Resuming Reflexives

Abstract

In this paper, we offer an analysis for the prenominal possessor
doubling construction (PPDC) as it occurs in Germanic, paying particular
attention to the differences between Norwegian and West Flemish. Our
analysis implements recent theoretical proposals concerning locality
relations, the Anti-Locality Hypothesis, the idea that movement not only
must not target a position too far away, but it cannot be too close
either. Anti-Locality is formulated over derivational sub-domains
relevant for the operation Spell Out, so-called Prolific Domains, and
the ban on Domain-internal movement is PF-driven. In order to yield a
well-formed PF-object, anti-local movement may be repaired by spelling
out a copy with a different PF-shape; this operation of Copy Spell Out
inserts a grammatical formative to save a PF-violation. We take
pronominal elements to be grammatical formatives par excellence and
develop an application of this approach to the nominal layer, focusing
on the PPDC. This framework derives the occurrence of a possessive
pronoun doubling the possessor, which we analyse in terms of an
anti-local movement dependency in which the moved possessor spells out a
lower copy as the doubling possessive pronoun. We further discuss
comparisons across Germanic dialects. Our main proposal is that the
doubling pronoun is a resumptive element, understood more generally as a
spelled out copy of the (moved) possessor DP and as such inserted into
the computation derivationally.