The Soft LCA overruled by the Prosodic Constraints: Some Notes on Wilder's RNR Analysis

Abstract

The most admitted value of Wilder's (1999, 2008) analysis of the RNR constructions within the Multidominance (MD) framework is that the analysis captures 'the right edge condition' of the constructions: All the MD structures violate Kayne's (1994) LCA, and thus the shared element in the first conjunct of the RNR construction must appear in the rightmost position not to violate the asymmetry condition of the LCA. However, there is lots of evidence that shows that the Heavy NP Shift, which is assumed to be responsible for the right edge condition, involves the rightward movement, violating the LCA's ban on the rightward movement. Wilder's analysis is thus in a dilemma - either to violate the ban on the rightward movement or to violate the asymmetry condition. In this paper, I propose that Wilder's dilemma can be solved along the line of López's (2009) proposal based on clitic right-dislocation in the Romance languages that the LCA is a soft constraint and can be overruled by prosodic constraints.