Preverbal subject DPs in English seem to allow for the extraction of a PP complement, but not of a DP complement stranding the preposition of. Assuming a top-down computation, we argue that an extracted PP cannot be re-merged within a criterial preverbal subject (in the sense of Rizzi 2006), but it can be re-merged within a non-criterial subject that has undergone full reconstruction. This ‘delayed remerge’ implies that in the preverbal position, the selectional requirement of the N head for a PP complement is not computed yet. This immediately accounts for the impossibility of P-stranding within a preverbal subject: the presence of the preposition implies that the computation of the N’s selectional requirement has not been delayed.

Bianchi, V., Chesi, C. (2015). On a PP/DP asymmetry in extraction. In C.H. Elisa Di Domenico (a cura di), Structures, strategies and beyond. Studies in honor of Adriana Belletti (pp. 47-65). Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company [10.1075/la.223.03bia].

On a PP/DP asymmetry in extraction

BIANCHI, VALENTINA;
2015-01-01

Abstract

Preverbal subject DPs in English seem to allow for the extraction of a PP complement, but not of a DP complement stranding the preposition of. Assuming a top-down computation, we argue that an extracted PP cannot be re-merged within a criterial preverbal subject (in the sense of Rizzi 2006), but it can be re-merged within a non-criterial subject that has undergone full reconstruction. This ‘delayed remerge’ implies that in the preverbal position, the selectional requirement of the N head for a PP complement is not computed yet. This immediately accounts for the impossibility of P-stranding within a preverbal subject: the presence of the preposition implies that the computation of the N’s selectional requirement has not been delayed.
2015
978 90 272 5706 2
Bianchi, V., Chesi, C. (2015). On a PP/DP asymmetry in extraction. In C.H. Elisa Di Domenico (a cura di), Structures, strategies and beyond. Studies in honor of Adriana Belletti (pp. 47-65). Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company [10.1075/la.223.03bia].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/995856