Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A constraint on remnant movement

  • Published:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper addresses a peculiar asymmetry that arises with so-called remnant movement in German, that is, movement of an XP from which some other movement has already applied. It appears that an XP from which scrambling has taken place can undergo topicalization or wh-movement (thereby creating a trace that is not bound at S-structure), but not scrambling or left dislocation. It is argued that this apparent movement type asymmetry cannot be accounted for by invoking the notion of reconstruction, as has sometimes been suggested. Rather, the pertinent constraint on remnant movement follows from a principle of Unambiguous Domination which states that a trace with a (not necessarily c-commanding) antecedent in a position of type α must not be dominated by a category in a position of the same type α. Under this view, any movement type may in principle apply to a remnant XP — whether or not remnant movement is possible depends on whether or not the remnant XP ends up in a position that is formally different from the position occupied by the antecedent of the unbound trace. This prediction is shown to be corroborated by additional empirical evidence drawn mainly from German and English. Finally, the conceptual status of the Unambiguous Domination requirement is clarified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barss, Andrew: 1984, ‘Chain Binding’, unpublished manuscript, MIT.

  • Barss, Andrew: 1986, Chains and Anaphoric Dependence, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.

  • Baltin, Mark: 1982, ‘A Landing Site Theory of Movement Rules’, Linguistic Inquiry 13, 1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayer, Josef: 1993, ‘V(P)-Topicalization and the Role of Traces’, unpublished manuscript, Universität Stuttgart.

  • Berman, Steve: 1991, On the Semantics and Logical Form of Wh-Clauses, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besten, Hans den: 1989, Studies in West Germanic Syntax, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Amsterdam.

  • Besten, Hans den and Gert Webelhuth: 1987, ‘Adjunction and Remnant Topicalization in the Germanic SOV-Languages’, paper presented at GLOW, Venice, 1987.

  • Besten, Hans den and Gert Webelhuth: 1990, ‘Stranding’, in Günther Grewendorf and Wolfgang Sternefeld (eds.), Scrambling and Barriers, Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 77–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody, Michael: 1992, ‘Lexico-Logical Form — A Radically Minimalist Theory’, unpublished manuscript, University College, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browning, Marguerite: 1987, Null Operator Constructions, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.

  • Cardinaletti, Anna: 1986, ‘Topicalization in German: Movement to COMP or Base-Generation in TOP?’, Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanistischen Linguistik 28, 202–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardinaletti, Anna and Ian Roberts: 1991, ‘Clause Structure and X-Second’, unpublished manuscript, University of Venice and Université de Genève. To appear in Wynn Chao and Geoffrey Horrock (eds.), Levels, Principles, and Processes: The Structure of Grammatical Representations, de Gruyter, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1973, ‘Conditions on Transformations’, in Stephen Anderson and Paul Kiparsky (eds.), A Festschrift for Morris Halle, Academic Press, New York, pp. 232–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1977, ‘On Wh-Movement’, in Peter Culicover, Tom Wasow and Adrian Akmajian (eds.), Formal Syntax, Academic Press, New York, pp. 71–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1981, Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1986, Barriers, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1993, ‘A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory’, in Kenneth Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser (eds.), The View from Building 20, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 1–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam: 1994, ‘Bare Phrase Structure’, unpublished manuscript, MIT.

  • Cinque, Guglielmo: 1977, ‘The Movement Nature of Left Dislocation’, Linguistic Inquiry 8, 397–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cinque, Guglielmo: 1990, Types of A'-Dependencies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, Chris: 1994, ‘Economy of Derivation and the Generalized Proper Binding Condition’, Linguistic Inquiry 25, 45–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanselow, Gisbert: 1983, Zu einigen Problemen von Kasus, Rektion und Bindung in der deutschen Syntax, unpublished M.A. thesis, Universität Konstanz.

  • Fanselow, Gisbert: 1987, Konfigurationalität, Narr, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanselow, Gisbert: 1990, ‘Scrambling as NP-movement’, in Günther Grewendorf and Wolfgang Sternefeld (eds.), Scrambling and Barriers, Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 113–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanselow, Gisbert: 1991, Minimale Syntax, unpublished habilitation thesis, Universität Passau.

  • Fanselow, Gisbert: 1992, ‘The Return of the Base Generators’, Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanistischen Linguistik 36, 1–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiengo, Robert: 1977, ‘On Trace Theory’, Linguistic Inquiry 8, 35–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frampton, John: 1990, ‘Parasitic Gaps and the Theory of Wh-Chains’, Linguistic Inquiry 21, 49–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, Robert, Young-Suk Lee and Owen Rambow: 1992, ‘Scrambling as Non-Operator Movement and the Special Status of Subjects’, in Sjef Barbiers, Marcel den Dikken and Claartje Levelt (eds.), Proceedings of the Third Leiden Conference for Junior Linguists, University of Leiden, pp. 135–154.

