McDaniel D, Cowart W
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 04104-9300, USA.
Cognition. 1999 Mar 1;70(2):B15-24. doi: 10.1016/s0010-0277(99)00006-2.
In this article we provide evidence for a Minimalist account of English-type resumptive pronouns. Our findings provide empirical support for syntactic theories that, like Minimalist accounts, allow for competition among derivations. According to our account, resumptive pronouns are spell-outs of traces. For reasons of economy, the resumptive pronoun surfaces only when the derivation with the trace is precluded by syntactic principles. This account predicts that resumptive pronouns should only improve violations of constraints on representation, and not violations of constraints on movement. We tested this prediction by conducting an acceptability judgment task with 36 native speakers of English. The results bore out our prediction; subjects preferred the resumptive pronoun over the trace in cases where the trace itself was illicit, but not in cases where only the movement operation was illicit.
在本文中，我们为英语类型的复指代词的最简方案提供了证据。我们的研究结果为句法理论提供了实证支持，这些句法理论与最简方案一样，允许推导之间存在竞争。根据我们的解释，复指代词是语迹的拼读形式。出于经济性的原因，只有当带有语迹的推导被句法原则排除时，复指代词才会出现。这一解释预测，复指代词应该只会改善对表征限制的违反情况，而不会改善对移动限制的违反情况。我们通过对36名以英语为母语的人进行可接受性判断任务来检验这一预测。结果证实了我们的预测；在语迹本身不合法的情况下，受试者更喜欢复指代词而非语迹，但在只有移动操作不合法的情况下则不然。
