Scope Freezing Restricts Binding in Italian Right Dislocation

Abstract

Abstract Binding into right-dislocated categories is generally possible in Italian but fails when the binder is a direct object and the right-dislocated constituent an indirect object or a PP doubled by ci, even though direct objects binding into indirect objects or PPs is otherwise acceptable. These data fall into place once it is recognized that cliticization of an indirect object or a PP gives rise to a scope-freezing effect (on a par with English double-object constructions). We develop our account using a biclausal analysis of right dislocation but explore to which extent monoclausal analyses can capture the data as well.