On Asymmetries Between Parasitic Gap and Across‐the‐board Constructions

Abstract

Assuming that parasitic gaps (PGs) and across‐the‐board (ATB) gaps are derived through sideward movement (Nunes 1995, 2001; Hornstein 2001), this paper aims at explaining why ATB constructions are in general more permissive than PG constructions (Postal 1993). We argue that sideward movement is licensed only by Last Resort in PG constructions but is licensed by either Last Resort or the Parallelism Constraint in ATB constructions. The additional legibility condition that coordinate structures have to satisfy ends up permitting instances of sideward movement that would otherwise be impossible.