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Anti-locality and subject extraction

Erlewine, M. Y. (2020). Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 5(1), 84

Source Bibliography Paper

A subject in Spec,TP that moves to Spec,CP crosses only TP, which Spec-to-Spec Anti-Locality bans, while an object, moving from inside vP, crosses more. Where C and T bundle into one head the subject moves straight from vP to the edge of the clause, at the cost of the overt complementizer: the that-trace effect (ex6). The effect disappears when the subject skips Spec,TP (ex12) or when a high adverb projects between TP and CP (ex13, ex15), and it extends to a locative in the subject position (ex18), since anti-locality looks at configurations, not at subjects.

Implementation notes

  • The condition applies to every link of every chain, in the generalized form the paper adopts; a projection between vP and TP lets the subject raise to Spec,TP (fn. 1).
  • A complementizer is a split C, overt that or null, or C bundled with T into one head CT, the choice of the numeration; a sentence with that has a split C, one without either.
  • The embedded clause is cut down to its subject, verb and object, and the matrix clause to the wh-phrase at the edge of its vP; the small clause of (12) is a vP, and the locative of locative inversion is in the subject position, the analysis that puts it in Spec,TP.

TODO

  • The Levantine Arabic and Swedish effects (7)–(8), null-subject languages (10), Yiddish prefield extraction (§2.4), subject anti-agreement (§3), bans on subject resumption (§4) and the variation of §5.

References

The clause

L58–67

Anti-locality

The that-trace effect (6)

L133–134

In (6), the subject crosses that only with C bundled with T, while the object moves across either.

theorem ex6L136–142
:
(Examples.ex6a.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex6a subjectHid) ∧ (Examples.ex6a_that.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex6a_that subjectHid) ∧ (Examples.ex6b.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex6b objectHid) ∧ (Examples.ex6b_that.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex6b_that objectHid)

Built from , ,

Skipping Spec,TP (12)

L154–155
L157–158

Adverbs (13), (15)

Only an adverb above TP obviates the effect; quickly, below TP, leaves the subject crossing TP alone.

theorem ex15(15)L183–189
:
(Examples.ex15a.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex15a { subject := who, verb := ran, object := store, subjectExtracted := true, adverb := some (Height.high, fortunately) }) ∧ (Examples.ex15b.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex15b { subject := who, verb := ran, object := store, subjectExtracted := true, adverb := some (Height.low, quickly) })

Built from , , , , ,

Locative inversion (18)

In (18), a locative extracted from subject position shows the effect and one from the verb phrase does not.

theorem ex18L203–209
:
(Examples.ex18a.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex18a inverted) ∧ (Examples.ex18a_that.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex18a_that inverted) ∧ (Examples.ex18b.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex18b uninverted) ∧ (Examples.ex18b_that.judgment = Judgment.acceptable ↔ Derived Examples.ex18b_that uninverted)

Built from , ,