On the Correlation between Scope Reconstruction and the Proper Binding Condition : Parametric Syntax on Scrambling in Japanese and German

This paper investigates why A-movement and German scrambling resist scope reconstruction and their extraction sites can be unbound without violating the Proper Binding Condition while A'-movement and Japanese scrambling allow scope reconstruction and their extraction sites must obey the Proper Binding Condition. In order to account for this paradigm, I claim that the former do not leave a trace whereas the latter do so, extending Lasnik's (1999) hypothesis that A-movement does not leave a trace while A'-movement does so. I argue that the "extended Lasnik's hypothesis" can be explained by highlighting the difference between Japanese and German in the feature strength ofv that induces V-to-v movement