Spelling Out Focus-Fronting Chains and Wh-Chains: The Case of Italian

This article tackles the optionality of focus fronting in Italian in terms of alternative spellout of the highest or lowest link of a movement chain. The two options are equally optimal in that the highest link satisfies Scope Transparency while the lowest link, bearing [focus] and attracting the nuclear pitch accent, satisfies Rightmostness; on the other hand, spellout of intermediate chain links satisfies neither principle, and it is therefore suboptimal. As for interrogative wh-chains, it is argued that Rightmostness is nonapplicable, because in Italian the lowest link of the wh-chain does not possess the [focus] feature; consequently, Scope Transparency always selects the highest chain link as the optimal spellout option.