Resumptive pronouns, A-binding,and levels of representations in Irish

At the empirical level, this paper aims to provide a reasonably systematic overview of the distribution of resumptive pronouns in one language (Irish) and of their behaviour under certain tests. At the theoretical level, it argues that resumptive pronouns are syntactic variables (locally Ā-bound elements) and that there is a syntactically visible relation between the pronoun and its binder. It follows that it must be possible for pronouns to be directly A-bar bound. The paper also argues, however, that the pronominal character of resumptive pronouns emerges in the so-called Highest Subject Restriction which is analyzed as an anti-locality effect (reminiscent of Condition B of the Binding Theory) acting in the A-domain.