Linear effects in ATB movement

Abstract

Munn (2001), Citko (2005), and others argue that in ATB movement initial and non-initial gaps exhibit asymmetries in reconstruction effects and weak crossover: only the initial ATB gap shows reconstruction and weak crossover. Munn argues that these asymmetries are due to the nature of the gap: the initial ATB gap is a real gap, while non-initial gaps are parasitic gaps. Parasitic gaps are generally claimed to show no reconstruction or weak crossover (e.g., Nissenbaum 2000). We re-examine reconstruction in ATB movement and parasitic gap constructions and show that in most cases the putative asymmetries between gaps are not real, and when there is an asymmetry it is due to linear order and not to the nature of the gap. We conclude that both ATB movement and parasitic gap constructions involve full copies in all gaps.