal dependencies are absent in across-the-board movement and parasitic gap constructions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article investigates the use of non-referential subjects in contemporary Swedish. Given that Swedish has developed a strong subject requirement, expletive subjects are expected to be used in all clauses which lack a referential subject. In spoken Swedish, however, expletive and quasi-argument subjects are optional in utterances where there is an initial det ‘it’ which is linked to an empty position inside a finite or non-finite complement. The paper establishes that there are certain similarities between these examples and tough constructions but that the examples involving finite complements cannot be subsumed under a predication analysis which seems appropriate for the tough cases. Based on a number of authentic recorded examples, I discuss the processing of utterances with fronted anaphoric pronouns and point to certain similarities with parasitic gaps. The paper closes with a comparison with other Germanic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The current rapid event-related fMRI study used optional parasitic-gap constructions, such as [Which paper] did the tired student submit [ gap --] after reviewing [ p-gap --/it]?, to test 3 potential roles for Broca''s area in sentence processing. These 3 functional options are: I. any intra-sentential Dependency relation activates Broca''s area. II. This region specifically processes syntactic Displacement or movement. III. Broca''s area handles any dependency relation, as long as it is predictable at an early stage of processing. Broca''s area was only activated by the contrast that tested predictability within BA 45, as determined by its overlap with cytoarchitectonic probability maps. These results imply that an alternative or modified functional account of Broca''s area, from those presently available, is required. Constraints on either a displacement account to movements that are not parasitic or a Working Memory one to predicted dependencies that cross verbal arguments or noun phrases would achieve the necessary consistency. Further, the results from the minimal contrasts investigating displacement and dependency have implications to potential language regions outside of Broca''s area. The minimal contrast investigating displacement activated the left anterior Middle Temporal Gyrus, which has more recently been claimed to play a role in syntactic operations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper aims to demonstrate that there exist real parasitic gaps (PG) in Japanese, despite the fact that pro is available rather freely in this language, hence making it hard to unveil the existence of real PGs. Taking up Takahashi's (J East Asian Linguistics 15: 1-35, ) work as the starting point, I argue that as far as NP gaps are concerned, what Takahashi calls an apparent PG is identified as either a real PG or an instance of pro, contrary to Takahashi's claim that it involves argument ellipsis. Real PG cases are found in typical PG configurations where sloppy readings of zibun 'self' are involved and where reconstruction effects of Condition A take place into PGs. I further argue that the argument-ellipsis strategy is unavailable in the apparent PG configuration due to its last resort nature. This property restricts the availability of argument ellipsis to the configuration in which the elliptic site is not c-commanded by its antecedent or it is not an NP in categorial status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates gaps in degree phrases with too, as in John is too rich [ for the monastery to hire ___ ]. We present two curious restrictions on such gapped degree phrases. First, the gaps must ordinarily be anteceded by the subject of the associated gradable adjective. Second, when embedded under intensional verbs, gapped degree phrases are ordinarily restricted to surface scope, unlike their counterparts without gaps. Just as puzzlingly, we show that these restrictions are lifted when there is overt wh-movement in the main clause, revealing a striking similarity between the distribution of gapped degree phrases and so-called parasitic gap constructions. These findings, we argue, suggest that the theory of parasitic gaps needs to accommodate gapped degree phrases. Specifically, they argue that parasitic constituents are null operator structures-and under the right conditions need not be accompanied by matrix wh-movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the similarity of parasitic gap (PG) constructions and the across-the-board (ATB) constructions. It mentions that the distribution of "wh-phrases" with respect to the Romanian positions differs. Based on Nunes's analysis in 2004, the "wh-phrases" produces a parasitic gap which undergoes movement in overt syntax. It is inferred that phonetically realizing the elements in the first conjunct is the only way to follow the principle of preserving the order relations.

