Reconstruction and Resumption in Indirect A‘-Dependencies: On the Syntax of Prolepsis and Relativization in (Swiss) German and Beyond

This Monograph Investigates A'-dependencies In Standard German, Alemannic And Dutch Where The Dislocated Constituent Is Indirectly, I.e. Not Transformationally, Related To The Position Where It Is Interpreted. The Study Focuses On Relative Clauses And Shows That An Important Part Of The Relativization System In These Languages, Long Relativization, Involves A Hitherto Ignored Construction Termed Resumptive Prolepsis. This Construction Is Characterized By Base-generation Of The Operator In The Matrix Middle-field And A Resumptive Pronoun In The Position Of The Variable. It Is Shown That It Involves Short A'-movement In The Matrix Clause, Empty Operator Movement In The Complement Clause And An Ellipsis Operation That Links The Two Operators. While The Link Is Directly Visible In German And Dutch, Swiss German Provides A More Abstract Version Of Resumptive Prolepsis. Through A Detailed Examination Of Reconstruction Effects And The Properties Of Resumption In These Constructions, The Book Provides New Evidence For The Role Of Ellipsis In A'-movement And For A Base-generation Analysis Of Resumption. More Generally, It Makes An Important Contribution To The Modeling Of Long-distance Dependencies And The Study Of A'-syntax.-- This Monograph Investigates A'-dependencies In Standard German, Alemannic And Dutch Where The Dislocated Constituent Is Indirectly, I.e. Not Transformationally, Related To The Position Where It Is Interpreted. The Study Focuses On Relative Clauses And Shows That An Important Part Of The Relativization System In These Languages Involves A Hitherto Ignored Construction Termed Resumptive Prolepsis. With Its Detailed Examination Of Reconstruction Effects And The Properties Of Resumption In These Constructions, The Book Makes An Important Contribution To The Study Of A'; -syntax-- Introduction -- The Syntax Of Relativization -- Relative Clauses : Basic Facts -- Definition -- Typological Parameters Of Variation -- Analyses Of Relative Clauses -- The Connectivity Problem -- The Modification Problem -- The Head Raising Analysis -- Arguments For Head Raising -- Vergnaud (1974) -- Kayne(1994) -- Bianchi (1999, 2000) -- De Vries(2002) -- Bhatt(2002) -- Henderson (2007) -- Donati And Cecchetto (2011), Cecchetto And Donati (2015) -- Raising And Uniform Derivations -- Intermediate Summary : The Raising Analysis : Pros And Cons -- The Matching Analysis -- Motivation : Non-reconstruction -- The Matching Analysis And Reconstruction -- One Or Two Structures For Relativization? -- In Favor Of The Matching Analysis -- General Advantages -- Different Types Of Relative Clauses And Uniform Derivations -- Reconstruction -- Intermediate Summary : The Matching Analysis -- Summary -- The Syntax Of Resumption -- Movement Or Base-generation? -- Two Types Of Resumption Languages -- Further Movement Diagnostics -- Movement Approaches -- Distribution Of Gaps And Resumptives -- Resumptives In Different A'-constructions -- Accessibility Hierarchy -- Optionality Vs. Complementary Distribution -- Resumptives, Semantic Types And Adjuncts -- The Resumptive Pronoun Parameter -- Summary -- Prolepsis : An Alternative To Long A'-movement -- Long A'-movement In German -- A First Hypothesis : Base-generation + Anaphoric Binding -- Arguments For A Base-position In The Matrix Clause -- Arguments For An Anaphoric Dependency -- Evidence Against Argumenthood + Anaphoric Binding -- Absence Of Lexical Restrictions -- Obligatoriness Of The Coreferential Element -- Evidence For The Presence Of An A'-dependency -- In Favor Of Resumption -- Analysis : Predication And Ellipsis -- The Cp-complement As A Predicate -- Selective Reconstruction By Means Of Ellipsis -- Scope -- The Necessity Of Resumption -- Restricting Prolepsis -- Possible Extensions -- Prolepsis In Other Languages -- Similar Constructions -- Summary -- -- Swiss German Relative Clauses -- Basic Facts -- The General Form Of Relative Clauses In Swiss German -- Further Empirical Details -- Movement Diagnostics -- Locality -- Strong Crossover Effects -- Reconstruction Effects -- In Favor Of Base-generation -- Matching Effects -- Local Relativization : Resumption As A Last Resort -- Asymmetries Between Local And Long-distance Relativization -- The Distribution Of Resumptives -- The Syntax Of Local Relativization : Summary -- Long-distance Relativization : An Instance Of Prolepsis -- Long Relativization As Aboutness Relativization -- Further Arguments For A Prolepsis Reanalysis -- Implementing Prolepsis In Swiss German -- Summary -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index. Martin Salzmann. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 465-489) And Index.