Selective Extractability
In the previous section, I pointed out that wh-phrases are extracted out of infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions, are acceptable, and I argued that such relaxation of the intervention effects can be accounted for by the covert restructuring analysis. In this section, I will first point out that the intervention effects are not always relaxed with infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions; only D linked wh-phrases in the sense of Pesetsky (1987) can be extracted out of infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions. I will then argue that the selective extractability of a wh-phrase out of an infinitive/subjunctive indirect question should be given a Subjacency-type account based on the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC).
The extracted wh-phrases which of the new books and which pasta are D-linked, infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions do not function as islands. Infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions, however, are not always devoid of islandhood. First, non-D-linked wh-phrases like who and what cannot be extracted out of infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions, as shown in (1) and (2) (cf. Cinque 1990; Rizzi 1990; Boeckx 2001).
(1)
(2)
Although judgments regarding extraction out of a subjunctive indirect question vary among speakers, there are speakers who see a clear contrast between extraction of a non-D-linked wh-phrase as in (1) and (2). Second, it has been observed that wh-adjuncts like how, when, and why cannot be extracted out of infinitive/subjunctive indirect questions, as shown in (3)–(5) (see, e.g., Huang 1982).
(3)
(4)
(5)
Note that this fact has traditionally been attributed to the Empty Category Principle (ECP). Although the ECP accounts for the wh-island effects with wh-adjunct extraction in (3)–(5), it cannot be invoked in a minimalist account, since ECP approaches employ notions such as head government, antecedent government, proper government, and indexing that are not allowed in the Minimalist Program. We therefore need to give an alternative account of (3)–(5) that is compatible with the minimalist spirit.
