Speaker: Shigeru Miyagawa (MIT), Despina Oikonomou (University of Crete), Onur Özsoy (University of Cologne), Caroline Heycock (University of Edinburgh), Giorgios Vardakis (University of Padova), Rumeysa Bektaş (Tokat University)
Title: Condition C amelioration effects in wh-movement: An interaction between pronominal type and d-linking
Time: Tuesday, February 10th, 1pm – 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: While wh-movement has been argued to involve obligatory reconstruction, leading to a Condition C effect (Chomsky 1981; Barss 1986; Lebeaux 1988; Heycock 1995; Fox 1999), experimental studies in English and German have shown that, in wh-NP-movement, the Condition C effect is not robust (Adger et al. 2017; Bruening & Al-Khalaf 2019; Stockwell et al. 2021; Salzmann et al. 2023). Stockwell et al. 2021 and Salzmann et al. 2023 suggest that the (strong/weak/null) type of pronominals may be relevant. Along these lines, we investigate anaphora resolution under wh-reconstruction in Italian and Greek, languages which, unlike English, bear both null and overt person pronouns. We present data which reveal a robust correlation of pronouns and Condition C effects: null pronouns resist coreference consistently whereas overt pronouns allow it. Conceiving this contrast is crucial for determining how restrictive the nature of the Condition C as a grammatical phenomenon is. See https://tinyurl.com/4eha8dws for a longer, NELS 56 abstract.