Locality in restructuring: On weak wh-elements, and the IP-internal "left-periphery"

Some instances of clitic and NP-movement are discussed in which locality is apparently violated. They involve clitic climbing and NP raising across a wh-item. It is suggested that these sentences are only apparent violations of the locality constraints operating on clitic and NP-movement. The wh-element occurs not in the CP layer but in a clause-internal position. This is so because the wh-item does not contribute an interrogative meaning but is to be categorized as a wh-indefinite with the distribution of a polarity item. I also discuss another locality restriction on the construction which has gone unnoticed so far: namely, that, contrary to true instances of wh-movement, the wh-item cannot be moved long distance. The analysis developed here will also account for the very limited productivity of the construction, which depends on the type of wh-item involved. Only those wh-items that realize VP-internal complements and have a weak counterpart can enter the construction