Principle C reconstruction effects in Dutch: A coreference judgment experiment and a self‑paced reading experiment

According to Principle C of the Binding Theory, R-expressions must be free. On the assumption that Ā-movement does not create new binding options, R-expressions embedded in Ā-moved constituents should not be able to corefer with later pronouns c-commanding their gaps (e.g. [ Which side of Elizabeth] does she prefer ___? ). Yet, participants in formal judgment experiments accept such coreference relatively often. This paper reports on two novel experiments: a coreference judgment experiment to investigate the coreference patterns in Dutch, and a self-paced reading experiment testing the same stimuli to chart the online processing of these structures. In line with earlier experiments, we find that Principle C violations are frequently accepted in Dutch, and in line with psycholinguistic literature, we show that the parser is sensitive to grammatical information during the parse: gender-mismatch effects between the pronoun and the embedded R-expression emerge, except when coreference is ruled out because a Principle C violation.