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An empty category (EC) refers to a nominal element that is phonetically null (or unpronounced). Four types of EC are generally identified in the generative linguistic literature, i.e., NP-trace in the raising construction (1), wh-trace (sometimes called "variable") in the wh-question (2), pro in the null subject (sometimes null object) construction (3), and PRO in the control construction (4).  1. Johni seems [ ti to like linguistics very much]. 2. Whomi does Bill like ti? 3. pro  ha    parlato.  (Italian)            has  spoken.3sg 4. Johni plans [PROi to visit his aunt next week].  The…

In linguistics, the term “island” generally refers to an extraction island, a syntactic domain that blocks extraction of a certain constituent out of it. For instance, a wh-phrase in English can be extracted across clause boundaries from its original position (marked by “ t”, short for “trace”) in (1), whereas extraction is blocked out of a complex NP (an appositive clause or a relative clause) in (2). We therefore refer to the complex NP of (2) as a “complex NP island”. Similarly, extraction is impossible out of a subject island (a clau…