Evidential-existentials: an Information Structure Account of Extraction from Relative Clauses

This book provides an information-structure account of extractions from Relative Clauses (RC?s). These have been ruled-out syntactically since Ross?s ?Island? Constraints. Still, numerous studies have demonstrated the acceptability of such extractions in many languages and the relevance of non-syntactic factors to their analysis. Many of these treatments are shown in this book to be ad hoc or too open-ended. An interesting observation raised in previous studies, however, is that the best extractions from RC?s occur in existential sentences. This study establishes that there is indeed a crucial relationship between ?existentiality? and extraction from RC?s. Acceptable extractions are characterized by a new theoretical concept referred to by the author as Evidential-Existenials ? sentences which establish existence by providing evidence for existence. The book provides a principled account of the properties of acceptable extractions from RC?s in Hebrew, English and other languages. The concluding chapter discusses the theoretical implications of the proposed treatment, particularly the potential division of labor between syntax and pragmatics in a universal linguistic theory.