Abstract
Abstract This chapter overviews a number of issues regarding extraction out of complex NPs, starting with the traditional ban on extraction out of complex NPs (i.e. NPs modified by clauses), referred to as the Complex NP Constraint. The chapter also discusses cross‐linguistic variation regarding extraction of NP‐adjuncts and extraction of nominal complements. While languages differ with respect to such extraction when the relevant NP functions as a verbal complement, such extraction is uniformly ruled out when the relevant NP functions as a nominal complement. What these cases have in common with the Complex NP Constraint configuration (i.e. the case where the noun takes a clausal complement) is that they all involve extraction out of a nominal complement. They can then be unified with the Complex NP Constraint under a larger generalization where extraction is disallowed out of nominal complements, regardless of their categorial status. In other words, NP is an island for elements that its head does not theta‐mark, which can be captured in a phasal framework in a contextual approach to phases where the phasal status of NP is sensitive to the syntactic configuration in which it occurs as well as its theta‐relations. In addition to extraction out of complex NPs, the chapter discusses several cases where “parts” of a complex NP may not be base‐generated together.
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