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In:The Ziggurat of Grammar: In honor of Ur Shlonsky
Edited by Lena Baunaz, Giuliano Bocci and Andrew Nevins
[Language Faculty and Beyond 20] 2025
► pp. 118–135

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Chapter 7
Licensing parasitic gaps without movement

Evidence from Hebrew resumptive pronouns

 | UC Santa Cruz
 | UMass Amherst
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 13 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.20.07sic
Abstract
The paper addresses a puzzle regarding the licensing of parasitic gaps (PGs) by resumptive pronouns (RPs) in Hebrew: A-bar movement chains culminating in gaps license PGs within subjects and within adjuncts, but A-bar chains culminating in RPs license a more limited set of PG positions. Originally presented in Sells 1984, Shlonsky 1987, 1992 as an asymmetry between PGs within subjects, licensed by RPs, and PGs within adjuncts, which are not, PGs are shown to be licensed within adjuncts in higher positions. We argue that the difference in distribution between chains culminating in gaps and chains culminating in RPs follows from the position of the Operator binding the RP, and the calculus of semantic composition in Nissenbaum 2000.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The interpretation of RPs and the structural ambiguity of Relative Clauses
  • 3.Parasitic Gap licensing by RPs
  • 4.An account
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
References (33)
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