  • Frey, Werner and Thilo Tappe: 1991, ‘Zur Interpretation der X-bar-Theorie und zur Syntax des Mittelfeldes. Grundlagen eines GB-Fragmentes’, unpublished manuscript, Universität Stuttgart.

  • Giusti, Giuliana: 1986, ‘On the Lack of Wh-Infinitives with ‘zu’ and the Projection of COMP in German’, Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanistischen Linguistik 28, 115–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grewendorf, Günther: 1992, ‘German — A Grammatical Sketch’, unpublished manuscript, Universität Frankfurt. To appear in Joachim Jacobs, Arnim von Stechow, Wolfgang Sternefeld and Theo Vennemann (eds.), Syntax, vol. II, de Gruyter, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grewendorf, Günther and Joachim Sabel: 1994, ‘Long Scrambling and Incorporation’, Linguistic Inquiry 25, 263–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guéron, Jacqueline and Robert May: 1984, ‘Extraposition and Logical Form’, Linguistic Inquiry 15, 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider, Hubert: 1990, ‘Topicalization and Other Puzzles of German Syntax’, in Günther Grewendorf and Wolfgang Sternefeld (eds.), Scrambling and Barriers, Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 93–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haider, Hubert: 1993, Deutsche Syntax, generativ, Narr, Tübingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim, Irene: 1982, The Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim, Irene: 1987, ‘Where Does the Definiteness Restriction Apply?’, in Eric Reuland and Alice ter Meulen (eds.), The Representation of (In)definiteness, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 21–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim, Irene: 1989, Survey of Formal Semantics, unpublished manuscript, MIT.

  • Heim, Irene: 1992, ‘Remarks on Wh-Questions’, unpublished manuscript, MIT.

  • Höhle, Tilman: 1991, ‘On Reconstruction and Coordination’, in Hubert Haider and Klaus Netter (eds.), Representation and Derivation in the Theory of Grammar, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 139–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C.-T. James: 1993, ‘Reconstruction and the Structure of VP: Some Theoretical Consequences’, Linguistic Inquiry 24, 103–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, Joachim: 1982, Syntax und Semantik der Negation im Deutschen, Fink, München.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Kyle: 1988, ‘Clausal Gerunds, the ECP, and Government’, Linguistic Inquiry 19, 583–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karttunen, Lauri: 1977, ‘Syntax and Semantics of Questions’, Linguistics and Philosophy 1, 3–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koster, Jan: 1978, Locality Principles in Syntax, Foris, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kratzer, Angelika: 1991, ‘The Representation of Focus’, in Arnim von Stechow and Dieter Wunderlich (eds.), Semantics. An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 825–834.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, Richard: 1988, ‘On the Double Object Construction’, Linguistic Inquiry 19, 335–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasnik, Howard: 1985, ‘A Note on Illicit NP-Movement’, Linguistic Inquiry 16, 481–490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasnik, Howard and Mamoru Saito: 1992, Move α, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longobardi, Giuseppe: 1985, ‘Connectedness, Scope, and C-command’, Linguistic Inquiry 16, 162–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahajan, Anoop: 1990, The A/A-Bar Distinction and Movement Theory, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.

  • Mahajan, Anoop: 1992, ‘The Specificity Condition and the CED’, Linguistic Inquiry 23, 510–516.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, Robert: 1977, The Grammar of Quantification, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.

  • Müller, Gereon: 1993, On Deriving Movement Type Asymmetries, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Universität Tübingen.

  • Müller, Gereon: 1994, ‘Anti-Freezing, Strict Cyclicity, and Economy of Derivation’, unpublished manuscript, Universität Tübingen.

