Anti-Freezing

Abstract

By and large, it seems to be the case that S-structure configurations are illicit when a trace is included in a moved XP and the antecedent of the trace is outside of XP. Basically, two kinds of approaches can be distinguished that strive to account for this Freezing effect that occurs with moved items, viz., (a) a representational account (see Browning (1991)), and (b) a derivational account (see Collins (1994)). The main purpose of this chapter is to show that the derivational account is preferable to the representational account, ultimately because the former also explains the a priori unexpected non-occurrence of Freezing effects under certain, well-defined circumstances. Most notably, these “Anti-Freezing” effects systematically show up with remnant movement; and this is the second peculiar property of remnant movement noted in section 3 of chapter 1 that calls for a principled explanation.