Split phrases in colloquial Russian

Abstract

Abstract. This paper examines split phrases in Colloquial Russian, including split noun phrases and split prepositional phrases. The aims of the paper are two‐fold: (a) to identify the bounds of the word order freedom in Colloquial Russian, and (b) to develop a theory of splitting. It is argued that the splitting is derived not by moving one part of the split phrase away from another part, but by movement and copying of the whole split phrase and partial interpretation of the copies thus produced at the PF interface (that is, partial pronunciation of copies). The analysis developed in this paper crucially relies on the notion that Topic/Focus are interpretable features which need not trigger movement.