Extraction types

Abstract

This chapter provides a descriptive introduction to unbounded dependency constructions, and to the range of filler-gap dependency patterns they allow. These are two very different topics. The former concerns the repertoire of syntactic constructions in which extraction takes place, and their grammatical idiosyncrasies, whereas the latter concerns the types of interaction between fillers and gaps. We survey of the various kinds of interrogative, declarative, and subordinate UDCs that exist in English. The resulting picture is one of astonishing richness and complexity. There are three major families of UDCs which sub-divide into smaller families, each with their peculiar syntactic, pragmatic and phonological similarities, as well as their idiosyncrasies. Such idiosyncratic meaning and structure must be stipulated somewhere in the grammar, regardless of which theory one adopts. The chapter next focuses on the nature of the linkage between fillers and gaps, and shows that these can interweave and create complex dependencies, beyond what is recognized in the literature.