Sub-extraction asymmetries and linearization in Russian

Abstract

While Russian usually permits both extraction from subjects and scrambling of objects, we observe that these movement processes often cannot co-occur. We argue following work on similar restrictions in other languages that such patterns emerge from a theory in which word order is established phase-by-phase and then preserved, in combination with the concept that vP is a phase, as well as a ban on movement within phrase edges. This investigation also reveals some additional factors in Russian that allow the expected constraints on movement to be circumvented.