ABSTRACT
This chapter explains concepts known as island constraints, various restrictions on wh-dependencies. An important feature of wh-questions and wh-dependency constructions in general is that they allow a gap in a variety of positions. The gap cannot appear absolutely anywhere. The restrictions are generally known as island constraints and have been a major concern of syntactic theory since the early 1960s. The chapter introduces the main island constraints that have been distinguished and looks at the Principles and Parameters (P&P) account of island constraints, introducing the Subjacency Condition and the Empty Category Principle. It also briefs how island constraints could be handled within Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG). The chapter elaborates the so-called parasitic gaps, a phenomenon closely related to island constraints. It looks more closely at the P&P assumption that there is a level of Logical Form (LF)derived from S-structure by processes like wh-movement.
