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In:Interfaces in Grammar
Edited by Jianhua Hu and Haihua Pan
[Language Faculty and Beyond 15] 2019
► pp. 49–100

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Chapter 4
Computational and semantic aspects of resumption

 | Université Paris-Diderot | Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, CNRS
Published online: 15 April 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.15.04rou
Abstract
Taking the properties of Welsh relativization as a point of departure, this paper argues that the linking of resumptive pronouns to the periphery is a strictly narrow-syntactic process, triggered by the uninterpretable features of resumptive pronouns and c-commanding complementizers and reducing to non-local Agree. Resumptive dependencies also give rise to reconstruction effects, which can also be detected in structures that have a different derivational history – the intrusive dependencies involving a strong island. It appears that, in both types, the internal structure of the pronouns involved is exclusively responsible for the various reconstruction options. In other words, the specific way pronouns are linked to the periphery (via a probe-goal relation or via binding at the interface) plays no role in their reconstruction properties, the fact that they have an internal structure plays no role in their distribution. This state of affairs has interesting implications concerning the “semantic blindness” of syntactic operations (Uriagereka 2002).
Article outline
  • 1.Resumptive pronouns: What they are and where they are found in Welsh
  • 2.Computational aspects of A’-dependencies: Resumption vs. movement
  • 3.A narrow-syntactic approach to Welsh relativization
    • 3.1Feature endowment of Welsh complementizers
      • 3.1.1The relative complementizer
      • 3.1.2The resumptive complementizer
    • 3.2The domain of A’-dependencies
    • 3.3Movement vs. local resumptive dependencies
    • 3.4Long-distance resumptive dependencies
    • 3.5Extension to other Welsh relative types
      • 3.5.1Adjunct relatives
      • 3.5.2Anomalous relatives
  • 4.The subjacency puzzle
  • 5.Semantic aspects of resumption
    • 5.1Internal syntax of personal pronouns
    • 5.2A copy approach to reconstruction effects
    • 5.3Reconstruction in islands
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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