The COMP-trace effect as an indirect dependency

Abstract

This paper discusses two peculiar differences surrounding long-distance dependencies in English, Dutch and German: German and Dutch employ various alternatives to long-distance movement, so-called scope marking constructions, which seem to be absent from English. Conversely, English markedly differs from Dutch and German in showing a strong COMP-trace effect (the mandatory deletion of complementizers in subject LD question). For scope marking structures in German and Dutch, a type of indirect dependency analysis is adopted in which the embedded clause is formally akin to a relative clause. It is then argued that complementizer deletion in English (i.e. the COMP-trace effect) actually instantiates scope marking: the absence of a complementizer signals the presence of a subject contact relative clause. Evidence in favor of this analysis comes from non-identity effects: in English, the putatively LD extracted wh-phrase is able to carry oblique case, which conflicts with the case it should have been assigned in the embedded clause.