ABSTRACT

Arguments of a predicate and adjuncts behave differently with respect to Wh-extraction. Most current assumptions attribute this asymmetry to a single requirement on Wh-traces that adjunct traces fail to observe. Huang (1982) and Lasnik and Saito (1984) (henceforth HLS) suppose this requirement follows from the ECP.i Aoun (1984, 1986) assumes it to be the principle A of the Generalized Binding Theory (henceforth GEBI). This chapter presents new data from Vata, a West African language of the Kru family. Our main purpose here is to show that such analyses as HLS's and Aoun's are not sufficient to account for the full range of extraction possibilities and the distribution of Wh-traces. Instead, we argue that two distinct principles must be postulated: first, a principle like the ECP, requiring empty categories to be governed in an appropriate sense and, in addition, a second principle regulating the distance between a target of Wh-extraction and its immediate antecedent. Many possible alternatives come to mind to solve the problems that the Vata data reveal. Here we will limit ourselves to showing that the Condition on Long Extraction, argued for in Koopman and Sportiche (1985, 1986) will handle these problems straightforwardly and better than some existing alternatives.