The fine structure of wh-movement and the proper formulation of the ECP

This paper attempts to unify the analyses of a wide range of wh-extraction phenomena by developing Chomsky's idea that movement relations must lead, at LF, either to chains with local links or operator-variable pairs. By assuming that variables in operator-variable pairs are interpreted as individual variables' and relating the possibility of interpreting traces as individual variables to θ-role assignment and the level at which it occurs, a number of phenomena associated with extraction from weak islands fall into place: asymmetries in subject/object extraction, tense effects, Cinque's discoveries about extraction of what he and Rizzi call non-referential arguments, Longobardi's discoveries about scope reconstruction, and the adjunct/argument asymmetry itself. The theoretical framework is Chomsky's barriers theory