On Right Node Raising in Catalan and Spanish

Abstract

The derivation of Right Node Raising (RNR) has been the object of much debate in the generative literature, but the analysis of this construction has not received much attention so far in the literature on Catalan and Spanish. Here I analyze the properties of RNR in these languages and propose that the distinction introduced in Valmala (2012) for English RNR also applies: Catalan and Spanish are argued to have two types of RNR with different information-structural, prosodic, and syntactic properties. In Focal-Pivot RNR (FP-RNR), the pivot is focal, is preceded by a prosodic break, and undergoes ATB-movement from both conjuncts of the coordination, i.e. it is ex-situ. In Non-Focal-Pivot RNR (NFP-RNR), on the contrary, the pivot is not focal, is not preceded by a prosodic break, and occupies its canonical position, i.e it is in-situ. NFP-RNR is the result either of ellipsis in the first conjunct or of multidominance of the pivot.