The main objective of this article is to outline an account of the evolution of the analytic (Free State) type of possessive noun phrases in Spanish Arabic and the loss of the synthetic (Construct State) type in Shamaliya Arabic, two relatively unknown varieties that are historically related. Possessive noun phrases can vary at the level of Syntax, PF or the Lexicon. Variation at the level of Syntax yields the distinction between the synthetic type and the analytic type. These have the same underlying structure but different derivations determined by the values of an EPP feature associated with Num, the DP-equivalent of clausal T. When Num has the [+EPP] value, it triggers subject-raising of the possessor to Spec, Num leading to the derivation of the synthetic type. When Num has the [-EPP] value, the possessor remains in-situ and consequently triggers the appearance of the genitive preposition. The evolution of the analytic type involves the acquisition of the [-EPP] value and the loss of the synthetic type the loss of the [+EPP] value. Variation at PF involves deletion or not of the definiteness feature/article of the head noun or the possessor in the synthetic type, which yields three logical patterns: [N the-N], [the-N N] and [the-N the-N]. Spanish Arabic had all three patterns, while Moroccan Arabic and other varieties have only the first pattern. Finally, variation at the level of the Lexicon accounts for differences relating to which preposition is used in possessive noun phrases. The Maghreb/Western varieties make use of the genitive preposition, while the Mashreq/Eastern varieties tend to make use of the dative preposition instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the empirical domain of idioms can shed light on the architecture of the mental lexicon and the nature of its building blocks whether roots or words. A corpus-based study of the distribution of various diatheses in verb phrase idioms in Hebrew was conducted. Its results reveal an intriguing discrepancy between the behavior of unaccusatives, transitives and adjectival passives on the one hand and verbal passives one the other. The findings are straightforwardly accounted for if the lexicon includes actual verbs – words not merely roots – under which verb phrase idioms are stored as sub-entries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incrementality is relevant for language modeling, speech recognition, and language generation, but requires a shift of the mainstream perspective to be addressed in most current models of syntactic processing, which underlies all NLP tasks. In this paper we devise a dynamic version of Tree Adjoining Grammar (DVTAG) that encodes a strong notion of incrementality directly into the operations of the formal system. After discussing the basic features of DVTAG, we address the issue of building of a wide coverage grammar and present novel data for English and Italian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a brief exploration into the existence and use of the linguistic phenomenon of verb-second structure in Germanic languages. An example phase is given in both German and translated in English, wherein the word order is parsed for the verb-second event. It is supposed that verb-second is derived through head movement in narrow syntax constructions. The author then proceeds to compare two implementations of this analytical paradigm and favors the use of the verb outside the main clause.

In parasitic gap constructions an illicit gap inside a syntactic island becomes acceptable in combination with an additional licit gap, a result that has interesting implications for theories of grammar. Such constructions hold even greater interest for the question of the relation between grammatical knowledge and real time language processing. This article presents results from two experiments on parasitic-gap constructions in English in which the parasitic gap appears inside a subject island, before the licensing gap. An off-line study confirms that parasitic gaps are acceptable when they occur inside the infinitival complement of a subject NP, but not when they occur inside a finite relative clause. An on-line self-paced reading study using a plausibility manipulation technique shows that incremental positing of gaps inside islands occurs in just those environments where parasitic gaps are acceptable. The fact that parasitic gaps are constructed incrementally in language processing presents a challenge for attempts to explain subject islands as epiphenomena of constraints on language processing and also helps to resolve apparent conflicts in previous studies of the role of island constraints in parsing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, it aims to point out that though what appear to be parasitic gaps exist in Japanese, they behave differently from their English counterpart in crucial ways; second, it argues that the existence of those apparent parasitic gaps in Japanese is closely related to the possibility of null arguments in the language. The argument crucially relies on the proposal, independently made in the literature, that certain cases of null arguments involve ellipsis rather than empty pronouns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processing of ellipsis sentences can provide clues to their structure, as their structure can influence their processing. We present two studies examining the processing of a previously unexplored subclass of ellipsis sentence, gapping sentences in which one of the remnants is a preposed PP (PPGs). Like some other gapping structures, PPGs are ambiguous between readings in which a DP remnant is interpreted as a subject or as an object. However, we find that PPGs exhibit a weaker and more flexible object bias than other ambiguous gapping sentences ( Carlson 2001a, 2002 ), one comparable to clausal ellipsis constructions like comparatives and replacives. We argue that this result supports the syntactic assumption that gapping is a nonuniform phenomenon: PPGs involve clausal conjunction on either reading, much like comparative ellipsis, while regular gapping has a nonellipsis alternative ( Johnson 1996 ), which underlies the strong preference for an object reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows that wh-in-situ in Chinese does not license parasitic gaps (PG), and PG are indeed attested in Chinese, and they must be licensed by syntactic wh-movement. Emonds pointed out that PG fall out nicely on Chomsky's analysis as a consequence of the general theory of operator binding. That is, a c-commanding wh-operator binds the PG as a by-product of binding the wh-trace. But a question comes to mind when we look at Chinese. Tsai argued that wh-arguments in Chinese are in fact variables unselectively bound by the question operator Q in Spec, CP. If the PG is a by-product of wh-binding, then it should be licensed by the question operator Q as a by-product of the binding of the wh-phrase. This prediction, however, is not borne out. A surprising fact, however, is that topicalization of wh-elements in Chinese always involves syntactic wh-movement, as island effects typically show up. Data from Chinese indicate that wh-in-situ does not license PG, and syntactic wh-movement is an essential condition for licensing PG. Therefore, Kim's prediction, that the wh-phrases in wh-in-situ languages can license PG, does not hold. The discoveries reported, though, may be compatible with theories such as Nissenbaum's, which argues that wh-in-situ can license PG, though an overt-movement is a prerequisite.