  • Müller, Gereon and Wolfgang Sternefeld: 1993, ‘Improper Movement and Unambiguous Binding’, Linguistic Inquiry 24, 461–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, Gereon and Wolfgang Sternefeld: 1994, ‘Scrambling as A-bar Movement’, in Norbert Corver and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), Studies on Scrambling, de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 331–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pesetsky, David: 1987, ‘Wh-in-Situ: Movement and Unselective Binding’, in Eric Reuland and Alice ter Meulen (eds.), The Representation of (In)definiteness, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 98–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, Marga and Inger Rosengren: 1992, ‘What Do Wh-Imperatives Tell Us About Wh-Movement?’, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10, 79–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riemsdijk, Henk van: 1989, ‘Movement and Regeneration’, in Paola Benincà (ed.), Dialectal Variation and the Theory of Grammar, Foris, Dordrecht, pp. 105–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzi, Luigi: 1990, Relativized Minimality, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzi, Luigi: 1991, ‘Proper Head Government and the Definition of A-Position’, GLOW Newsletter 26, 46–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rochemont, Michael: 1989, ‘Topic Islands and the Subjacency Parameter’, Canadian Journal of Linguistics 34, 145–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saito, Mamoru: 1989, ‘Scrambling as Semantically Vacuous A-bar Movement’, in Mark Baltin and Anthony Kroch (eds.), Alternative Conceptions of Phrase Structure, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 182–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saito, Mamoru: 1992, ‘Long Distance Scrambling in Japanese’, Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1, 69–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santorini, Beatrice: 1991, ‘Scrambling and INFL in German’, unpublished manuscript, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stechow, Arnim von: 1992, ‘Kompositionsprinzipien und grammatische Struktur’, in Peter Suchsland (ed.), Biologische und soziale Grundlagen der Sprache, Niemeyer, Tübingen, pp. 175–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stechow, Arnim von: 1993, ‘Die Aufgaben der Syntax’, in Joachim Jacobs, Arnim von Stechow, Wolfgang Sternefeld and Theo Vennemann (eds.), Syntax, vol. I, de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 1–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stechow, Arnim von: 1993a, ‘Against LF Pied Piping’, unpublished manuscript, Universität Tübingen. To appear in Natural Language Semantics.

  • Stechow, Arnim von and Wolfgang Sternefeld: 1988, Bausteine syntaktischen Wissens, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternefeld, Wolfgang: 1985, ‘On Case and Binding Theory’, in Jindrich Toman (ed.), Studies in German Grammar, Foris, Dordrecht, pp. 231–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternefeld, Wolfgang: 1990, ‘Scrambling and Minimality’, in Günther Grewendorf and Wolfgang Sternefeld (eds.), Scrambling and Barriers, Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 239–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternefeld, Wolfgang: 1991, Syntaktische Grenzen, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternefeld, Wolfgang: 1991a, ‘Chain Formation, Reanalysis, and the Economy of Levels’, in Hubert Haider and Klaus Netter (eds.), Derivation and Representation in the Theory of Grammar, Foris, Dordrecht, pp. 75–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tappe, Thilo: 1984, ‘On Infinitival Clauses Without COMP’, in Wim de Geest and Y. Putseys (eds.), Sentential Complementation, Foris, Dordrecht, pp. 227–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiersch, Craig: 1985, ‘VP and Scrambling in the German Mittelfeld’, unpublished manuscript, University of Tilburg.

  • Truckenbrodt, Hubert: 1992, ‘Fleeing the VP’, unpublished manuscript, MIT.

  • Vikner, Sten: 1990, Verb Movement and the Licensing of NP Positions in the Germanic Languages, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Université de Genève.

  • Vikner, Sten: 1994, ‘Scandinavian Object Shift and West Germanic Scrambling’, in Norbert Corver and Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), Studies on Scrambling, de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 487–517.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webelhuth, Gert: 1987, ‘Eine universale Scrambling-Theorie’, paper presented at the annual meeting of the DGfS, Augsburg.

  • Webelhuth, Gert: 1988, ‘A Universal Theory of Scrambling’, Proceedings of the Conference on Scandinavian Linguistics 10, 284–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webelhuth, Gert: 1992, Principles and Parameters of Syntactic Saturation, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Edwin: 1974, Rule Ordering in Syntax, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.

  • Zaenen, Annie: 1980, Extraction Rules in Icelandic, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.

  • Zwart, Jan-Wouter: 1993, Dutch Syntax. A Minimalist View, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Tübingen, Wilhelmstraße 113, D-72074, Tübingen, FRG

    Gereon Müller

Authors
  1. Gereon Müller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

For helpful comments on this paper, I would like to thank Steve Abney, Kirsten Brock, Samuel Epstein, Danny Fox, Jochen Geilfuß, Günther Grewendorf, Hubert Haider, Tilman Hohle, Kyle Johnson, Shin-Sook Kim, Hap Kolb, Uli Lutz, Juliane Möck, Frederick Newmeyer, Bernhard Rohrbacher, Joachim Sabel, Ken Safir, Hubert Truckenbrodt, Arnim von Stechow, Craig Thiersch, Sten Vikner, Chris Wilder, the NLLT reviewers, and, in particular, Wolfgang Sternefeld. I am also grateful to the audiences of the 19th GGS meeting in Zürich (1993), and the 9th Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop at Harvard (1994). Usual disclaimers apply. Research was supported by DFG grant ST 525/89.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Müller, G. A constraint on remnant movement. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 14, 355–407 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133687

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133687

Keywords

Search

Navigation