Long-Distance A-Scrambling in Japanese

Abstract

This paper examines an environment where long-distance scrambling makes A-binding possible in Japanese. Contrary to a widely held view, this paper shows that scrambling even out of a finite clause can feed A-binding if the subject of the embedded clause is null. The new observation lends a support for the hypothesis that Case-checking/-valuation determines phases (Ferreira 2000, Takahashi 2011, Miyagawa 2011).