Connectivity in left-dislocation and the composition of the left periphery

Abstract

This paper proposes a crosslinguistically uniform analysis of Left-dislocation constructions, according to which left-dislocated XPs are elliptical sentence fragments surfacing in linear juxtaposition to their host clause. The analysis is shown to provide a principled solution to Cinque’s Paradox: dislocated XPs are extra-sentential constituents akin to parentheticals while behaving in certain respects as having moved to their surface position from within the host clause, in apparent violation of the boundaries of “sentence grammar” as typically defined. The solution in terms of deletion and endorphoric linkage undermines templatic analyses of the ‘cartographic’ tradition, showing that in at least some cases the “sentential periphery” reflects not syntactic composition but juxtaposition in discourse.