Resumptive Pronouns in LFG

This paper outlines an analysis of resumptive pronouns in LFG, based primarily on Hebrew but with consideration of other languages. It attempts to account for both the similarities and differences between resumptive and gap constructions, as well as the use of pronouns in resumption. It is argued that gap and resumptive constructions are representationally identical, both involving identity between the two functions, but that resumptive constructions are licensed not through functional uncertainty but through pronominal reference. This analysis is consistent with the strongest version of the Extended Coherence Condition, requiring a discourse-function-bearing element to also have an argument (or adjunct) function. It accounts for the fact that gap and resumptive constructions display similar behavior in terms of anaphoric properties, the licensing of parasitic gaps, and their susceptibility to weak-crossover effects. It also accounts for the general nonsusceptibility of resumptive pronouns to islands, the lack of morphological marking along the path in resumptive constructions in languages that have such marking in gap constructions, and referential differences between gap and resumptive constructions. The relative distribution of gaps and resumptives is accounted for by combining Economy of Expression with a competing "Sufficiency of Expression".