Cyclicity and Extraction Domains

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide a minimalist analysis of CED effects (see Huang 1982) in terms of derivational dynamics in a cyclic system. Assuming Uriagereka’s (1999) Multiple Spell‐out system, we argue that CED effects arise when a syntactic object K that is required at a given derivational step has become inaccessible to the computational system at a previous derivational stage, when the chunk of structure containing K was spelled out. Assuming Nunes’s (1995, 1998) analysis of parasitic gaps in terms of sideward movement, we argue that standard parasitic gap constructions do not exhibit CED effects because K manages to move to a different derivational workspace before the structure containing it is spelled out. Finally, we provide an account of the cases where parasitic gap constructions appear to show CED effects by relying on cyclic access to the numeration, along the lines proposed by Chomsky (1998).