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Description:
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This monograph sets out to derive the effects of standard constraints on
displacement like the Minimal Link Condition (MLC) and the Condition on
Extraction Domain (CED) from more basic principles in a minimalist approach.
Assuming that movement via phase edges is possible only in the presence of
edge features on phase heads, simple restrictions can be introduced on when
such edge features can be inserted derivationally. The resulting system is
shown to correctly predict MLC/CED effects (including certain exceptions, like
intervention without c-command and melting). In addition, it derives operator-
island effects, a restriction on extraction from verb-second clauses, and island
repair by ellipsis. The approach presupposes that syntactic operations apply in
a fixed order: Timing emerges as crucial. Thus, the book provides new
arguments for a strictly derivational organization of syntax. Accordingly, it
should be of interest not only to all syntacticians working on islands, but more
generally to all scholars interested in the overall organization of grammar.
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