This paper examines the likely candidates for the Parasitic Gap (PG) construction in Bulgarian. Focusing on the properties of PGs known from previously studied languages, I conclude that there are no genuine PGs in Bulgarian. I also argue that without-clauses are irrelevant for the study of PGs: They involve a different mechanism for licensing a null element inside the clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines ATB and parasitic gap structures in Polish in order to determine whether they can be conflated into a single phenomenon. Three available approaches to these two constructions are outlined and evaluated as to their applicability to Polish data. It is argued that the approach postulating the treatment of parasitic gaps as a special case of ATB put forward by Huybregts and van Riemsdijk (1985) and Williams (1990) is problematic as it does not specify how parasitic gap constructions are assigned the coordinate status. The second approach arguing in favor of subsuming ATB gaps under parasitic gaps, advocated by Munn (1992) and Franks (1993, 1995), is more advantageous. Franks's analysis is scrutinized in detail, as it directly deals with Polish. It is argued that there exist ATB and parasitic gaps which violate both Franks's thematic prominence condition and his case identity requirement. It is suggested that mere morphological case identity is not sufficient and should be supplemented with identity in abstract Case, perhaps along the lines of Dyla (1984). Next, we examine the third approach, proposed by Postal (1993), suggesting that parasitic gaps and ATB gaps do not represent a single phenomenon and therefore should be kept separate. It is pointed out that the differences between Polish parasitic gaps and ATB gaps are not uniquely characteristic for these two types of structure and that is why they cannot serve as sufficient evidence for claiming that the two examined constructions are instances of distinct phenomena. A conclusion along these lines is reached independently by Hornstein and Nunes (2002) on the basis of English and Portuguese data. Their analysis generally turns out to be applicable also to Polish ATB and parasitic gaps, and only the sentences where case mismatch occurs or where thematic prominence is violated require a separate explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assuming that parasitic gaps (PGs) and across-the-board (ATB) gaps are derived through sideward movement (Nunes 1995, 2001; Hornstein 2001), this paper aims at explaining why ATB constructions are in general more permissive than PG constructions (Postal 1993). We argue that sideward movement is licensed only by Last Resort in PG constructions but is licensed by either Last Resort or the Parallelism Constraint in ATB constructions. The additional legibility condition that coordinate structures have to satisfy ends up permitting instances of sideward movement that would otherwise be impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assuming the general framework of the Minimalist Program of Chomsky 1995, this article argues that Move is not a primitive operation of the computational system, but rather the output of the interaction among the independent operations Copy, Merge, Form Chain, and Chain Reduction (deletion of chain links for purposes of linearization). The crucial aspect of this alternative model is that it permits constrained instances of sideward movement, whereby a given constituent "moves" from a syntactic object K to an independent syntactic object L. This version of the copy theory of movement (a) provides an explanation for why (some) traces must be deleted in the phonological component, (b) provides a cyclic analysis for standard instances of noncyclic movement, and (c) accounts for the main properties of parasitic gap and across-the-board extraction constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]