Extraposition and antisymmetry

Abstract

‘Extraposition’ is a cover term for two distinct phenomena (cf. also Fox & Nissenbaum 1999; Kiss 2005). The first, which I assume to be derived by parallel construal (following Koster 2000), targets only RCs, blocks reconstruction of the extraposed constituent to the base position of the source, and as such has the effect of bleeding condition C. The second, which I claim is derived via scattered deletion, targets post-head complements/modifiers, triggers obligatory reconstruction of the source+complement/modifier to base-position and leaves extraposed complements open to subextraction, all else being equal. The scattered deletion of spec+head and complement is argued to be derived from Uriagereka's (1999) simplification of the LCA, and the copy theory of labelling (cf. Sheehan 2010). Keywords: linearisation; extraposition; multiple spell-out; LCA; labelling; reconstruction; relative clause; complement PP; scattered deletion