Long distance scrambling and operator movement in Turkish

Abstract

The present study focuses on long distance scrambling and operator movement from embedded clauses to sentence initial position in Turkish. It proposes that the scrambling of the arguments out of the complement clauses is possible due to the fact that such phrases move cyclically through phases in Turkish. It is also asserted that the adjuncts that have nominal features can scramble to the sentence initial position by using the spec DP position as an escape hatch similar to the arguments. On the other hand, the Phase Impenetrability Condition is violated in the movement of the non-nominal adjuncts out of such clauses. In the analysis of the adjunct clauses, it is asserted that the Late Adjunction Hypothesis successfully explains all types of extractions out of such clauses in Turkish. Arguments, adjuncts or their operators cannot be moved out of relative clauses or adverbial clauses since these clauses adjoin to the derivation post-cyclically. Turkish data support the assertion that extractions out of adjuncts are banned universally.

Keywords

• Turkish; operator movement; scrambling; PIC; LAH

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