Abstract
Jayaseelan (1990) and Lasnik and Saito (1991) observe thatEnglish Gapping exhibits properties typical of rightwardmovement. In this paper, we address the question of why this isthe case. We propose that in Gapping, a contrasted element in thefull-fledged conjunct can move leftward or rightward to create astructure for copying and that illegitimate derivations areexcluded by independently motivated constraints. As one suchconstraint, we adopt Saito‘s (1985) condition on adjunctionsites, which requires that an element adjoin to the side of thecategory which is opposite to the head. Since Saito‘s constraintrelies on the head parameter, this analysis makes the obviousprediction that Gapping constructions in head-final languagesshould involve leftward movement. We show that this is indeed thecase with Japanese. The most important theoretical consequencesare: (i) that the directionality of adjunction is constrained inLF in the same way as in overt syntax and (ii) that constraintssuch as the Right Roof Constraint and the Subjacency Conditionapply both in overt syntax and in LF. The other importantconsequence is that P-stranding is universally allowed at LF forleftward movement but not for rightward movement.
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Abe, J., Hoshi, H. Gapping and P-Stranding. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 6, 101–136 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008240005018
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008240005018