Undoing Wh-Movement: On the Need for Multiple Copies

Abstract

This contribution presents an outline of the current scholarly discussion of reconstruction with wh-movement, focussing on the Lebeaux Effect (LE) and wider aspects of reconstruction with wh-movement. It presents empirical problems for both the proposals based on the LE and the novel account of movement and reconstruction based on the notion of Minimal Copy. It points out that particular copies may differ not only in size (i.e., they do or do not include the adjunct as a relative clause or PP) but also in content. It refers to an analysis, where copies left by movement are levelled with copies left by ellipsis and subject to the mechanism of Vehicle Change. An account of reconstruction including multiple copies and Vehicle Change predicts that the structural complexity of the wh-phrase and its distance from the offending c-commanding pronoun (embedding and obviation effects) should contribute to an amelioration of Condition C in addition to the LE.

Keywords

• movement and reconstruction
• copy theory of movement
• multidomination
• late merger
• vehicle change