String-Vacuous Rule Application

Linguists have disagreed as to whether syntactic rules have the ability to move constituents to new positions in phrase structure without affecting the relative order of elements in terminal strings. Under some analyses, the application of WH-movement to a questioned subject would produce such string-vacuous rule application. Thus, the sentence I know who saw Harry would be analyzed as: (1) I know whoi [ti saw Harry]S where "t" indicates the original position of the moved constituent, on the analogy of I know what Harry saw, which has the analysis: (2) I know whati [Harry saw ti]S. Other linguists have proposed that string-vacuous rule application should be prohibited on universal grounds. Data from three langs, Icelandic, Kikuyu, & Irish, are examined, showing that rules of syntax in each language move constituents to new positions in phrase structure without affecting the order of terminal elements. It is concluded that string-vacuous rule application cannot be excluded on universal grounds. AA