Not all reconstruction effects are syntactic

Abstract

This paper argues that not all reconstruction effects can be reduced to a syntactic mechanism that selectively interprets copies at LF. The argument is based on the novel observation that some but not all reconstruction effects induce Condition C connectivity in Hindi-Urdu. We contend that Hindi-Urdu requires the hybrid approach to reconstruction developed on independent grounds by Lechner (1998, 2013, 2019), where both copy neglect (a syntactic mechanism) and higher-type traces (a semantic mechanism) are available as independent interpretive mechanisms. We show that the interaction of these two modes of reconstruction derives the intricate reconstruction facts in Hindi-Urdu.